Hope everyone in academia has gotten through the semester unscathed!
First, we have an article from the Boston Globe describing that while women are making moves to empower themselves in the workplace, men also have their part to play in being a colleague in the age of #MeToo.
Second, this article highlights that even "woke" men are not immune to implicit bias. It's one thing to believe in equality in theory, but when it comes to practice, it's not quite as simple.
Unfortunately, I'm sure a lot of us can relate to the situations illustrated in this article. Casual sexism does seem to permeate the field of science. An important theme here is if you were in these situations, what would you do? I once had someone tell me my data was "cute" at a conference. Well, my reaction sure was not cute. What experiences have you all had, and how did you react?
This next article does a thorough job of breaking down how sexual harassment claims in the work place are handled and what their outcomes tend to be. Does the problem get addressed? How? Does the person reporting see any benefit in doing so? Does the offender face consequences?
Lastly, an article from The Conversation discusses how women over-invest in their workplace capabilities. Why is that Canadian physicist Donna Strickland did not receive a promotion to full professor until after she had won a Nobel Prize? Simply put: She never applied. Why do women have a greater propensity to over-invest than their male colleagues? What does it mean to over-invest, and what does the research have to say about it? Perhaps more importantly, what can we do with this information?
Thanks for stopping by!
Sunday, December 16, 2018
Friday, December 7, 2018
Our Picks for December 7, 2018
This interesting article, a collaboration between Violeta Politoff, Senior Researcher for ANROWS (Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety) and the National Community Attitudes Survey on Violence against Women, reports recent survey results about public response towards sexual assault and violence against women carried out in Australia. The report includes surprising results, such as 30% of Australians believing that if a woman sends a nude image to her
partner, she is partly responsible if he shares it without her
permission, 8% attributing responsibility and blame to women who were raped
while alcohol- or drug-affected. Moreover, 12% of Australians absolve men of
blame if they are alcohol- or drug-affected at the time they perpetrate
rape.The article also discusses the disregard for consent and mistrust of women's reports.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to promote faculty mentoring for women and underrepresented groups in STEM, as reported by the University Gazette. This grant, lead by the Director of the Center for Faculty Excellence, Erin Malloy, was resubmitted several times (perseverance matters!) and "seeks to promote the success of women, and in
particular women of color, in STEM fields across the University."
In this report, author Virginia Gewin briefly presents the results of a recent study that analyzed the educational impact of female- vs male-authored research. The author of the study, Mike Thelwall, gathered information using the reference manager program Mendeley. After analyzing 2014 articles in five countries and 100 narrow Scopus subject categories, he reached the conclusion that female-authored articles attract more student readers than
male-authored articles in Spain, Turkey, the UK and USA but not India.
The #MeToo movement as allowed to highlight and fight deep disparities between man and women in society. However, this article suggests that not all changes are good, since in certain working environments such as Wall Street finance, men appear to fear women and prefer to exclude them to prevent any possible harassment allegation. The article mentions the big loss this attitude entails for women, and touches on the disparities in mentorship in the finance fields.
A cool new tool has emerged on twitter to estimate the gender distribution of your followers and those you follow, based on their profile descriptions or first names. The PWN Blog team found it thanks to Maciej Kosiło's post. If you notice an imbalance, don't hesitate to follow more people (men or women) and compensate!
Finally, when visiting this link, you can be redirected to several free PDF books dealing with race, gender, sexuality and culture. Some links are expired but most of them work and can provide interesting reads during the holidays!
Saturday, December 1, 2018
Our Picks for December 1, 2018
This week in Gender Bias...
Kathleen E. Grogan wrote an excellent summary for Nature Ecology & Evolution of the research on bias, mostly gender bias, in science. She calls for ALL scientists to take this data seriously and take steps to reduce bias in their fields. Here are some statistics from the piece that stood out to me, but I highly recommend reading the whole thing.-"At the current rate of increase of 0.5% in female authors per year, we will not reach gender parity in last author position for at least 50 years in biology and molecular biology."
-"Once published, manuscripts in high-impact journals with men in key author positions are more frequently cited (38.9 citations per paper) than papers with women in key author positions in those same journals (35.2 citations per paper)."
-"Faculty, regardless of gender, race or discipline, are more likely to respond to requests from white male prospective graduate students than from any other category of gender or race, particularly in higher-paying disciplines and at private institutions."
-"The proportion of female speakers at conferences in evolutionary biology is positively correlated with the proportion of female symposia organizers"
-"Men are 15% more likely to share data when the request comes from another man."
-"Studies suggest male STEM faculty evaluate research demonstrating gender bias as significantly lower in quality than female STEM faculty do."
If you read all of that and still thought, "well, bias against women is getting better! It's not so bad anymore -- how much can that actually matter?"... I have a fun site for you! This gender bias simulator shows how small amounts of bias can compound through career stages.
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| Looks kind of like biology fields to me... |
Other Articles of Interest
On Learning and Teaching Coding
With computational analysis becoming a greater part of most research fields, Olivia Guest argues that we should teach coding to students earlier in their careers. Coding just isn't taught in undergrad in female-dominated fields like psychology -- which perhaps has something to do with gender bias -- but also prevents the development of coding-confident women. Read this for a pep talk on (a) why you, too, can learn to code (if you don't already!) and (b) why you should teach that you all of your trainees! In the words of Olivia, "Saying that some people can’t learn to code is a ridiculous, pessimistic, and elitist argument that only results in gatekeeping."#MeToo for MDs: Dealing with Harassment from Patients
27% of medical doctors face the complicated problem of being sexually harassed by patients. The American Association of Medical Colleges summarizes the problem and recommendations for addressing it.Dare to Self Promote!
If you missed the session on self-promotion at SfN (moderated by our own Courtney Miller), you can read about it here!Friday, November 23, 2018
Our Picks for November 23, 2018
Hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving break!
We've got some interesting articles this week!
First, we have a New York Times article discussing how the science field is not immune from issues of harassment. In an effort to combat this issue, the director of the National Science Foundation, Dr. France Cordova implemented a condition to institutions who accept NFS grants. Now, institutions who accept NSF grants must disclose any finding related to harassment on the part of the scientists working under the grant, or risk losing funding. Read on about this critical step and more in promoting the representation of women in science!
This article describes how a paper from Princeton University found that having women as chairs of departments helps to improve gender diversity and equity. This finding lends further evidence to the idea that "managers from different backgrounds often take different approaches, highlighting the value of diversity among decision-makers."
