Greetings!
AWIS is partnering with the USA Science and Engineering Festival to spread the word about the need for more science education. The festival will take place October 23-24 on the National Mall in Washington DC.
AWIS President, Joan M. Herbers, is serving on the festival's board of advisors representing women in STEM. And, the AWIS Bethesda Chapter is organizing an exhibit.
Janet
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Janet Bandows Koster
Executive Director |
| Education |
Contributed by: Erin Rogers
Math Anxiety Among Female Teachers Can Negatively Impact the Math Achievement of Their Female Students
New research from the University of Chicago suggests that as math anxiety increases among female elementary school teachers it becomes more likely that their female (but not male) students will endorse stereotypes about gender academic abilities (i.e., "boys are good at math and girls are good at reading"). In addition female students who endorse these stereotypes are more likely to have poor math achievement but only after spending a year taught by female teachers with high math anxiety. The study's authors concluded that teacher math anxiety negatively impacts female student math achievement by negatively altering the students' beliefs about their natural abilities as females.
Nervous Nellies
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| Government |
Contributed by: Jennifer K. Wind
Science and Engineering Indicators 2010
The National Science Board released "Science and Engineering (S&E) Indicators 2010," a report that quantifies the current state of the nation's STEM education system, labor force, and international market.
Key findings:
·Women have earned 58% of all bachelor's degrees since 2002; they have earned about half of all S&E bachelor's degrees since 2000, but major variations persist among fields (more men in engineering and physics; more women in psychology and biology).
·As more women than men have entered the S&E workforce over the decades, their proportion in S&E occupations rose from 12% in 1980 to 27% in 2007
·Women increased from 6% to 29% of full-time doctoral S&E research faculty from 1973 to 2006.
Find more fascinating statistics here!
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| International |
Government Rule: Women in the Boardroom
In 2002, female-friendly Norway passed a law requiring companies to make room at the board table. At the time, less than 5% of Norwegian CEOs were women. Today, over 25% of board seats in 65 of the largest private sector companies are held by women. Spain and the Netherlands have followed suit.
Make room at the table |
| Careers |
Contributed by: Sarah Rhodes
Women Scientists Still Bear the Burden at Home
New research from Stanford University indicates that women scientists do twice as much around the home as their male counterparts despite the fact that they work similar numbers of hours. The authors of this article discuss the important policy implications of their research. In the drive to keep women in science they suggest that employers need to also look outside the immediate work environment. One proposal is that employers provide benefits to support housework.
Housework is an academic issue
Jobs Still Scarce
The hiring freeze that ensued after the economic crisis began in 2008 hit early career scientists hard. Although the situation is slowly improving, it may be several years before faculty hiring rebounds. With the number of tenure-track positions available to early career scientists still scarce job seekers have been forced to reconsider their options, many opting to do a second postdoctoral fellowship. However, some lucky universities, such as The University of Chicago, have taken advantage of their large applicant pool, taking their pick of the best candidates and increasing their rate of hiring.
Tenure-track jobs remain scarce
The Shriver Report Unwrapped
Mary Ann Mason, professor and co-director of the Berkeley Law Center on Health, Economic and Family Security, discusses the recently published "Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything," in which she contributed. Mason describes the challenges that a woman entering the workforce faces and the male-female wage-gap that still very much exists.
Still earning less
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| Science and Health |
Contributed by: Christiana Fogg
The Face of Aging
A unique twin study published recently in PLoS ONE has characterized the facial features that correlate with women being perceived as young for their age. Skin wrinkles caused by facial sun damage, hair graying, and lip height were each associated significantly with a woman's perceived age. Overall, women who were perceived as young had avoided sun exposure, had large lips, and had a genetic background that prevented graying and wrinkles.
