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Greetings!
I would like to let you know about two upcoming events that are open to all AWIS members.
On Tuesday, August 21, 2012, AWIS is co-hosting a "Just Cocktails" reception with the Women Chemists Committee (WCC) at the American Chemical Society (ACS) fall meeting in Philadelphia. The aim of the event is to support mid-career women by providing an opportunity to meet peers and colleagues.
Later this fall, AWIS will host a dessert reception at the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) meeting Neuroscience 2012 on Sunday, October 14, 2012 to brief attendees on how AWIS is improving the STEM workplace for women and men. In-person events are an excellent opportunity to build community with other women and men in science, and are an important part of the AWIS commitment to be Your Network. Visit the AWIS Calendar of Events to learn more.
Best regards,
Janet
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Janet Bandows Koster
AWIS Executive Director
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| Careers | |
Contributed by Ramya Natarajan
Seven Career Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Yahoo's ex-CEO Scott Thompson made a huge career mistake when he inflated his skills on his resume; when this news recently went public, it ultimately resulted in his dismissal from the company. While this is an egregious example of a career mistake, you might be making more subtle ones that also could sabotage your career. These include several mistakes which women are particularly susceptible to making, such as being too humble. Read on for what experts consider to be seven of the most common career mistakes, and tips on how to avoid them.
Stereotypes Contribute to Gender Disparity in STEM Fields
Fewer women than men pursue careers in STEM fields, and even when they are successful, women are more likely than men to quit these fields. Two psychologists from the Universities of Arizona and British Columbia, used an innovative approach to study gender gaps in STEM fields. As they explain in this NPR story, they discovered that a psychological phenomenon known as stereotype threat (in which an awareness of a stereotype leads you to conform with it) played a role in the reported gender differences.
Stereotype threat
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| Education | Contributed by Ramya Natarajan
Space Pioneer and Role Model for STEM Education Dies
Sally Ride, the first U.S. female astronaut to fly in space and a proponent of STEM education, died from pancreatic cancer on July 23, 2012 at the age of 61. Her impressive career included two space flights, a leadership position at NASA, and positions on commissions investigating two shuttle accidents. Her legacy will live on long through company she founded, Sally Ride Science, whose mission it is to motivate girls to become interested in STEM fields.
Reach for the stars
Impasse on Law Protecting Women from Campus Violence
Over 200 survivors of campus violence at 176 colleges and universities signed an open letter to Congress sent by the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women on July 20, 2012. The letter implores both the House and Senate to transcend their political differences and reauthorize a comprehensive Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) including the Campus SaVE Act and Campus Safety Act by the end of September.
Politics vs. protection
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| Health | Contributed by Jamie Smith
Job Stress in Women Raises Heart Attack Risk by 70%
A health study conducted at Brigham and Women's Hospital analyzed data from over 22,000 women across a span of ten years. The findings, published in PloS ONE, indicated that those with demanding jobs are 70% more likely to have a heart attack, and 40% more likely to have other cardiovascular episodes than participants with low-strain jobs.
Curb your stress
Breast Cancer and Myeloma Drugs Approved by F.D.A.
Recent clinical trials have resulted in the approval of two new cancer drugs by the FDA. Malignant breast tumors can become resistant to existing therapies, but the newly approved, 'Afinitor' from Novartis, was shown to reverse this resistance in a trial involving over 700 women. 'Kyprolis', the new drug for myeloma, a bone marrow cancer, was shown to significantly shrink tumors in 23% of patients who had relapsed after previous therapies.
Bench to bedside
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| Science and Technology | |
This issue of the Science and Technology section is devoted to humor for your amusement.
12 Science Editorial Cartoons
The Union of Concerned Scientists has shared a dozen editorial cartoons that make light of complex issues including federal science policy, the scientific regulatory system, and public knowledge. You may vote for your favorite until August 15, 2012.
Science as Defined by Google Searches
A new science blog on the UK newspaper The Guardian written by Dean Burnett tries, in his words, "to promote science via scientifically accurate comedy." In his first entry, he set out to discover what non-scientists think of science "without conducting a long and laborious survey, as always." He turned to the oft-used Google search engine and its autocomplete algorithm to finish the sentence "Science is..." |
| Work Life Satisfaction | Contributed by Anahita Hamidi
Tips on How to Delegate
We often believe that "If you want a job well done, then do it yourself". But, that is not always true. Amy Gallo of Harvard Business Review writes that as a leader, it is important to avoid being a hoarder of responsibilities. Among several tips to help identify delegation opportunities, she suggests creating a way to track your team's goals, and asking for suggestions from your team. However, Gallo warns not to give someone a task and then micromanage the work, or act impatient. The challenge is in really letting go... You'll be surprised at how much more time opens up for you!
Don't do it yourself
New Spin on an Old Debate
Ever since Anne Marie Slaughter, an official from the Obama administration, wrote an article for The Atlantic explaining why women still can't have it all, the conversation surrounding work-life balance has been raised to a whole new level. This article summarizes it well. Slaughter's point was two-fold: firstly, balancing work and family is still a huge challenge for women and may not be tenable for many, and secondly, it is time for women to stop blaming themselves for their inability to strike a perfect balance.