While this next article is from 2013, and can be a candidate for "Flashback Friday," I'm sure we can all relate to its contents! Yes, we are scientists! Yes we are women! Why must our marital status or number of children be brought up? Cue the Finkbeiner Test! Or, 7 ways to avoid gratuitous gender profiles of female scientists!
Dr. David Smith tackles the differential perceptions of parenting and calls for "Family-Friendly Science." Smith goes on to describe any kind of leave related to childcare taken by subscribers of a particular Chemistry society was comprised of 95% women and 5% men. While women are frowned upon for not being the primary caregiver, men are often lauded as super dads for doing any kind of parenting.
Related to the previous article, this Opinion piece in The Guardian suggests that fathers ought to take home economics classes in order to be better prepared for helping out at home.
Have a great weekend everybody!
We've got some interesting articles this week!
First, we have a New York Times article discussing how the science field is not immune from issues of harassment. In an effort to combat this issue, the director of the National Science Foundation, Dr. France Cordova implemented a condition to institutions who accept NFS grants. Now, institutions who accept NSF grants must disclose any finding related to harassment on the part of the scientists working under the grant, or risk losing funding. Read on about this critical step and more in promoting the representation of women in science!
This article describes how a paper from Princeton University found that having women as chairs of departments helps to improve gender diversity and equity. This finding lends further evidence to the idea that "managers from different backgrounds often take different approaches, highlighting the value of diversity among decision-makers."
While this next article is from 2013, and can be a candidate for "Flashback Friday," I'm sure we can all relate to its contents! Yes, we are scientists! Yes we are women! Why must our marital status or number of children be brought up? Cue the Finkbeiner Test! Or, 7 ways to avoid gratuitous gender profiles of female scientists!
Dr. David Smith tackles the differential perceptions of parenting and calls for "Family-Friendly Science." Smith goes on to describe any kind of leave related to childcare taken by subscribers of a particular Chemistry society was comprised of 95% women and 5% men. While women are frowned upon for not being the primary caregiver, men are often lauded as super dads for doing any kind of parenting.
Related to the previous article, this Opinion piece in The Guardian suggests that fathers ought to take home economics classes in order to be better prepared for helping out at home.
Have a great weekend everybody!
Sunday, November 18, 2018
Our Picks for November 18, 2018
This week, we highlight a recent report from the Irish Research Council featuring their strategies to support gender equality in research careers. It includes concrete actions as well as data on funding applications, awards and success rate compared by gender in the last 5 years.
This article focuses on the increase of women representation in careers that were historically dominated by men, and encourages women to keep applying to these type of jobs to reach a new balance.
In the political sphere, Secretary DeVos' proposed Title IX Rule aims to change the definition of sexual harassment in schools and the consequences for students to report it. This proposal has received mixed opinions, including a response from the Association for Women In Sciences that expresses concern about this change. This article lays out the reasons why the proposed changes might be problematic for Survivors.
And to end on a more positive note, this article narrates the life story of Dr. Jane C. Wright, a pioneer in chemotherapy and a great example of a woman who fought to break the barriers imposed to female scientists of her time.
Dr. Jane C. Wright (source)
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Our Picks for November 13, 2018
We hope those of you who attended had a fun and productive SfN! Thanks to all who came out to our social. We hope it was one way to ameliorate potential for isolation of such a large conference.
Authorship disputes -- contentious discussions about who is an author, who is the first author, or who is the corresponding author -- are probably more common than most scientists would like. That's because the order of authorship and the designation of corresponding author affect how people view the contribution of each author. A recent study analyzed authorship position in ecology and evolution papers. Many of their findings are interesting, but perhaps most striking to me was this: "Women were less likely to be authors on papers with male last authors, and all‐male papers were more abundant than expected given the overall gender ratio." Women were also less likely to be last or corresponding authors.
A recent study (link to a blog post about the study) shows that women in geoscience are more likely stay in geoscience if they have female geoscientist role models. More evidence that representation matters!
Kimbery Tommy calls for scientists to listen to people of color in science and to act against racism in science. Only with such action, she argues, will we be able to increase the number of women of color in science. The stats she cites: "Women remain the minority in science, technology, engineering and mathematics commonly known as STEM, it is estimated that globally women account for only 30% of scientific positions, although accounting for almost 60% of the university population. Of that 30%, less than 5% are black."
Terry McGlynn calls for men to take action to advance gender equity in academia. He argues that gender inequality won't be solved until men change their actions. He offers advice on how men can educate themselves about the issues and tips on how they can act. Share this with your male colleagues!
Elife recently published an article with a list of evidence-based recommendations for improving gender equity through recruitment. The recommendations include creating identified positions that are only open to women and people of other underrepresented groups in departments lacking diversity. They also advocate for redefining merit to focus on the quality rather than quantity of research, as focus on quantity can be biased against women.
Studies on Gender in Science:
Authorship disputes -- contentious discussions about who is an author, who is the first author, or who is the corresponding author -- are probably more common than most scientists would like. That's because the order of authorship and the designation of corresponding author affect how people view the contribution of each author. A recent study analyzed authorship position in ecology and evolution papers. Many of their findings are interesting, but perhaps most striking to me was this: "Women were less likely to be authors on papers with male last authors, and all‐male papers were more abundant than expected given the overall gender ratio." Women were also less likely to be last or corresponding authors.
A recent study (link to a blog post about the study) shows that women in geoscience are more likely stay in geoscience if they have female geoscientist role models. More evidence that representation matters!
Opinions/Calls to Action:
Kimbery Tommy calls for scientists to listen to people of color in science and to act against racism in science. Only with such action, she argues, will we be able to increase the number of women of color in science. The stats she cites: "Women remain the minority in science, technology, engineering and mathematics commonly known as STEM, it is estimated that globally women account for only 30% of scientific positions, although accounting for almost 60% of the university population. Of that 30%, less than 5% are black."
Terry McGlynn calls for men to take action to advance gender equity in academia. He argues that gender inequality won't be solved until men change their actions. He offers advice on how men can educate themselves about the issues and tips on how they can act. Share this with your male colleagues!
Evidence-based Recommendations/Literature Review:
Elife recently published an article with a list of evidence-based recommendations for improving gender equity through recruitment. The recommendations include creating identified positions that are only open to women and people of other underrepresented groups in departments lacking diversity. They also advocate for redefining merit to focus on the quality rather than quantity of research, as focus on quantity can be biased against women.