Here's looking at youth
Breastfeeding and HIV
HIV-positive mothers in resource-poor settings have been counseled to wean their infants early in order to reduce HIV transmission via breastmilk. Unfortunately, global health experts have realized that this recommendation often presents these mothers with an unavoidable choice between transmitting HIV to their child or fighting malnutrition. A team of researchers from the U.S. and Zambia recently carried out a study comparing the mortality of infants of HIV-positive or HIV-negative Zambian mothers who were directed to wean or to continue breastfeeding. These findings, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, showed a significant increase in infant mortality due to weaning, regardless of the mother's HIV status. These results provide a new perspective of the importance of breastfeeding for infant survival in resource-poor settings and may aid in the development of new guidelines for HIV-positive mothers.
Mixed blessings of mother's milk
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| Lifestyle |
Contributed by:
Lindsay
De Biase
Drinking With Mom and Dad
In the United States problematic alcohol consumption by minors has sometimes been attributed to the allure of the forbidden. If rules were more lax and youngsters could have a glass of wine or a beer at dinner in the company of their parents perhaps they would learn to drink more responsibly when unsupervised. A recent study conducted in the Netherlands and published in the latest issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs calls this logic into question. The study followed 428 families with children between the ages of 13 and 15 and examined drinking habits at the outset of the study and again after 1-2 years. In general, teens that drank more at home tended to drink more outside the home and vise versa. Furthermore, teens that drank more often, whether at home or otherwise, were more likely to develop problematic drinking behaviors such as missing school and getting into fights.
Getting teens to drink responsibly
Study: Better-Educated Women Are Marrying Men Who Earn Less
A Pew Research Center analysis of census data indicates men are increasingly marrying women who have more education and income than them. "In recent decades, with the rise of well-paid working wives, the economic gains of marriage have been a greater benefit for men," says Pew Center.
Calling all sugar mommas nationwide
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| AWIS News and Events |
AWIS Massachusetts Chapter
Event: Work Life Satisfaction Program
Date: February 16, 2010
Time: 3:00 PM-5:00 PM
AWIS Bethesda Chapter
Event:Stranger in a Strange Land: Musings from a Neurologist Living Among Psychiatrists
Date: February 17, 2010
Time: 9:00 AM-10:00 AM
AWIS Los Angeles/Ventura Chapter
Event: Work-Life Satisfaction Program
Date: February 17, 2010
Time: 6:00 PM-8:30 PM
AWIS San Diego Chapter
Event: Work Life Satisfaction Program
Date: February 18, 2010
Time: 6:00 PM-8:00 PM
AWIS Massachusetts Chapter
Event: General Membership Planning Meeting
Date: February 22, 2010
Time: 6:30 PM-9:00 PM
AWIS LA/Ventura County Chapter
Event: Brighter Horizons Science Career Day
Date: March 6, 2010
AWIS Metropolitan New York Chapter
Event: FIRST Robotics Career Festival
Date: March 14, 2010
Time: 9:00 AM-5:00 PM
AWIS Bethesda Chapter
Event: Panel discussion on Policy, Program, Review
Date: March 16, 2010
Time: 4:30 PM-6:00 PM
AWIS Massachusetts Chapter
Event: AWIS Moive Night: Naturally Obsessed
Date: March 17, 2010
Time: 6:30 PM-9:00 PM
AWIS National and Bethesda Chapter
Event: USA Science and Engineering Festival
Date: October 23 & 24, 2010
Time: 10:00 AM-5:30 PM each day
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Opportunities |
AWIS Volunteering Opportunity
The AWIS Magazine is always looking for contributors. If you would like to contribute as an editor or writer, please contact Faye Farmer for more information. The magazine reflects the membership and new perspectives are always welcome. If you are interested in creating or contributing to a regular column in the magazine, please contact Columns Editor Lindsay Reese.
