Future Female Scientists Converge on Texas University

From  HispanicBusiness.com:  Future Female Scientists Converge on Texas University

In one classroom, a group of schoolgirls inspected the brain of a dissected shark Saturday afternoon at Schreiner University, while in others, girls extracted DNA from strawberries, built rockets and robots and learned the basics of crime scene investigation.

The sixth, seventh and eighth grade girls were among 190 female students from across the Hill Country who signed up for the university's annual Expanding Your Horizons career conference, intended to get more girls interested in and ready for math and science-related careers. A $12 fee let each student see presentations by women in scientific professions and attend labs led by Schreiner University students. Girls learned the basics of crime scene investigation and diagnosing illnesses, examined local marine life, designed logos with Photoshop, built marble roller coasters and made silly putty, ice cream, beauty products and environmentally-friendly cleaners, among other activities.

Diana Comuzzie, director of the conference, said the day's activities will help girls choose high school classes and give them role models. Parents attended a section of the conference and learned how to better prepare their daughters for high school, college and careers in science.

Comuzzie, dean of the university's School of Science and Mathematics, said women continue to be underrepresented in math and science.

"Girls sometimes don't know that they can be smart, pretty, popular -- all those things together," Cormuzzie said. "Particularly smart -- it's hard to let people know that you're smart. It's great for these girls to be looking around the room and see there's 50 other girls that look just like them and that also like science, and they get to be in this environment where they all get really excited about science."

Kendall Elementary students and Boerne residents Janelle Gallego and Cassandra Muniz said their experiences at Schreiner helped solidify their goals. Together, the friends spent time learning about chemistry and computer graphic design. Muniz, who attended the forensics lab, said she wants to travel the world as an archeologist. Gallego, who attended the aquatic biology lab and caught a frog at the Guadalupe River, is considering a career as a marine biologist.

Asked whether having a scientist as a daughter would make him proud, Tom Gallego said Janelle makes him proud every day. "But it wouldn't hurt," he added with a laugh.

Attending the conference as a sixth- and seventh-grader inspired Jocelynn Machis to major in biology and premedical studies at Schreiner University. On Saturday, the college junior taught a group of girls about closed currents by helping them assemble "Bristlebots" made of toothbrush heads, batteries, pager motors, wires and tape.

"I very much believe that women are underrepresented (in math and science)," Machis said. I think that girls think ... they aren't smart enough to get through the course work, or they weren't exposed to it to see what massive amounts of different opportunities there are in these fields. The only way the trend can be reversed is to get girls interested in math and science, especially during the middle school years, and to support them, challenge them to continue their education and expand their minds. I also think that another big thing to reverse the trend is for these young girls to have role models, to see that these careers are possible, and to not be intimidated by what others say or think."

Comuzzie said having more female scientists will help increase humanity's knowledge and establish more of a balance between competitiveness and cooperation in the scientific community.

"Science is a way of knowing, asking questions, exploring," Comuzzie said. "Scientists ask questions from their own experience, so tackling problems and making discoveries benefits from diversity. If you have a diversity of people trying to solve different kinds of problems ... the more questions we can answer."

The conference was sponsored by the university and by the American Association of University Women. 

 

Seeing sexism in academia - moving up the ranks opens the eyes

From Female Computer Scientist Blog:  Seeing sexism in academia - moving up the ranks opens the eyes

A few years ago I remember reading an article about the fact that as women become more senior in their disciplines they start to encounter more sexism. For a long time I've been trying to figure out how that worked - was it that senior women encountered senior men more often, and were thus encountering old attitudes?

Recently, after a particularly upsetting incident, I realised what it is. It is that as we become more senior and have more experiences, we simply see sexism more. We are more aware. As junior women, when we encounter a microaggressive comment, it's just one papercut. Maybe it's one of those very subtle papercuts that you don't even notice until a few days later when you use rubbing alcohol.