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Our Top Picks for November 4, 2018
SfN 2018 is on!! Meet us today, November 4th, 2018, at San Diego Marriot Marquis Grand Ballroom 8 from 6:45 to 8:45pm to break the barriers for young women in neurosciences! A lot of great mentors for the evening will assist and be available to meet and chat, don't be shy and swing by!
Shutout to 15 Spanish female scientists who created the group "Women in science count" to share their science with the general public through libraries, museums and prisons.
This webpage gathers fun infographics about women in tech, to improve visibility of women in STEM careers and offer role models to younger generations.
In this article, the New York Times analyzed the dynamics of replacing male-occupied jobs by women after the rise of the #MeToo movement.
Last week, we highlighted an interview of the 2018 Physics Nobel Prize Laureate Dr. Strickland. This week, another woman scientist, Dr. Francis Arnold, joint winner of the 2018 Nobel prize in chemistry, talks about her ground-breaking research and sexism in science.
This article published in the Boston Globe compares how differently men and women receive feedback and how it impacts productivity.
Finally, this article examines a report of the Council of Graduate Schools stating that for the 9th year in a row, US Universities have awarded more PhD diplomas to women than men. The article dissects this phenomenon by field and how this can impact work environment.
Friday, October 26, 2018
Our Top Picks for October 26, 2018
This week article selection includes an in depth interview of 2018 Physics Nobel Prize Laureate Dr. Strickland, where she discusses her scientific career in laser physics, the impact of being a Nobel Prize awardee and her opinion on women in sciences.
This article reviews the reasons why the #MeTooSTEM movement can benefit Academia, who reports the second-highest rates of work-related sexual harassment after the military. The author includes conversations with female researchers and their personal experiences being harassed by fellow colleagues.
Check out this article focusing on the discouragement young girls face when pursuing science careers and how this can be one of the reasons women are underrepresented in STEM. The author reviews possible solutions to change this dynamic.
The gender pay gap is a problem women face all over the word. However, in this article the author analyzes the variations of the gap between the different states, and comes up with one (and only one) field where the gender pay gap favors women: wholesale!
Recently, the NIH has made an effort to include sex as an important biological variable, and requires both sexes to be included in clinical and preclinical studies in order to be considered for funding. Yet, one of the most common excuses to avoid including female subjects in preclinical research is the variability they supposedly introduce due to hormonal changes during their cycle. This article published in Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences shows however that including female subjects does not significantly increase variability in the results and that in most cases, tracking of the female estrous cyclicity is not even necessary.
Finally, we have gathered three interesting resources for researchers in the early stages of their career. Researchers in the UK can apply to the SUSTAIN program, which enables female researchers to thrive in their independent research careers (deadline December 3, 2018). A similar workshop, open to men and women (US citizenship or permanent residency required) is organized by the University of Michigan, where they encourage candidates from diverse backgrounds to apply (deadline February 3, 2019). For preparing both of these applications, use this gender-bias calculator that will give you a (probably surprising) feedback on how biased your letter of recommendation might be!
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Our Top Picks for October 20, 2018
If you've been paying attention to the Nobel Prizes in science, you might be wondering why historically 97% of science Nobel Laureates have been men. This year the prize announcements generated buzz because women won prizes in two of the science categories: Frances Arnold won in Chemistry for her work on directed evolution, and Donna Strickland won in Physics for her work on lasers. Sadly, two women Nobel Laureates in one year (out of up to nine scientists who can be awarded Nobel Prizes -- three for each category) is still considered a lot of women for one year. So why don't more women win Nobel Prizes? In this article, Mary K. Feeney, Associate Director of the Center for Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Studies at Arizona State University, argues that it's a combination of structural barriers in academic STEM careers and implicit bias about who does science that make it harder for women to rise to the top in academic STEM fields. In this article, Rowan Thomson, Associate Professor of Physics at Carleton University, suggests how we can act to change these gender disparities that lead to women's under-representation among Nobel Laureates.
A recent analysis published in Nature aims to explain why women are underrepresented in independent fellow positions. Women make up about a quarter of independent fellows in programs including the NIH Early Independence Award, Carnegie Institute Staff Associate program, the Whitehead Fellows program, and the University of California San Francisco Sandler Fellows program. The analysis suggests that this is due both to women being underrepresented in the applicant pool and to bias against women applicants.
If you're like me, asking questions at seminars can feel a bit intimidating! It turns out that this is common among women in science, according to a new study in PLoS One. They find that women ask fewer questions in seminars than men do, and also that women are more likely than men to let internal factors (e.g., not having the nerve) prevent them from asking questions.
The journal Neuropsychopharmacology (NPP) has done some research into gender disparities among its editors, reviewers, and authors. As a result of this work, NPP is taking steps to increase the number of female reviewers and editorial board members.
#MeTooSTEM has launched a GoFundMe to help fight sexual and gender-based harassment and assault in STEM. In their words: "There are no 'baby steps' in ending sexual harassment. We need brave, giant steps. And we need your help to make them. We are asking for your contribution so we can file for 501c non-profit status, hire legal consultants to help protect students and raise awareness. Non profit status will make us eligible for grants, more donations and, most of all, more action."
Sunday, September 30, 2018
Our Top Picks For September 30th, 2018
Check out the article by The Nation Bureau of Economic Research in which they say, "We study the effects of peer gender composition, a proxy for female-friendliness of environment, in STEM doctoral programs on persistence and degree completion. Leveraging unique new data and quasi-random variation in gender composition across cohorts within programs, we show that women entering cohorts with no female peers are 11.9pp less likely to graduate within 6 years than their male counterparts. A 1 sd increase in the percentage of female students differentially increases the probability of on-time graduation for women by 4.6pp. These gender peer effects function primarily through changes in the probability of dropping out in the first year of a Ph.D. program and are largest in programs that are typically male-dominated."
#STEMtoo is a submission based zine on sexual harassment in STEM fields for women to share their experiences and guidance in hopes that this zine will "provide a platform to heal; to say the things you can’t say without more harm, and to convey with imagery what you can’t speak in words" and "remind everyone impacted by SVSH in STEM that they are not alone. We may not know how to fix the mess that sexual predators created, but we can try to do it in solidarity." Check out this call for submissions for the #STEMtoo Zine here.
