Greetings!
AWIS was recently selected to the GreatNonprofits Top-Rated Women's Empowerment Nonprofits list on GuideStar.
You can read reviews submitted by AWIS members and supporters. Or submit your own AWIS review here!
And, please accept our apologies for the delay in this issue of the Washington Wire due the Memorial Day Holiday.
Enjoy,
Janet
_______________
Janet Bandows Koster
Executive Director
|
| Education | Contributed by: Erin Rogers
Pictures of Female Scientists Bring out the Best in Female Students
A study published in the Journal of Social Psychology this month revealed that even the stereotypic nature of images in textbooks impact the performance of students on scientific exams. Investigators at Rutgers University, Washington & Lee University and the Family Service of the Piedmont in Greensboro, North Carolina randomized 81 high school students (29 male and 52 female) to read three different chemistry lesson pages. The text was identical on each page, but the images on the pages differed. The page for the first group of students contained images of men only, the page for the second group of students contained images of women only, and the page for the third group of students contained images of both men and women. After reading the text, the students completed a test of scientific comprehension and anxiety. Investigators found that the female students scored significantly higher on the test after viewing images of female scientists than after viewing images of male scientists. The opposite effect was found for male students.
Picture me bias
No Empathy Among New College Students
According to a new study by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research , students today are more self-centered, narcissistic, and competitive than earlier generations. The study which analyzes data on empathy among almost 14,000 college students over the last 30 years was presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science.
Have a heart...
|
| Government | Contributed by: Sarah Rhodes
Woman of Vision Award Goes to Under Secretary of Energy
The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology presented Under Secretary Kristina Johnson with the 2010 Women of Vision Leadership Award. The Institute, which was founded in 1997 by renowned computer scientist Anita Borg, gives the award each year to a woman who "has led an important technology development or innovation, made a significant contribution to the technology industry, and someone who inspires others." During her years in academia, Johnson was well known for her support of women and minorities in STEM and helped triple the number of women faculty during her time at Duke. Her focus on women in STEM has carried over to her work at the Department of Energy. There she championed the Administration's new RE-Energyse program (Regaining our ENERGY Science and Engineering Edge) whose mission is to work with the National Science Foundation to empower young women and men to pursue careers in science and engineering. In 2008, Johnson became the first woman to receive the John Fritz Medal, the highest award in engineering.
A woman of vision
|
| International | Contributed by: Arianne Cease
Palestinian Girls Make History with a Top Award at Intel International Science Fair
Three young women, educated in a United Nations funded school in a refugee camp, were recognized for their design of a unique and inexpensive walking cane prototype that can aid the blind. The young women were selected for the "special award in applied electronics" out of 1500 finalists in this year's Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Aseel Abu Aleil, Aseel Alshaar and Noor Alarada, "This is a story about brain power not fire power. You are not only helping the blind, but helping the world to see."
Three young women leading the blind
|
| Careers | Contributed by: Christine DiRienzo
The Art of Subtlety in Salary Negotiations
A new study suggests that women should ask for raises in a different manner than their male colleagues. Hannah Riley Bowles, an Associate Professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, conducts studies on gender, negotiation, and leadership. The study suggested that women should be proactive and not wait for others to notice their work, should tailor negotiations to how a raise makes sense for the organization, and should come to the negotiation prepared by knowing the average salaries in their field amongst men and women.
All in the approach
On a Quest for Technology that Enables People to Do More in a Better World
What would the world be like if ATMs did not exist or if there were no computer-generated presentations? This would have been a world where Roz Ho, Corporate Vice President for Premium Mobile Experiences at Microsoft, and computer science would not have collided. Roz Ho is a computer scientist responsible for technologies that have embedded themselves in our society. She discusses how her training as a computer scientist prepared her for her for the challenges she faced as a woman in the male dominated computer science field.
Changing the world with her technology
Science: Look How You Have Aged!