But as you become more senior, you become more aware. You start counting these comments, and noticing them more and more.

"What's the big deal? Who cares what they say?" the well-intentioned male colleague says. The big deal is that at work I am Scientist first, Woman second. Men that treat my science as secondary (or even peripherally) to my gender insult my intelligence and insult my years of hard work to get to the place I am at.

Furthermore, the fact that these comments are unequally delivered is particularly infuriating. If, when my male colleagues had newborns, people said, "OMG! How will you survive as a professor??? How will you keep your research program afloat?! AUGH!!!", it would be ok. If, when my male colleagues wore colorful clothing, their senior colleagues stopped them in the hallway and said, "Please don't take this in the wrong way, but that shirt really brings out the color of your beautiful eyes.", it would be ok.

But it's not equal. Women-as-mother, women-as-sexulized-object - these take first place. Women-as-scholar, woman-as-professor is in the back seat.

So what do I do in these situations when they happen to me? First, my heart starts pounding. I think, "This is A Moment! I am supposed to Say Something!" Then, I stop. I realize this person is just clueless. They have no idea that they are saying all this dreadful stuff only to women and not men. They honestly have no earthly idea. Finally, I ask myself if this is a Teaching Moment or not. It usually is not, at least not right then. 

These attitudes are so ingrained in our culture, they are just a part of how many people think. Publically humiliating the offender will not suddenly make them change their ways. But sometimes I desperately want to.

 Why do gender stereotypes persist?  Because these guys watch a lot of TV, I have no doubt. Ever watch Big Bang Theory, with the beautiful but dumb Penny, the plain but smart - unless her boyfriend gives her a tiara Amy Farrah Fowler, and Bernadette (whom admittedly I don't know much about since I watched the show after Amy Farrah Fowler's character degenerated from a female Sheldon to a female-who-wants-to-get-into-any-man's-pants) . 

Look at any cartoon show - 90% of them have male heroes. 80% of them have male heroes with female sisters who are portrayed as bossy, clueless know-it-alls.

The drama shows? 80% male heroes, 20% female. I don't watch Covert Affairs, but we've got a spy whose not supposed to admit to anyone, let alone her family , that's she's a spy. But she does! (In other words, women are weak.)

House - I really don't understand the popularity of this show. In real life House would have been kicked out of the hospital, but in the show he gets away with everything including his disrepect for his female boss - who is of course in love with him...

But the sit-coms are really egregious. Two Broke Girls? A woman who used to be rich can't figure out how to get a good job so she won't be broke anymore? No, she's too dumb to be anything but a waitress? (Not that there's anything wrong with being a waitress when you're first starting out or earning money while you're going to college - but not something to make a career out of!)

I blame mass media for the continued marginalization of women at a time when women can be anything they want - but don't scale the heights because they've been taught - even subliminally where they don't realize why - that they mustn't and still be liked by the men who surround them.

Male bias persists in female-rich science conferences

From Science Codex:  Male bias persists in female-rich science conferences

Women scientists in primatology are poorly represented at symposia organized by men, but receive equal representation when symposia organizers are women or mixed groups, according to research published November 21 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Lynne Isbell and colleagues from the University of California, Davis.

The authors analyzed women scientists' participation at major scientific conferences for primate scientists and anthropologists, where symposia are largely by invitation but posters and other talks are initiated by participants. They found that within the field of primatology, women give more posters than talks, whereas men give more talks than posters. Their analysis also shows that symposia organized by men on average included half the number of women authors (29%) than symposia organized by women or both men and women (58 to 64%).

They describe their results as particularly surprising given that primatology is a field with a significant history of women scientists. In their discussion of these findings, the authors say, "Regardless of the cause of gender bias against women in invitations to prestigious symposia, its discovery requires attention in a field that is exemplary in being gender-blind in so many other ways."

Lynne Isbell adds, "It is difficult to imagine in this day and age that a gender bias by men against women in primatology could exist, but the evidence clearly reveals the sad truth. If it is still happening in a science that is so heavily represented by women, what does that mean for other sciences where women remain in the minority?"