"The National Institutes of Health (NIH) does not tolerate pervasive or severe harassment of any kind, including sexual harassment, whether it is within the agency, at research organizations that receive NIH funding, or anywhere else NIH-funded activities are conducted." Check out the article "NIH Announces Plans to Update Harassment Policies" to learn more about this recent change the NIH hopes will better educate the scientific community about sexual harassment.
Read about the Women In Leadership Development, or WILD, program on their homepage Wildforstem.com. "The Program comprises three distinct components that will better position women to attain competitive, senior STEM positions and forge successful careers, in turn inspiring the next generation of female leaders."
Despite some effort from the community and great initiatives, female neuroscientists are still under-represented in various neuroscience conferences (BiasWatchNeuro). The aim of this Women in Neuroscience Repository is to help you identify and recommend female neuroscientists for conferences, symposia or collaborations. Check of this Women in neuroscience initiative here.
#STEMtoo is a submission based zine on sexual harassment in STEM fields for women to share their experiences and guidance in hopes that this zine will "provide a platform to heal; to say the things you can’t say without more harm, and to convey with imagery what you can’t speak in words" and "remind everyone impacted by SVSH in STEM that they are not alone. We may not know how to fix the mess that sexual predators created, but we can try to do it in solidarity." Check out this call for submissions for the #STEMtoo Zine here.
"The National Institutes of Health (NIH) does not tolerate pervasive or severe harassment of any kind, including sexual harassment, whether it is within the agency, at research organizations that receive NIH funding, or anywhere else NIH-funded activities are conducted." Check out the article "NIH Announces Plans to Update Harassment Policies" to learn more about this recent change the NIH hopes will better educate the scientific community about sexual harassment.
Read about the Women In Leadership Development, or WILD, program on their homepage Wildforstem.com. "The Program comprises three distinct components that will better position women to attain competitive, senior STEM positions and forge successful careers, in turn inspiring the next generation of female leaders."
Despite some effort from the community and great initiatives, female neuroscientists are still under-represented in various neuroscience conferences (BiasWatchNeuro). The aim of this Women in Neuroscience Repository is to help you identify and recommend female neuroscientists for conferences, symposia or collaborations. Check of this Women in neuroscience initiative here.
"Impostor phenomenon is an internalized experience of intellectual phoniness. People who feel like impostors are typically bright, motivated and successful, yet usually have incorrect, unrealistic and self-defeating self-perceptions. They think that they are not smart enough and may not have a realistic sense of their competence. [Washington State University] would like to understand if these self-perceptions affect how people navigate their career and opportunities to advance." Participate in this research study by completing a survey and interview if you are a qualified candidate. See the parameters and ideas behind the research study here.
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Our Top Picks For September 18th, 2018
After studying 23,005 comments left on videos about science and related topics, Adrianne Jeffries wrote about research conducted on the types of feedback female STEM YouTubers get in the article, "Women Making Science Videos on YouTube Face Hostile Comments." Check out the New York Times article to learn more.
With weapons ranging from Title IX complaints to online petitions to creating new policies for federally funded agencies, #MeToo has entered the research lab. Many men and women are changing the culture of STEM fields and the stigma that can go along with reporting sexual harassment. Follow the story of Sherry Marts who encountered sexual harassment in Academia, and realized many of her colleagues wanted nothing to do with helping her. Check all this out and more here.
One of the UK's leading female astronomers is to donate her £2.3m winnings from a major science prize she was awarded. The sum will go to fund women, under-represented ethnic minority and refugee students to become physics researchers. Prof Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell has been awarded a Breakthrough Prize for the discovery of radio pulsars. This was also the subject of the physics Nobel in 1974, but her male collaborators received the award. Check out her story in the article, "Bell Burnell: Physics star gives away £2.3m prize."
Angela Saini’s Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong—and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story sparked conversations immediately upon its release. "It is a powerful, impartial and thoroughly researched look at the origins of Damore’s—and troves of other engineers’ and scientists’—misconceptions. Inferior examines both the science and the scientists, delving into how easily bias and motivated reasoning creep into experiments, analysis, and the way we see the world." Check out the article, "A New Front in Fighting the Bias against Women in Science," which takes a look at the culture of science which caused the need for such a book to be written, and how understanding this look at culture and history is important for school children to learn.
With weapons ranging from Title IX complaints to online petitions to creating new policies for federally funded agencies, #MeToo has entered the research lab. Many men and women are changing the culture of STEM fields and the stigma that can go along with reporting sexual harassment. Follow the story of Sherry Marts who encountered sexual harassment in Academia, and realized many of her colleagues wanted nothing to do with helping her. Check all this out and more here.
One of the UK's leading female astronomers is to donate her £2.3m winnings from a major science prize she was awarded. The sum will go to fund women, under-represented ethnic minority and refugee students to become physics researchers. Prof Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell has been awarded a Breakthrough Prize for the discovery of radio pulsars. This was also the subject of the physics Nobel in 1974, but her male collaborators received the award. Check out her story in the article, "Bell Burnell: Physics star gives away £2.3m prize."
Angela Saini’s Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong—and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story sparked conversations immediately upon its release. "It is a powerful, impartial and thoroughly researched look at the origins of Damore’s—and troves of other engineers’ and scientists’—misconceptions. Inferior examines both the science and the scientists, delving into how easily bias and motivated reasoning creep into experiments, analysis, and the way we see the world." Check out the article, "A New Front in Fighting the Bias against Women in Science," which takes a look at the culture of science which caused the need for such a book to be written, and how understanding this look at culture and history is important for school children to learn.
Follow the link below to find funding opportunities for women in or going to graduate school!
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Our Top Picks For September 13th 2017
⭃Our culturally ingrained perceptions of STEM individuals indeed play a role in our professional decisions, as we act to reinforce stereotypical roles and maintain homogeneity in working environments. While those of us in STEM would like to presume that we judge each other solely on scientific merit, data suggest that we reflect our unconscious biases around gender and race in our assessments of ourselves and others. This Neuron article, "Advancing Science: How Bias Holds Us Back," talks about how bias in STEM fields is creating a less diverse environment, and how that can affect the quality of science, and its discoveries.
⭃"Taking a confident leap into uncertainty," is Melina Schuh's own account of her progression through the ranks of scientist to group leader at the Medical Research Council Laboratory at Cambridge, and on to Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany. She talks about how she decided to apply for the positions that she did, and how she knew that starting a family wasn't something she could put off while trying to wait for the elusive perfect time.