Larger research teams, an increased tendency to specialize, and a tendency to recognize individual rather than the collective efforts of scientists are all features that contributed to the increased average age when scientists make their first, impacting discovery. In the National Bureau of Economic Research, Benjamin Jones, Associate Professor of Management at Northwestern University discusses a need for scientific policy to recognize scientists for collective discovery rather than their individual efforts since most of the collective discoveries occur in a scientist's 20's and 30s when scientists traditionally made their individual discoveries.
Science shows signs of aging
|
| Science and Health | Contributed by: Anahita Hamadi
The Sex Matters
Several studies have already demonstrated that sex affects methylation patterning among healthy and diseased individuals. Researchers investigated the role that sex plays in methylation patterning on a genome-wide locus-to-locus level. Factors other than sex, including: age, cancer, smoking and drinking habits, influence methylation patterning, and the researchers proposed a new type of analysis that parses out potential confounding effects in the study of sex-specific influences on the genome.
Weeding out other influences
A Novel Genetic Variant Uncovered for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
A group of researchers at Harvard Medical School recently performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) that looked at single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 14,618 healthy Caucasian women. Although their findings confirmed various previously reported associations, they also discovered a novel genetic variant. The GWAS uncovered a link between the HK1 gene and glycated hemoglobin levels. HK1 is a gene that codes for the enzyme hexokinase, an enzyme involved in the first step in glycolosis and a potential control point for glucose metabolism.
Sweet genes
|
| Work-Life Satisfaction | Contributed by: Ana Dragovic
Summer Fun
Spend time with your family and friends this summer doing something fun and exciting. Pack up a picnic and go to your local park. Enjoy the warm summer nights by going to see a drive-in movie or having a backyard barbeque. Go see an outdoor concert or plant a garden in your backyard. Stay indoors and have a game night or make it a 'sundae' night.
15 Entertaining Summer Activities
Four Simple Tips to Lighten Your Load
Are you always taking it upon yourself to do everything? Then it is time to pass the torch and share the responsibilities with others around you. If there is something that you are avoiding to complete, have someone else help you with the task.
Learn to delegate
|
| AWIS News and Events | AWIS DC Metropolitan Chapter
Event: Networking and Social Event
Date: June 2, 2010
Time: 6:30 PM-8:30 PM
AWIS LA/Ventura County Chapter
Event: Negotiation for Women Workshop
Date: June 3, 2010
Time: 10:00 AM-5:30 PM
AWIS LA/Ventura County Chapter
Event: June Social
Date: June 8, 2010
Time: 6:30 PM-8:30 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
| | |
|
Opportunities |
Institut Pasteur Offers Fellowship Grants
Postdoctoral Fellowship Grants to work at the Institut Pasteur Fellowship package is $70,000 per year for three years for a grand total of $210,000. Deadline September 17, 2010
NIH National Graduate Student Research Festival
An annual two-day
event held on the main NIH campus in Bethesda, MD. This year's Festival,
to be held on October 25 and 26, will introduce 200 advanced graduate
students in the sciences to the NIH Intramural Research Program (IRP)
with the aim of recruiting them to do postdoctoral training at the NIH. Learn more
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. |
|
|
|
|
AWIS STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Alice Popejoy
| AWIS welcomes Alice Popejoy, the first AWIS Public Policy Fellow. Alice will be working with AWIS on national policy issues and AWIS advocacy over the next year. More about AWIS Advocacy |
| NEW MENTORING RESOURCE |
 ALL NEW!
Getting the Most out of Your Mentoring Relationships: A Handbook for Women in STEM
-
Provides a quick yet structured guide to mentoring
-
Includes a handy resource guide for quick reference
-
Is the most comprehensive handbook catered to women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics
| WHO'S HIRING?
| Optics Technician
University
of Massachusetts Amherst
Electron Microscopy Scientist
National
Center for Electron Microscopy
Director, New
Business Development
Boehringer
Ingelheim
| |
SUPPORT AWIS
| Help other women in science! Donate to AWIS for its programs and awards.
Your tax-deductible donation to AWIS supports the wide-ranging advocacy
and career development activities of the National Office and the
Executive Board.
| Learn more
|
AWIS Partners with USA Science & Engineering Festival
|
|
More Info Here!
|
|
|
