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Greetings!
 What is Your Volunteer Hour Worth?
As we look at our 2009 calendar and begin to put in those new appointments, look to see if you have any time to volunteer. Many organizations need your help this year and every volunteer hour will be greatly appreciated!
According to the latest statistics published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 60.8 million people volunteered a median of 52 volunteer hours with one or more organizations per year in 2007. (60,000 households provided the self-reporting sampling for Current Population Survey (CPS) from September 2006 to September 2007.)
Here are some other interesting statistics:
1) Individuals with higher levels of education volunteered at a higher rate, generally 40%, over the average of 20% for high school graduates. The proportion of the population who volunteered was 26.2 %.
2) Women volunteered more than men (29.3% vs. 22.9%).
3) Age and married status make a difference also. Married persons volunteered at a higher rate (31.9%) than those who had never been married (19.2%). Parents with children under 18 were more likely to volunteer than persons without children (33.7% vs. 23.2%).
4) Person age from 35 to 54 continued to be the most likely to volunteer (30.3%) while persons in early twenties were the least likely (17.7%).
Independent Sector ( www.independentsector.org) calculated the estimated dollar value of volunteer time to be $19.51 per hour for 2007. ( This value is the average hourly earning of all production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls plus 12% for fringe benefits.) But we all know how difficult it is to put a dollar value on volunteer time, because volunteers provide so many intangibles that cannot be easily quantified. GWIS has been a volunteer organization for over 87 years; just think of the number of women volunteer hours that have gone into our organization! It is a pretty heady figure and we appreciate every hour you give! If you haven't begun your "GWIS volunteering" yet and want to join the 40% group of educated women who volunteer, give me a call or send me an e-mail. I'm sure I can find a GWIS program that will peak your interest!
Have a great New Year!
United in Friendship through Science,
Dee McManus, Executive Director | |
| National News Headlines
President-elect Obama announced his Science Team in late December. He has appointed Dr. John Holdren as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Dr. Holderen is a recent past president of the AAAS and an early supporter of Science Debate 2008. Obama also announced Dr. Harold Varmus and Dr. Eric Lander as the other co-chairs of PCAST. Dr. Jane Lubchenco is Obama's choice to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Dr. Lubchenco has a background in marine biology and is also a past AAAS president. Dr. Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning Physicist, has been named Energy Secretary.
Age discrimination in academia. Although the applicant's age should not factor into the hiring equation, often qualified, older candidates are not even interviewed. For example, adjuncts are particularly discriminated against when applying for full-time, tenure track positions. When a department decides to restrict its search to younger applicants, it discriminates against both older individuals who earned their doctorates followed by several temporary and part-time positions, as well as those who have earned their degrees later in life. It is unfortunate, since the Ph.D.'s in these two groups would bring immense life experiences to their teaching appointments. Read more about this issue in an article "Inside Higher Ed". Top of page
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MentorNet News
Sign up to be a MentorNet Mentor! 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.
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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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.
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Member News
 The 2009 American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Roche Diagnostics Alice C. Evans Award will be presented to Millicent Goldschmidt, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, MedicalSchool, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, during the 109th General Meeting of the ASM, May 17-21, 2009 in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Goldschmidt received her Ph.D. from Purdue University in 1953 and has been a GWIS member since 1949.
Throughout her career, Dr. Goldschmidt has supported women's participation in science by personally mentoring and being an excellent role model. She is an active member and supporter of PurdueUniversity's "Women in Science Program," which tries to interest freshmen female scientists in a career in science. Dr. Goldschmidt is the past President of the Gulf Chapter of the Association of Women in Science and has received countless awards for her teaching, achievements, leadership, and service.
Dr. Goldschmidt has been an active ASM member and volunteer since 1975. She recognized the need for encouraging women at the postdoctoral level to pursue their science. At her urging, the ASM established two Women's Career Development grants to be given yearly to women postdoctoral fellows with outstanding accomplishments and potential to carry out research in the area of microbiology.
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Websites of Interest
The National Academies needs your opinion on which 5 areas from 21 science-related topics they will focus when developing upcoming print and web-based educational materials. Please take a 2-minute survey.