The Mathematical Association of America
Women and Mathematics Grants
The MAA plans to award grants for projects designed to encourage college and university women or high school and middle school girls to study mathematics. The Tensor Foundation, working through the MAA, is soliciting college, university and secondary mathematics faculty (in conjunction with college or university faculty) and their departments and institutions to submit proposals. Proposal deadline is February 12, 2010. For more information please visit the MAA website.
BeWISE Call for Presentations
Event: Women Taking the Lead to Save Our Planet
Date: Thursday, March 11 - Friday, March 12, 2010
Location: United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region 5 Office
77 West Jackson Blvd., 3rd Floor, Chicago, IL 60604
More Info: http://www.epa.gov/region5/water/wise/
The National Postdoctoral Association (NPA)
AWIS members are invited to attend NPA's 8th Annual Meeting and the National Summit on Gender and the Postdoctorate. The NPA's Executive Director Cathee Johnson Phillips said, "Many of the issues that women scientists face are often magnified during the postdoctoral experience. We would really value the input of AWIS members at both of these meetings."
The NPA's 8th Annual Meeting will be held in Philadelphia March 12-14. Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes for Health, will be the Keynote Speaker. Please visit NPA's website for more information.
The National Summit on Gender and the Postdoctorate precedes the Annual Meeting and also takes place in Philadelphia March 10-11. Dr. Kathie Olsen, Senior Advisor to the National Science Foundation will be the Keynote Speaker. Please visit NPA's website for more information.
National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI)
2010 Tech in the Works Competition
Letter of Interest Due: March 23, 2010
Proposals Due: April 6, 2010
Scholarship for PhD and Postdoctoral Studies in Sweden
The program provides PhD students and researchers with an excellent opportunity to conduct a study or research visit to a Swedish university within all fields of study. For more information click here.
The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
This program offers one to three year postdoctoral fellowships designed to increase the involvement of scientists and engineers from academia and industry to scientific and technical areas of interest and relevance to the Navy. This program has a rolling admission.
Go to: http://www.asee.org/resources/nrl/ for detailed program information.
The Naval Research Enterprise Intern Program (NREIP) NREIP is a ten week summer research opportunity for undergraduate Juniors & Seniors, and Graduate students, under the guidance of a mentor, at a participating Navy Laboratory. The stipend amounts for the program are $5,500 for undergraduate students and $6,500 for graduate students. U.S. citizenship required; Permanent residents accepted at certain labs.
Go to: http://www.asee.org/nreip for application deadlines and detailed program information.
Humboldt Research Fellowship
Fellowships for Postdoctoral Researchers are for postdoctoral scientists and scholars who have completed a doctoral degree within four years prior to the application submission date are eligible. This fellowship allows for a stay of 6-24 months in Germany and provides a monthly stipend of 2,250 EUR. Click here for application materials and detailed information.
Fellowships for Experienced Researchers are for scientists and scholars who have completed a doctoral degree within twelve years prior to the application submission date are eligible.
This fellowship allows for a stay of 6-18 months in Germany which may be divided into a maximum of three visits of at least three months each and provides a monthly stipend of 2,450 EUR. Click here for application materials and detailed information. | |
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AWIS BOARD MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Susan M. Fitzpatrick, PhD
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Welcome to Dr. Susan M. Fitzpatrick! She will begin her duties as Secretary of the national board at the February 19-21 meeting in San Diego.
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| NEW MENTORING RESOURCE |
 ALL NEW!
Getting the Most out of Your Mentoring Relationships: A Handbook for Women in STEM
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Provides a quick yet structured guide to mentoring
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Includes a handy resource guide for quick reference
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Is the most comprehensive handbook catered to women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics
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Who's Hiring?
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Research Assistant
Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research
CEO
The Washington STEM Center
Senior Physicist/Director of ITAMP
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
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Support AWIS
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Help other women in science! Donate to AWIS for its programs and/or to the Educational Foundation for its fellowships.
Your tax-deductible donation to AWIS supports the wide-ranging advocacy
and career development activities of the National Office and the
Executive Board.
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Learn more
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