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Greetings!
 Did you know that the United States is 15th
in world to adopt nationwide broadband internet? This is unacceptable for
a country who created the Internet, where every child should have access. Recently in his most recent weekly address, President-elect Obama
rolled out a plan for economic recovery with the promise to make
broadband internet available in every corner of the country. Technology
blogs and commentators are applauding Obama for his vision as they feel
It will spark innovation, jobs, trade and education. This is one
of the numerous ways science and technology will be included in the
new administration. For more information on how science and
technology will be used, as well as the transparency of the Obama
administration, see www.change.gov.
We would like to share some
exciting news -we have been asked by AAAS to be one of the founding
partners in their new endeavor-MySciNet, a new science web portal. It will be
an internet-based professional network for scientists and students from
underrepresented communities in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics work force. We will have a landing site where GWIS, with others,
will be able to promote their professional organization, and participate in
online and offline events AAAS has planned throughout the year. We will have audio, video, and
podcasting capabilities, giving us a national presence where we will be able to
announce items like the Call for Fellowships Applications. In addition, there
will be a private portion where we can have online board meetings. We will be part of the
official launch of MySciNet in Chicago at the AAAS Annual Meeting in February 2009. For those of us who have struggled with how
GWIS enters the world of social networking, this may be the answer. Stay
tuned for more information as MySciNet is rolled out!
For those of you who plan to attend the annual GWIS meeting,
we are working on a business meeting in Durham,
NC where we hope to activate a new chapter
soon. We will share specifics with you after the
first of the year. Also, for those of
you who will be attending the AAAS meeting in Chicago, we hope to have a
meeting to reactive the Eta chapter. Contact me if you're interested in
attending.
Please announce the Call for Fellowships Applications
throughout your institutions and to your students and post docs. The newly
designed GWIS website (www.gwis.org) has an online application (http://www.gwis.org/programs.html) as well as detailed instructions and online
payment of the application fee.
Have a safe and wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year!
United in Friendship through Science,
Dee McManus, Executive Director
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National GWIS News
New National Officer: Dr. Kendra Hyland, National Corresponding Secretary
 Kendra Hyland currently works for a small gene therapy company called Discovery Genomics, located in Minneapolis, MN. They are in the research phase of developing therapies which utilize the Sleeping Beauty transposon system to correct genetic diseases, such as hemophilia and Fanconi Anemia. Kendra earned her B.S. degree in Biology 1997 and a PhD in Molecular Veterinary Biosciences at the University of Minnesota's College of Veterinary Medicine. The focus of her research has been the host immune response generated after interaction with bacterial pathogens at mucosal surfaces. Kendra's goal for GWIS is to improve communications with members.
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National News Headlines
Encouraging Interdisciplinarity. Minnesota is heading up a new consortium of research universities that
will be answering
integral questions about fostering interdisciplinary research. Ten
research universities - the Universities of California at Berkeley,
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin at Madison, along
with Brown and Duke Universities - will participate. Together, they're
designing a self-study instrument to address ways in which various
university functions, everything from the development to the diversity
offices, and faculty leaders to finance administrators, can support
interdisciplinary endeavors. The universities will administer the
self-study this winter, with Minnesota taking the lead in analyzing the
results. A conference on "Fostering Interdisciplinary Inquiry" took place in November 2008 in Minneapolis. Read more about the Interdisciplinarity Initiative.
Dance
your PhD contest winners revealed! In October, the Gonzo Scientist challenged researchers
around the
world to interpret their Ph.D. research in dance form, film the dance,
and share it with the world on YouTube (Science,
10 October, p. 186). By the deadline, 36
dances--including solo ballet and circus spectacle--had been submitted
online. A panel of nine judges--the three winners of the first "Dance
Your Ph.D." contest, three scientists from Harvard University, and
three artistic directors of the dance company Pilobolus--scored the
dances on their ability to bridge the art and science worlds. Science announces the winners of the 2009 AAAS Science Dance Contest in
four categories: Graduate Students, Postdocs, Professors, and Popular
Choice. Click on this link to view the winner's videos. This year's contest is over, but you can enter the contest next year- click here to view the rules.
The
National Women's
Studies Association Journal has a call for
special publication of papers with the theme: "Inclusive Science: Articulating Theory,
Practice, and Action".
We must teach all of our students in STEM fields,
particularly women and those in under-represented groups, that the process of
science is open to all and that, in fact, without a diversity of investigators
and approaches, our sciences are incomplete.
Submission Process: Papers should be
emailed to Cindy Norton
by January 15, 2009
Read more details at NWSAJ's website.
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Chapter News
Nu Chapter at Penn State is preparing for their annual Voices Conference to be held February 28th, 2009, so mark your calendars! Voices
is a networking and professional development workshop organized and run by Nu Chapter. More than
80 male and female undergraduate, graduate postdoctoral and
professional scholars attended the Voices 2008 conference to discuss issues related to professional and personal
development in the sciences and engineering.
Please visit Nu's website (www.clubs.psu.edu/up/gwis) for this year's tentative schedule,
online registration and lodging information. Nu Chapter welcomes everyone to attend. The registration fee is only $10 for students
and $15 for non-students, and includes breakfast and snacks/drinks
throughout the day, as well as all conference materials. View photos from the 2008 conference by clicking here.
Xi Chapter lunch with Dr. Susan Solomon (L to R).