2008 in Photos- the 10 top Science Stories. View a slide show looking back at the people, places and discoveries that shaped the world of science over the past year at Scientific American's website.
For Macintosh users: Smell-O-Mints is a Periodic table of the elements for the Macintosh. |
| For those of us who want to know the weather past and statistics, as well as forecasts and so forth, this is a great site! http://www.wunderground.com
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Funding and Job Opportunities
The Program for Women in Science and Engineering is offering its annual Summer Research Internship Program at Iowa State University. This eight-week summer internship is open to students attending college who are interested in careers in science and engineering. The internships are open to students after completion of their freshman year of college and allows students to work on a variety of projects and gain hands-on research experience under the supervision of ISU faculty and staff. In addition, participants attend seminars, write research reports, summarize their research in poster presentations and receive a stipend of $3,500. For additional information, click here. Deadline: February 2, 2009
Research, Education, and Outreach Opportunities for Females and Underrepresented
Minorities at Worcester Polytechnic Institute invites applications for summer 2009. The program is for 8-10 undergraduates interested in a career in Bioengineering. Stuendes will receive a stipend of $4,000 stipend PLUS free housing and funds for meals and travel.
The Science & Technology Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. has several research positions available. The Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center that serves OSTP and the Executive agencies. Areas covered include all domains of science and technology, as well as methods-related capabilities. Recent activities have been in areas including but not limited to biomedical research, strategic research management, healthcare, energy and the environment, space and aeronautics, education, urban studies, risk analysis, data visualization, scientometrics, and innovation/competitiveness.
*** RESEARCH STAFF MEMBER (PhD required)***
Requirements: A Ph.D. or MD in a scientific, technical or policy field with a keen interest and preferably some experience in the S&T policy field. Experience levels ranging from recent degree recipients to senior staff with 10-15 years experience are of interest.
*** RESEARCH ASSISSTANT (Bachelors or Masters required)***
Requirements: A bachelor's or master's degree in an S&T field with a keen interest and preferably some experience in the S&T policy field.
For both positions: Strong analytic and communication skills, both written and verbal, are critical, especially the ability to analyze and present complex issues and recommendations to senior government officials. Knowledge of US Federal S&T agencies is highly desirable. An ideal candidate is innovative, assertive, and self-starting. Please send your resume via e-mail to Bhavya Lal, Core Staff Member, at STPI ( blal@ida.org). |
Fellowships and Symposia
Alliance Library System and LearningTimes are pleased to announce a conference featuring science and virtual worlds. On January 30th we are "Stepping Into Science" and taking the day to explore the possibilities of using virtual worlds to learn about and teach science. The conference will be taking place entirely in Second Life and will feature a keynote and panel discussion as well as small breakout sessions, field trips and an opportunity participate in "Science Friday", NPR's live broadcast from Second Life.
This online conference provides a great opportunity for anyone interested in exploring the latest in science education using 3D, immersive, virtual worlds. Those new to Second Life are encouraged to attend! We'll even be
offering Second Life orientations before the 30th.
The National Symposium on the Advancement of Women in Science will be held Feb 6-7 at Harvard. Registration for the National Symposium on the Advancement of Women in Science 2009 is officially open! Go to http://nsaws.org and click on "Register". Registration is free, and the first 150 registrants will receive a complimentary NSAWS tote bag.
It will be an exciting symposium. To see the schedule, visit the NSAWS website.
Society for Women's Health Research Accepting Nominations for 2009 Medtronic Prize for Scientific Contributions to Women's Health. The annual $75,000 prize recognizes a woman scientist or engineer for her contributions to women's health. It also encourages women scientists and engineers to work on issues uniquely related to women's health and rewards women who have devoted a significant part of their careers to this area. The prize will be given to an outstanding scientist or engineer in mid-career whose work has led or will lead directly to the improvement of women's health. The recipient's commitment to sex differences research and their success as a role model and as a mentor will be noted. The application deadline is Jan. 28, 2009, and the award will be presented at the Society's annual gala on April 20, in Washington , D.C. Visit the Society for Women's Health Research website.
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