 

Kung fu nuns teach cosmic energy to CERN scientists

From Reuters.com:  Kung fu nuns teach cosmic energy to CERN scientists


(Reuters) - A dozen kung fu nuns from an Asian Buddhist order displayed their martial arts prowess to bemused scientists at CERN this week as their spiritual leader explained how their energy was like that of the cosmos.
The nuns, all from the Himalayan region, struck poses of hand-chops, high-kicks and punches on Thursday while touring the research centre where physicists at the frontiers of science are probing the origins of the universe.
"Men and women carry different energy," said His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa, a monk who ranks only slightly below the Dalai Lama in the global Buddhist hierarchy. "Both male and female energies are needed to better the world."
This, he said, was a scientific principle "as fundamental as the relationship between the sun and the moon" and its importance was similar to that of the particle collisions in CERN's vast "Big Bang" machine, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
The nuns, mostly slim and fit-looking teenagers with shaven heads and clad in flowing burgundy robes, nodded sagely.
But the 49-year-old Gyalwang Drukpa, head since the age of four of one of the new independent schools of Tibetan Buddhism centered in India and Nepal, stressed that their visit to CERN was not just scientific in purpose.
GENDER EQUALITY
By taking the nuns around the world and letting people of other countries enjoy their martial displays, he told physicists and reporters: "I hope to raise awareness about gender equality and the need for the empowerment of women."
The nuns themselves -- who star on Youtube videos -- have benefited from this outlook, he said.
For centuries in Tibet -- incorporated into communist China since 1951 -- and its surrounds, women were strictly barred from practicing any form of martial art.
In his homeland Himalayan region of Ladakh, the Gyalwang Drukpa said, women were mainly servants, cooks and cleaners to monks.
About three years ago he decided to break out of this pattern and improve the health and spiritual well-being of women by training them in kung fu and even allowing them to perform sacred rites once also restricted to men.
"And a very good thing too," declared CERN physicist Pauline Gagnon, who recently wrote a blog study pointing to the low, although growing, proportion of women in scientific research around the world.
The visit to CERN, whose director general Rolf Heuer recently sponsored a conference of scientists, theologians and philosophers to discuss the tense relationship between science and religion, was not the first by a top religious leader.
In 1983 the sprawling campus on the border of France and Switzerland hosted the Dalai Lama, Buddhism's most revered figure, who argues that most scientific discoveries prove the truth of the view of the cosmos expounded by his faith -- sometimes dubbed by outsiders an "atheistic religion."
Pope John-Paul II preceded him in 1982 and the present Pope Benedict has a standing invitation from Heuer.

 

UO's Geri Richmond named to National Science Board

From OregonLive:  UO's Geri Richmond named to National Science Board

University of Oregon chemistry professor Geri  Richmond has been appointed to a six-year term on the National Science Board, the UO announced Friday.

President Obama appointed Richmond to the 25-member board, which sets policies and approves programs for the National Science Foundation. The board also advises the president and Congress on science and engineering policy and education.

Richmond specializes in chemistry, materials science and chemical reactions on liquid surfaces, according to a UO news release.

"Dr. Richmond's appointment is the result of outstanding excellence in research, coupled with her significant contributions to the sciences nationally and internationally," said Kimberly Andrews Espy, vice president for research and innovation and dean of the graduate school at the UO, according to the release. "She brings a wealth of experience -- as a scientist, an educator and as an advocate for women in science -- and we are proud that she will be serving the nation's top science policy organization."

Richmond joined the UO faculty in 1985 and served on the Oregon State Board of Higher Education from 1999 to 2006. She co-founded the Committee on the Advancement of Women Chemists and is working on projects with women scientists in developing countries. Richmond was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 2011, according to the news release.