⭃"What fewer women in STEM means for their mental health," says, "the reality is that STEM professions are most commonly male and it remains surprising when these professional roles are held by women. The large gender imbalance means that women may naturally feel they’re outsiders at school and at work. This situation is often uncomfortable and mentally demanding, when even just showing up and doing your job comes with constant social stresses and anxiety. Ironically, the difficulties that they (we) encounter often dissuade the next generation of women from joining us. It’s a self-reinforcing cycle that we need to break."
⭃Working conditions in academic labs encourage abusive supervision. It is time to improve monitoring of and penalties for abuse, says Sherry Moss. Check out this Nature article, "Research is set up for bullies to thrive."
⭃The article, "Gender and international diversity improves equity in peer review," hooks you in immediately with the opening of their abstract, which reads: "The robustness of scholarly peer review has been challenged by evidence of disparities in publication outcomes based on author's gender and nationality. To address this, we examine the peer review outcomes of 23,873 initial submissions and 7,192 full submissions that were submitted to the biosciences journal eLife between 2012 and 2017. Women and authors from nations outside of North America and Europe were underrepresented both as gatekeepers (editors and peer reviewers) and last authors. We found a homophilic interaction between the demographics of the gatekeepers and authors in determining the outcome of peer review; that is, gatekeepers favor manuscripts from authors of the same gender and from the same country."
Flickr Image form Queen's University.
⭃"Taking a confident leap into uncertainty," is Melina Schuh's own account of her progression through the ranks of scientist to group leader at the Medical Research Council Laboratory at Cambridge, and on to Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany. She talks about how she decided to apply for the positions that she did, and how she knew that starting a family wasn't something she could put off while trying to wait for the elusive perfect time.
Flickr Image from Hagerstown Community College.
⭃"What fewer women in STEM means for their mental health," says, "the reality is that STEM professions are most commonly male and it remains surprising when these professional roles are held by women. The large gender imbalance means that women may naturally feel they’re outsiders at school and at work. This situation is often uncomfortable and mentally demanding, when even just showing up and doing your job comes with constant social stresses and anxiety. Ironically, the difficulties that they (we) encounter often dissuade the next generation of women from joining us. It’s a self-reinforcing cycle that we need to break."
⭃Working conditions in academic labs encourage abusive supervision. It is time to improve monitoring of and penalties for abuse, says Sherry Moss. Check out this Nature article, "Research is set up for bullies to thrive."
Flickr Image from Hagerstown Community College.
⭃The article, "Gender and international diversity improves equity in peer review," hooks you in immediately with the opening of their abstract, which reads: "The robustness of scholarly peer review has been challenged by evidence of disparities in publication outcomes based on author's gender and nationality. To address this, we examine the peer review outcomes of 23,873 initial submissions and 7,192 full submissions that were submitted to the biosciences journal eLife between 2012 and 2017. Women and authors from nations outside of North America and Europe were underrepresented both as gatekeepers (editors and peer reviewers) and last authors. We found a homophilic interaction between the demographics of the gatekeepers and authors in determining the outcome of peer review; that is, gatekeepers favor manuscripts from authors of the same gender and from the same country."
⭃Gender discrimination in the workplace remains rife, with many young women experiencing sexual harassment, job insecurity and low pay compared with male peers, a survey has found. Almost a quarter (23%) of females aged between 16 and 30 have been sexually harassed at work but only 8% have reported it, according to the poll for the Young Women’s Trust. See the troubles women in England, Wales, and all over the the Guardian's post, "Workplace gender discrimination remains rife, survey finds" and how people are reacting to this information. A Government Equalities Office spokesman said: “This government is committed to tackling burning injustices, including closing the gender pay gap and sexual harassment in the workplace."
Check out this event:
In the past year, the worlds of medicine and science have been part of a broad reckoning about the obstacles that can block women from advancing and feeling comfortable in the workplace. Universities, hospitals, and life sciences companies are launching and expanding gender diversity initiatives, but what’s really moving the needle?
As part of Boston’s Hubweek, STAT’s Rebecca Robbins will lead a conversation about what’s changing — and what’s not — in laboratories, executive suites, and boardrooms. Coffee and snacks will be provided. Register below to reserve a seat.
Location
The Broad Institute
415 Main Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
The Broad Institute
415 Main Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
Date & TimeTuesday, October 9th
10:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Doors open at 9:30 a.m.
10:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Doors open at 9:30 a.m.
Register here!
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Labor Day finds
⭃Havard business review recently studied three organizations in-depth using a combination of surveys, interviews, and direct observation, and noted a consistent theme: While everyone in the organization experienced collaboration overload, women felt the burden disproportionately. Check out the reasons why this might be the case in the article, "In collaborative work cultures, women carry more of the weight."
⭃The article, "A Summary Report from the Research Partnership on Women in Science Careers" is an academic approach to understanding the problems women face in STEM fields. It states that "women still contend with sexual harassment, stereotype threat, a disproportionate burden of family responsibilities, a lack of parity in compensation and resource allocation, and implicit bias. Strategies to address these barriers using the Bronfenbrenner ecological model at the individual, interpersonal, institutional, academic community, and policy levels include effective mentoring and coaching, having a strong publication record, addressing prescriptive gender norms, positive counter-stereotype imaging, career development training, networking, and external career programs such as the AAMC Early and Mid-Career Programs and Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM)."
⭃In another academic approach to understanding the reasons behind the gender gap in STEM fields, "Gender Disparities in Faculty Rank: Factors that Affect Advancement of Women Scientists at Academic Medical Centers" is an article that comprehensively covers many contributing factors. "Qualitative analysis demonstrated several emergent themes that affect women’s advancement, including gendered expectation norms (e.g., good citizenship, volunteerism), work-life balance, mentorship/sponsorship, adoption of a team science approach, tenure process milestones, soft money research infrastructure, institution specific policies (or lack thereof), and operating within an MD-biased culture. These findings are compared with the extant literature of women scientists in STEM institutions. Factors that emerged from these focus groups highlight the need for evidence-based interventions in the often overlooked STEM arena of academic medical centers."
⭃Check out the article, "Why Women Don’t Apply for Jobs Unless They’re 100% Qualified." The statistic that men will apply for a job if they meet only 60% of the job qualifications, but women will only apply if they feel that they meet 100% of the required qualifications may not be for the underlying reasons that you think. This article highlights that this may be not because women are less confident, but that their view of the hiring process is a bit different than their male counterparts.