Slaughtered
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| AWIS News and Events |
AWIS DC Metro Chapter
Event: "Yoga in the Work Place" Date: August 7 Time: 6:30PM - 8:30PM Event: Corning/Axygen Life Sciences Facility Tour Date: August 8 Time: 6:00PM - 8:00PM Event: Visit and Tour Corning Life Sciences Axygen/Corning Date: August 8 Time: 6:00PM - 8:00PM Learn More
AWIS Massachusetts Chapter
Event: International Potluck Picnic Date: August 12 Time: 11:00AM - 3:00PM Event: "How to Negotiate for What You Need" Date: August 14 Time: 6:30PM - 9:00PM Event: AWIS-CJC Bowling Fundraiser Date: August 17 Time: 6:00PM - 8:00PM Event: "Just Cocktails" Meeting and Reception Date: August 21 Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM
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| Opportunities | |
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the European Commission (EC) signed an Implementing Arrangement to provide opportunities for NSF-funded early career scientists and engineers to pursue research collaborations with European colleagues supported through the European Research Council (ERC) awards. The ERC will identify researchers wishing to host NSF funded investigators, and NSF will solicit proposals from its CAREER awardees and Postdoctoral Research Fellows for these potential collaborative opportunities. This agreement will allow US scientists to be incorporated in the ERC-funded teams and will be supported as any other ERC team members. NSF will cover travel costs for the US scientists. NSF will release further details through an upcoming Dear Colleague Letter.
NSF ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers (ADVANCE) is accepting proposals for projects that develop systemic approaches to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic STEM careers, thereby contributing to the development of a more diverse science and engineering workforce.
2013 AWIS Educational Awards
The Educational Awards support travel for professional development, broadly defined. Individuals may request funding to attend a conference, to acquire specialized training, or to pursue professional development in other ways that take them from home. Any woman who works in a STEM discipline and who has earned at least a bachelor's degree is eligible. Individuals may be graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, employed scientists and engineers, or those seeking employment or to return to school. The next application process will open on August 1, 2012 and close September 16, 2012 for travel that starts between December 1, 2012 and April 30, 2013.
The SCN, a new Research Coordination Network for Undergraduate Biology Education, is hosting a networking meeting to help strategize how case study and problem based learning approaches could be used to address perceived gaps in undergraduate biology education. The meeting, called "Networking Strategies to Bridge Perceived Gaps in Biology Education: Content, Reaching Diverse Students, Faculty and Future Faculty Development, and the Biology Curriculum Continuum," is hosted by the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science and will be in Buffalo, NY on August 6-7, 2012.
Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology will offer a limited number of travel awards to early career investigators at the Assistant Professor or equivalent industry scientist level. At times researchers find that attending a Keystone Symposia meeting might substantially further a current research project or assist in problem solving around a particular experimental issue. These travel awards are specifically designed to address this situation. The emphasis is on URM scientists who are pursuing research careers. The application process is open for all meetings between now and February 28, 2013. However, the awards will be made upon review, on a first come basis.
Have you ever wanted to do research in Europe? Apply for a Marie Curie Fellowship. The goal of the Marie Curie Fellowship is to strengthen the human potential in research and technology by stimulating people to enter into the profession of research and attracting researchers from the entire world to Europe. This Fellowship addresses researchers at all stages of their careers, in the public and private sectors, from initial research training, specifically intended for young people, to lifelong learning and career development. Proposals are welcomed from all areas of scientific and technological research and the fellowship covers your salary plus your research expenses. To apply, you must have either a doctoral degree or at least 4 years' full-time equivalent research experience, after obtaining a degree permitting you to embark on a doctorate.
The Small Business Postdoctoral Research Diversity Fellowship program aims to encourage creative and highly-trained recipients of doctoral degrees in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematical disciplines to engage in hands-on research projects in their areas of expertise at the kind of small innovative businesses that historically have fueled the nation's economic regime. This fellowship program offers small businesses the opportunity to attract top scientific and technological talent at a fraction of the usual cost, while recruiting postdoctoral fellows to work for at least a year outside an academic setting on cutting-edge research aimed at promoting scientific excellence and strengthening our nation's technological prowess. Each research fellow will receive a stipend of at least $75,000 plus health insurance benefits.
NSF's Career-Life Balance (CLB) Initiative
Scientists now have the opportunity to submit supplemental funding requests to support additional personnel (e.g., research technicians or equivalent). This will help sustain research when the Principal Investigator is on family leave. In FY 2012, up to 3 months of salary support may be requested (for a maximum of $12,000 in salary compensation) by CAREER awardees.
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| Featured Jobs | | Chair
Epidemiology and Prevention, Wake Forest School of Medicine
Morgridge Institute for Research Director Bioinformatics Facility,
Institute for Integrative Genome Biology 
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| AWIS Volunteer Spotlight |  | |
Holly Soutter, PhD
Holly is a Senior Research Scientist at X-Chem, Inc. and Chair of the AWIS Chapters Committee.
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| 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 activities of the National Office and the Executive Board.
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