 

from sugar and spice to the glucose cycle

From The Family That Reads Together Blog:  from sugar and spice to the glucose cycle 

My high school science education consisted of the following memories: breaking a flask (not a big deal, the teacher said), breaking a thermometer (kind of a big deal), breaking many other kids of lab equipment (increasingly a big deal), never (not once) getting the correct results on any physics or chemistry lab despite being studious, careful, and the last to finish pretty much every single time. I had a mild interest in biology but I always assumed I was “bad” at science. Despite good grades, which obviously didn’t reflected the trail of broken equipment I left in my wake, it never (NEVER!) occurred to me that I could be good at science.
Then enter college: I took an introductory biology course and fell in love. Bird migration! Ants who farm aphids! These were stories whose magic nobody could ignore. And to the surprise of everyone (especially myself and my professors who were wary of me from the first moment I refused to dissect a cat (I mean, really, a cat?), I became a bio major.
WHICH IS WHY I LOVED THIS BOOK!
Title: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Author: Jacqueline Kelly
Genre: Historical Fiction
Age: Middle School and Upper Elementary
So many reasons to buy this book for your daughter (and read it yourself!):
1. It’s historical fiction, set in Texas in 1899, but it doesn’t whop you over the head with that fact. There are some interesting details: the first telephone and the woman operator with her long arms, Granddaddy sitting in a car for the first time, etc. But the historical fiction gives you, the parent, an edge: You can talk about societal expectations for girls and your child will likely be very comfortable talking about them in the book, as it was over 100 years ago. Then, once the conversation gets going, you can talk about how things have changed, but how we still have a long way to go.
2. It’s a science-nature story, but you don’t have to be a scientist to like this book. Any girl reader who enjoys character-driven books will like this one. And they will be getting a great female scientist role model on the side! It’s mostly a girl-growing-up story, and this girl, the only one amongst a myriad of brothers, is struggling against the expectations of her family (she’s supposed to learn to sew and cook or how will she ever get a family?), wondering if she might ever be allowed to have dreams beyond that.  And if your girl does get hooked on science after reading this book, don’t let it die out! Give her a field guide and start looking up plants or insects or birds or stars. Or grab some jars and start collecting bugs.
3. The book is beautiful; the sentences read like honey dripping down…well, dripping down something honey would drip down. Trust me, the prose is gorgeous. And that’s good for anyone. (And it is a Newbery Honor book. So there.)
P.S. I did sit through only one dissection. There was this guy in high school who would spend free time working on his frog for AP Bio, and I would hang out and watch him. It was probably disgusting. Maybe unethical. But in his defense, he’s a surgeon now. And in my defense, I’m married to him.

 

Student Who Named The Mars Rover 'Curiosity' As An 11-Year-Old Gets Space Exploration As Well As Anyone

From LA-ist:  Student Who Named The Mars Rover 'Curiosity' As An 11-Year-Old Gets Space Exploration As Well As Anyone

Clara Ma at age 12 (Photo via NASA)

More than three years before the Mars Rover Curiosity touched down on the Red Planet, an 11-year-old in Kansas was only dreaming about how she could get involved in space exploration.
Now that Clara Ma has grown up and had the chance to see the rover touch down, she hasn't lost her sense of wonder. In a column that she penned for Mashable, she writes about how she came up with the name. She says she first read about the contest to name the newest Mars Rover in a kids' issue of TIME Magazine while she was at school one day. It didn't take her long to come up with the perfect name: Curiosity. She says she rushed home to pen the winning essay:

Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day. Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn't be who we are today. When I was younger, I wondered, 'Why is the sky blue?', 'Why do the stars twinkle?', 'Why am I me?', and I still do.

Based on her latest essay, we'd venture to say she probably gets science and space exploration as much as anyone who works at JPL or NASA (including the dude with the crazy mohawk). She writes about how she first became fascinated with space:

My grandmother lived in China, thousands of miles away from my home in Kansas. I loved the stars because they kept us together even when we were apart. They were always there, yet there was so much I didn’t know about them. That’s what I love so much about space. No matter how much we learn, it will always possess a certain degree of mystery.