⭃Graduate students, Ph.D.'s, and Professors alike suffer from imposter syndrome. Read this Huffington Post article about one doctor's experience that helped her own her Imposter Syndrome and use it for the better.
⭃Register or submit an abstract for the 8th World Congress of International Association for Women Mental Health in Paris this coming March (2019) here!
⭃In the article, "Relying on Women, Not Rewarding Them," it says, "Women shoulder a disproportionately large workload at home in ways that might disadvantage them professionally. But are female professors also 'taking care of the academic family' via disproportionate service loads? A new study says yes and adds to a growing body of research suggesting the same." This service can lead to less time devoted to research and teaching efforts, which in turn can widen the gap between gender income averages.
⭃Read about how "activists are protesting imbalanced conferences, editorial boards, and other professional activities by refusing to join," in the article "To Highlight Gender Gaps, Scientists Decline Opportunities." For example, "Jonathan Eisen, a microbiologist at the University of California, Davis, first declined an offer to join a 'manel' in 2014. Since then, he’s called attention to dozens of male-dominated scientific meetings on his blog, and many more men, are following suit."
⭃In another academic approach to understanding the reasons behind the gender gap in STEM fields, "Gender Disparities in Faculty Rank: Factors that Affect Advancement of Women Scientists at Academic Medical Centers" is an article that comprehensively covers many contributing factors. "Qualitative analysis demonstrated several emergent themes that affect women’s advancement, including gendered expectation norms (e.g., good citizenship, volunteerism), work-life balance, mentorship/sponsorship, adoption of a team science approach, tenure process milestones, soft money research infrastructure, institution specific policies (or lack thereof), and operating within an MD-biased culture. These findings are compared with the extant literature of women scientists in STEM institutions. Factors that emerged from these focus groups highlight the need for evidence-based interventions in the often overlooked STEM arena of academic medical centers."
⭃Graduate students, Ph.D.'s, and Professors alike suffer from imposter syndrome. Read this Huffington Post article about one doctor's experience that helped her own her Imposter Syndrome and use it for the better.
⭃Register or submit an abstract for the 8th World Congress of International Association for Women Mental Health in Paris this coming March (2019) here!
⭃In the article, "Relying on Women, Not Rewarding Them," it says, "Women shoulder a disproportionately large workload at home in ways that might disadvantage them professionally. But are female professors also 'taking care of the academic family' via disproportionate service loads? A new study says yes and adds to a growing body of research suggesting the same." This service can lead to less time devoted to research and teaching efforts, which in turn can widen the gap between gender income averages.
⭃Read about how "activists are protesting imbalanced conferences, editorial boards, and other professional activities by refusing to join," in the article "To Highlight Gender Gaps, Scientists Decline Opportunities." For example, "Jonathan Eisen, a microbiologist at the University of California, Davis, first declined an offer to join a 'manel' in 2014. Since then, he’s called attention to dozens of male-dominated scientific meetings on his blog, and many more men, are following suit."
Monday, August 13, 2018
Our Top Picks for August 13th, 2018
⭃In Beryl Benderly's article, "Rosalind Franklin and the damage of gender harassment," Beryl explores the environment that Rosalind was making her discoveries in, and how things are both different and the same today. She speaks on the "Matilda effect," which is the practice of ascribing women's accomplishments to men, and how one of the things that may be holding women back and creating inequality is that women do not have the same "freedom to fail" that men enjoy.
⭃Abstract: "As part of their efforts to increase the diversity of their workforce and student body, medical schools, academic medical centers, and individual departments are increasingly crafting public statements about their value for and commitment to diversity. In order for these statements to effectively enhance diversity, however, care must be taken, as research shows that some diversity-related messages can backfire. To avoid the pitfalls and realize the promise of diversity statements, this article presents recommendations based on experimental studies that investigate the impact of diversity messages. These studies suggest that diversity statements be aspirational, emphasize autonomy, and express a value for difference." Check out the full article here.
⭃Are you just beginning your career as an independent researcher and want some insight on how to run your very own research group? This guide: A career in research, could be just what you need. With input from over 100 researchers and interview panel members, this compilation of tips and tricks can help kick-start your career as a successful independent scientist!
⭃In a world in which men dominate leadership roles, should we focus on changing the systems and structures that favor men at women’s expense? Or should we emphasize the tactics individual women can use to get ahead? Check out Harvard Business Review's research on this matter in the article, "'Lean In' Messages and the Illusion of Control."
⭃Tokyo Medical University's confirmed the allegations that they were discriminating against female prospective students by inflating scores on the entrance exam of male students. The university did not award any extra points to female students, but if a male was taking the exam for the first, second or third time, they would be given a bonus ranging from 10-20 points. Read more about how these allegations are unfolding in the article, "Tokyo Medical University admits subtracting points from repeat applicants' scores and boosting others to secure donations."
⭃BethAnn McLaughlin is a Vanderbilt University neuroscientist who has started online petitions calling on the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science(AAAS) to revoke the memberships of those found guilty of sexual harassment or assault. Through her advocacy, she got the website RateMyProfessors.com—which lets college students rate their professors—to drop its red chili pepper professor "hotness” rating. In this article, McLaughlin speaks with The Scientist about how she got started on her advocacy, the various reactions to it, and why she’s made it a priority.
⭃Join hundreds who have signed the Gender Avenger Pledge that declares: "I will not serve as a panelist at a public conference when there are no women on the panel." Sign up here.
⭃When young men and women come up against sexist stereotypes masquerading as science, Angela Saini wants them to be armed with the facts. “I call my book ammunition,” she says of her 288-page prize-winning work Inferior: The True Power of Women and the Science that Shows It. “There are people out there who insist that somehow the inequalities we see in society are not just because of historic discrimination, but also because of biology – the idea that there are factors within us that will cause men or women to be better at some things than others.” Check out this article, "The book that fights sexism with science," to see more about what drove Saini to write her book.
⭃AI is often criticized for its tendency to perpetuate society’s biases, but it’s equally capable of fighting them. Machine learning is currently being used to scan scientific studies and news stories to identify prominent scientists who aren’t featured on Wikipedia. Many of these scientists are female, and their omission is particularly significant in the world’s most popular encyclopedia, where 82 percent of biographies are written about men. Check out this article, "AI spots 40,000 prominent scientists overlooked by Wikipedia," to see how AI can be used to literally write the wrongs left behind as a product of years of societal gender discrimination.