Back row: Tracy Twine, Carol Gross, Kendra Hyland, Mary Williams, Pat Goodman
Seated: Susan Solomon, Katherine Klink, Dee McManus
Xi Chapter Members had lunch with Dr. Susan Solomon on November 5th when she visited the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate at the University of Minnesota for the
16th Annual Kuehnast Lecture Series. Dr. Katherine Klink, Department of Geography, was the
host for the luncheon. Dr. Solomon is an atmospheric chemist at the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research
Laboratory (NOAA-ESRL) in Boulder, CO. Dr. Solomon also holds a faculty
position at the University of Colorado. In 2004 she received the
prestigious Blue Planet Prize for "pioneering research identifying the
causative mechanisms producing the Antarctic ozone hole." She is the
recipient of numerous other scientific awards and honorary doctorates,
and a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1992. She served
as co-chair of Working Group 1 for the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007 and, consequently with her colleagues was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (shared with Al Gore). Visit the website (http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/kuehnast_lecture/) for more information and a webcast of Dr. Solomon's lecture. Click here to read the three useful pieces of advice Dr. Solomon had for Xi members.
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MentorNet News
INSPIRE THE NEXT GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS --
Make this one of your New Year's Resolutions!
The MentorNet One-on-One Mentoring Program is a chance to make a big
difference in the life of a student in as little as 15 minutes a week.
How can you volunteer to be a mentor?
1) Join the MentorNet Community (http://www.mentornet.net/join)
2) Follow the One-on-One Mentoring Programs links to create a mentor profile.
MentorNet seeks mentors who are:
- Science and engineering professionals.
- In industry, government, or academia.
- Active, on leave, or retired.
To match with proteges who are:
- Pursuing a professional future in the fields of engineering and science.
- At the community college, undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral, or
early career faculty levels.
Although mentors volunteer their time to benefit the protege, they
can also find a rewarding experience for themselves. "I hope [my
student] is getting as much out of it as I am," is how one MentorNet
mentor describes the experience. More than 70% of mentors have
recommended MentorNet's e-mentoring program to a friend or colleague.
Mentoring relationships last 8 months. Because mentors and students
communicate entirely by email, they can communicate wherever and
whenever they choose. In fact, 90% of our mentors feel that
e-mentoring was a convenient way to volunteer.
If you have any questions or need more information, please contact:
Dr. Kathy Grako, GWIS Liaison to MentorNet (kagrako@san.rr.com)
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Websites and Books of Interest
Women's Media Center-This group strives to make women visible and powerful in the media- as reporters, sources and consumers.
Book Review: Engineers Make a Difference focuses on the state of K-12 engineering education and motivating students, this book is an invitation to explore engineering and share the fun with students of all ages. Loaded with practical suggestions and over a dozen ways to lure the least-interested student. Read more about the book.
Everyone is welcome to download the presentation by Dr. Donna Korzick to Nu Chapter, "Life After the PhD: Finding and
Interviewing for a Post-Doc Position" Download the presentation here.
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Funding and Job Opportunities
The National Science Foundation (NSF), Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), and Division of Human Resource Development (HRD) announce a group of funding programs which seek to increase the number of students
successfully completing quality degree programs in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM). Particular emphasis is placed on
transforming STEM education through innovative academic strategies and
experiences in support of groups that historically have been
underrepresented in STEM disciplines: African-Americans, Alaskan
Natives, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Pacific
Islanders. Up to 5 million dollars is available, with approximately
20 awards for FY2009.
The programs: Alliances for Broadening Participation in STEM (ABP) : Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP), Bridge to the Doctorate (LSAMP-BD), Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP)
The first deadline is February 20, 2009. Visit the program website for more details.
The Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University in conjunction with the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System (VA), seek applicants for the position of Associate or Full Professor (Research). This is a joint academic appointment between the Schools of Medicine and Engineering at Stanford University. The individual selected will hold the position of Director of the Rehabilitation Research and Development (RR&D) Bone and Joint Center of the Palo Alto VA. Employees of the VA must be U.S. citizens. For more information about the position, please contact ksjoblom@stanford.edu.
The NIH announces the NIH Director's New Innovator (DP2) Award program. The New Innovator (DP2) Award program was created to support
new investigators of exceptional creativity who propose bold and highly
innovative new research approaches that have the potential to produce a
major impact on broad, important problems in biomedical and behavioral
research. Total available funding for the 2009 program is approximately
$55.7 million for the five-year period. The NIH anticipates giving up
to 24 awards next year.
Visit the website for pre-applications and more information about the 2009 NIH Director's New Innovator Award Program.
Pre-Applications can be submitted online between December 15th and Jan 15th, 2009.
Sign up for a free electronic newsletter describing grant opportunities in Life Sciences from ScienceInfo.
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Fellowships and Symposia
Applications and information for GWIS Fellowships are available now. You do not need to be a member of GWIS to apply. The deadline is Jan 15th, 2009 for grants awarded by July 1st for the 2008-2009 academic year. Click the button to send this newsletter to interested potential applicants. 
IAS-STS Fellowship Programme 2009-2010. The
IAS-STS in Graz, Austria, promotes the interdisciplinary investigation
of the links and interactions between science, technology and society
as well as technology assessment and research into the development and
implementation of socially and environmentally sound technologies. The IAS-STS invites researchers to apply for a stay between 1 October 2009 and 30 June 2010 with stays of up to nine months as a Research Fellow (up to nine months) or a one month stay as a Visiting Scholar. The IAS-STS program offers up to five grants (up to EUR 1,000 per month) for Research Fellows. Visit the IAS-STS website for more information and applications.
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