She reflects on how space exploration means something different now than it did during the midcentury Space Race:

In the past, space exploration may have been a competition to see who got somewhere first or the fastest. But now, it is one of the few things that bring people together. Science is a language that needs no translation. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you look like — you just have to have a thirst for knowledge and a passion for learning in order to succeed.

The entire essay is worth a read.

On Aug. 5 at 10:31 p.m. PST, a rover named Curiosity touched down safely on the surface of Mars, and I was lucky enough to have a front-row seat.
My name is Clara, and when I was in 6th grade, I won the essay contest NASA held to name its next Mars rover. The essay I wrote was not even 250 words long, but somehow it was enough to change my life.
I still remember that chilly December day, sitting in science class. I’d finished a worksheet early and decided to get a TIME for Kids magazine off of Mrs. Estevez’s bookshelf. It was the 2008 Invention Issue, but that wasn’t the only thing that caught my eye. In the magazine, there was an article about a girl who named the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.
The article also talked about the essay contest NASA was holding to name its next Mars rover. Before I even knew anything else about it, a single word flooded my 11-year-old mind: Curiosity.
I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so I could get started on my essay. That afternoon, I raced home from the bus stop, sat down at the computer, and typed until my fingers ached. It turns out I was just in time. A few days later, and the contest would have closed.
Five months later, shortly after I had turned 12, I was watching a National Geographic special on mammoths when the phone rang. My mom answered, and immediately, a wide smile spread across her face.
When she told me that I had won, I was happier than I could ever remember being. I screamed and ran up and down the stairs and all around the house. I completely forgot about the mammoths and did not even remember to turn off the TV until it was really late.
When she told me that I had won, I was happier than I could ever remember being. I screamed and ran up and down the stairs and all around the house. I completely forgot about the mammoths and did not even remember to turn off the TV until it was really late.
Curiosity is such an important part of who I am. I have always been fascinated by the stars, the planets, the sky and the universe. I remember as a little girl, my grandmother and I would sit together in the backyard for hours. She’d tell me stories and point out constellations.
Here in the heart of the country, my grandmother would say, there were no bright city lights to compete with the brilliance of the stars. There was just the chirping of the cicadas and the soft summer breeze.
My grandmother lived in China, thousands of miles awa
The Curiosity rover is more than just a robot. It is more than just a titanium body and aluminum wheels. Curiosity represents the hard work, passion, love and commitment of thousands of people from all over the world who were brought together by science.
Science is so awesome. It is breathtaking and mind-blowing, intertwining and unifying; and sometimes, it’s just a little bit crazy. The discoveries we make about our world are incredibly humbling. They move us forward and have the potential to benefit all of mankind.
This December it will be four years of my life that have been tied to Curiosity in some way. I’ve met so many amazing people through this experience, from scientists to engineers to administrators to volunteers. Their dedication and fervor inspire me immensely. My journey with Curiosity and the MSL mission team has shaped the person that I am today, as well as the person I would one day like to become.
I am deeply grateful to everyone who made it possible for me to have this amazing adventure.
And to you, I hope your curiosity takes you far.
y from my home in Kansas. I loved the stars because they kept us together even when we were apart. They were always there, yet there was so much I didn’t know about them. That’s what I love so much about space. No matter how much we learn, it will always possess a certain degree of mystery.
In the past, space exploration may have been a competition to see who got somewhere first or the fastest. But now, it is one of the few things that bring people together. Science is a language that needs no translation. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you look like — you just have to have a thirst for knowledge and a passion for learning in order to succeed.
People often ask me why we go to faraway places like Mars. Why do we explore? My answer to that is simple: because we can. Because we’re curious. Because we as human beings do not just stay holed up in one place. We are constantly wondering and trying to find out what’s over the hill and beyond the horizon.