⭃Check out the lastest NIH research, "Trends in Diversity within the NIH-funded workforce."
Flickr Image from Helios.
⭃Abstract: "As part of their efforts to increase the diversity of their workforce and student body, medical schools, academic medical centers, and individual departments are increasingly crafting public statements about their value for and commitment to diversity. In order for these statements to effectively enhance diversity, however, care must be taken, as research shows that some diversity-related messages can backfire. To avoid the pitfalls and realize the promise of diversity statements, this article presents recommendations based on experimental studies that investigate the impact of diversity messages. These studies suggest that diversity statements be aspirational, emphasize autonomy, and express a value for difference." Check out the full article here.
⭃Are you just beginning your career as an independent researcher and want some insight on how to run your very own research group? This guide: A career in research, could be just what you need. With input from over 100 researchers and interview panel members, this compilation of tips and tricks can help kick-start your career as a successful independent scientist!
⭃In a world in which men dominate leadership roles, should we focus on changing the systems and structures that favor men at women’s expense? Or should we emphasize the tactics individual women can use to get ahead? Check out Harvard Business Review's research on this matter in the article, "'Lean In' Messages and the Illusion of Control."
⭃Tokyo Medical University's confirmed the allegations that they were discriminating against female prospective students by inflating scores on the entrance exam of male students. The university did not award any extra points to female students, but if a male was taking the exam for the first, second or third time, they would be given a bonus ranging from 10-20 points. Read more about how these allegations are unfolding in the article, "Tokyo Medical University admits subtracting points from repeat applicants' scores and boosting others to secure donations."
⭃BethAnn McLaughlin is a Vanderbilt University neuroscientist who has started online petitions calling on the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science(AAAS) to revoke the memberships of those found guilty of sexual harassment or assault. Through her advocacy, she got the website RateMyProfessors.com—which lets college students rate their professors—to drop its red chili pepper professor "hotness” rating. In this article, McLaughlin speaks with The Scientist about how she got started on her advocacy, the various reactions to it, and why she’s made it a priority.
Flickr Image from Agang SA.
⭃Join hundreds who have signed the Gender Avenger Pledge that declares: "I will not serve as a panelist at a public conference when there are no women on the panel." Sign up here.
⭃When young men and women come up against sexist stereotypes masquerading as science, Angela Saini wants them to be armed with the facts. “I call my book ammunition,” she says of her 288-page prize-winning work Inferior: The True Power of Women and the Science that Shows It. “There are people out there who insist that somehow the inequalities we see in society are not just because of historic discrimination, but also because of biology – the idea that there are factors within us that will cause men or women to be better at some things than others.” Check out this article, "The book that fights sexism with science," to see more about what drove Saini to write her book.
⭃AI is often criticized for its tendency to perpetuate society’s biases, but it’s equally capable of fighting them. Machine learning is currently being used to scan scientific studies and news stories to identify prominent scientists who aren’t featured on Wikipedia. Many of these scientists are female, and their omission is particularly significant in the world’s most popular encyclopedia, where 82 percent of biographies are written about men. Check out this article, "AI spots 40,000 prominent scientists overlooked by Wikipedia," to see how AI can be used to literally write the wrongs left behind as a product of years of societal gender discrimination.
⭃Check out the lastest NIH research, "Trends in Diversity within the NIH-funded workforce."
Friday, August 3, 2018
Get involved! Join our slack group and stay current on Workshops offered around the country!
Join our Slack group and follow the link to see the workshop below:
National Institutes of Health
Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers
Committee on Advancing Women in Independent Positions
Office of Research on Women’s Health
https://slack-files.com/files-pri-safe/TAY2NTBKK-FC1MED6FM/workshop_on_advancing_women_in_independent_positions_final_summary.pdf?c=1533239722-ca646f64e3dfc09ab6fcb06e8c10dcde2ec1cbf3
Fickr Image by Robert Couse-Baker.
While you're here, check out these related links:
NIH Director Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni created the NIH Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers to examine issues raised in the National Academies report and to respond to the challenges issued to government funding agencies to maximize the potential of women scientists and engineers.
Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers. The National Science Foundation's (NSF) mission is to advance the progress of science, a mission accomplished by funding proposals for research and education made by scientists, engineers, and educators from across the country.
Follow this link to apply for the STEM faculty launch workshop hosted by Worcester Polytechnic Institute (deadline: August 17th).
Thursday, August 2, 2018
Our Top Picks for August 2nd, 2018
⭃Alexandra King's article, "The uncomfortable question powerful women should answer," talks about the work-family question many women are often asked when they achieve success while having a family. She applauds Lauren Groff's response of, "Until I see a male writer asked this question, I'm going to respectfully decline to answer," since it brought attention to the inherent sexism of the question itself, but also compels other powerful and successful women to answer the question, so that working moms can actually learn from them and apply the advice they have to share.
⭃Nature's article, "Leaky pipeline for women dries up after they win first big grant," says that after they secure their first major research grant from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), women are almost as successful as men at netting further awards from the agency, according to an analysis published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
⭃In an interview with Jess Wade, a postdoc in plastic electronics at London's Imperial College, she speaks about how she is encouraging women to get involved in science. In the last year, she has written over 270 Wikipedia articles on women scientists and their achievements, hoping to make women role models more tangible and relevant to the upcoming generation. She also speaks about how the initiatives to get women into STEM fields are all well and good, but the efforts and money allotted to the cause may not be being used in the most efficient ways.
Check out the article, "Five amazing female scientists you've probably never heard of," to see how Jess Wade's efforts are already paying off.
⭃"'When it comes to silencing women,' writes Mary Beard, 'Western culture has had thousands of years of practice.' Academe is no exception. A recent conference at Stanford University featured 30 speakers — all of them men, all of them white. The incident sparked ridicule and outrage, as well as a sense that higher education is facing a reckoning. Over the past few months, amid mounting revelations of sexual harassment, The Chronicle Review asked presidents and adjuncts, scientists and humanists, senior scholars and junior professors to take on the theme of women and power in academe." Check out Maggie Doherty's article, "The Awakening: Women and power in the Academy," to see the responses.
⭃"Forbes has named Duke University among 'America’s Best Employers For Women,' ranking the university among 300 employers in its first list of this kind. Forbes partnered with online statistics partner Statista to survey 40,000 Americans, including 25,000 women, working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees." Check out the article "Forbes names Duke among 'Best Employers for Women' in 2018," to read more about what perks Duke employees enjoy to earn them their spot on this list.
⭃Harvard Business Review published the outcome of some of their experimental research in the article, "Why Women Volunteer for Tasks that Don't Lead to Promotions," that suggests that women are more likely to volunteer for "non-promotable" tasks than men, and more likely to be asked to take these types of tasks on. They found, "women were 48% more likely to volunteer than men," and that "women received 44% more requests to volunteer than men in mixed-sex groups," in their experimental design.
⭃"The fact that gender differences exist, in itself, is not always a problem. But problems arise when individuals are treated differently as a result of these behavioral differences." This article, "Are women penalized for being team players," talks about how behavioral differences in males and females often leads to women being more collaborative in nature, but this can be detrimental to a woman's academic career since collaborations bring less individual attention to researchers, and can often take longer to publish.
Flickr Image by 1DayReview.
⭃Nature's article, "Leaky pipeline for women dries up after they win first big grant," says that after they secure their first major research grant from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), women are almost as successful as men at netting further awards from the agency, according to an analysis published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
⭃In an interview with Jess Wade, a postdoc in plastic electronics at London's Imperial College, she speaks about how she is encouraging women to get involved in science. In the last year, she has written over 270 Wikipedia articles on women scientists and their achievements, hoping to make women role models more tangible and relevant to the upcoming generation. She also speaks about how the initiatives to get women into STEM fields are all well and good, but the efforts and money allotted to the cause may not be being used in the most efficient ways.
Check out the article, "Five amazing female scientists you've probably never heard of," to see how Jess Wade's efforts are already paying off.
⭃"'When it comes to silencing women,' writes Mary Beard, 'Western culture has had thousands of years of practice.' Academe is no exception. A recent conference at Stanford University featured 30 speakers — all of them men, all of them white. The incident sparked ridicule and outrage, as well as a sense that higher education is facing a reckoning. Over the past few months, amid mounting revelations of sexual harassment, The Chronicle Review asked presidents and adjuncts, scientists and humanists, senior scholars and junior professors to take on the theme of women and power in academe." Check out Maggie Doherty's article, "The Awakening: Women and power in the Academy," to see the responses.
⭃"Forbes has named Duke University among 'America’s Best Employers For Women,' ranking the university among 300 employers in its first list of this kind. Forbes partnered with online statistics partner Statista to survey 40,000 Americans, including 25,000 women, working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees." Check out the article "Forbes names Duke among 'Best Employers for Women' in 2018," to read more about what perks Duke employees enjoy to earn them their spot on this list.
Flickr image by Ata.
⭃Harvard Business Review published the outcome of some of their experimental research in the article, "Why Women Volunteer for Tasks that Don't Lead to Promotions," that suggests that women are more likely to volunteer for "non-promotable" tasks than men, and more likely to be asked to take these types of tasks on. They found, "women were 48% more likely to volunteer than men," and that "women received 44% more requests to volunteer than men in mixed-sex groups," in their experimental design.
⭃"The fact that gender differences exist, in itself, is not always a problem. But problems arise when individuals are treated differently as a result of these behavioral differences." This article, "Are women penalized for being team players," talks about how behavioral differences in males and females often leads to women being more collaborative in nature, but this can be detrimental to a woman's academic career since collaborations bring less individual attention to researchers, and can often take longer to publish.
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Our Top Picks for July 19th 2018
⭃A medical researcher from the UK by the name of Lois, speaks about her own battle with sexual harassment during her pursuit of a Ph.D. In the article, "Why science breeds a culture of sexism," the authors discuss what she went through during her research and "how the hierarchy, working environment and male-dominated culture of science, not only in their university but in their specialism/discipline, makes tackling sexual misconduct more complex and challenging than in other academic fields and industries."
Flickr Image by Mike Lawrence.
Flickr Image by Archives New Zealand.
⭃Check out the article, "How the Founder of All Girls Code is Shaking Up STEM in the Middle East," to read about how 20-year-old Aya Mouallem is encouraging the girls who attend her programs to pursue STEM degrees and careers.
⭃Neuroscientist Brenda Miler turns 100 with style. Learn about her life and legacy in Stat New's article "If you’re neuroscientist Brenda Milner, this is how you turn 100 years old."
⭃It’s easier to make a case for a raise and promotion when you have a clear sense of your own performance. Unfortunately, that part is never easy. Check out the article, "Give yourself a performance review right now. Here’s how," for advice on how to navigate the ins and outs of being honest with yourself and others about your work output.
Flickr image by Nick J Webb.
⭃In the article "Twitter for Academics 101" neuroscientist Caitlin Vander Weele gives a crash course on academic Twitter in the new blog post found on Inscopix. She highlights the benefits of using social media as a scientist and gives tips on how to optimize the experience.
Job opportunities
A postdoctoral position, supported by NIAAA funded T32, is open in the laboratory of Dr. Anushree Karkhanis in the Department of Psychology at Binghamton University in Binghamton, NY. The research program in our lab is guided by two overarching questions: (1) How does chronic stress impact neural substrates involved in shaping neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g.: anxiety, depression, PTSD, addiction, etc.)? and (2) What are the neural substrates responsible for the comorbidity between affective disorders (e.g.: PTSD, anxiety, depression, etc.) and alcohol and substance use disorders? A major emphasis is on understanding the neural substrates and mechanisms affected by stress, which then may lead to comorbid affective and addictive disorders. We utilize a combination of behavioral (operant oral and intravenous drug self-administration, real time conditioned place preference and aversion, elevated plus maze, forces swim stress) and neurochemical (ex vivo and in vivo voltammetry, in vivo microdialysis, HPLC) techniques along with optogenetics and chemogenetics.
For this position we are seeking a highly-motivated candidate with experience in studying behavioral and neurochemical effects of drugs of abuse to lead a NIAAA-funded project investigating impact of stress and drug exposure during adolescence on addiction vulnerability in adulthood. The successful candidate will join a highly-interactive neuroscience community and will work as part of a team that includes members of other laboratories in the Department of Psychology and the Developmental Exposure Alcohol Research Center.
A recent Ph.D. degree in Psychology, Neuroscience or Pharmacology is preferred. Submit a formal application here: https://www.interviewexchange.com/jobofferdetails.jsp?JOBID=98878. Please also email the application materials directly to Anushree Karkhanis, Ph.D. (akarkhan@binghamton.edu).
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