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Greetings!
Webinars + AWIS + Topics That Matter To You = STEMiNARs!
- AWIS STEMiNARs are a unique (free!) benefit that comes with your annual membership.
- AWIS members have the opportunity to listen, learn, and build skills in a wide range of topics developed to enhance your personal effectiveness in a webinar-style format.
- Special STEMiNARs are designed for all career levels
- All AWIS STEMiNARs are recorded. Visit the AWIS website to access all archived webinars for free.
Best regards, Cindy Simpson Director of Programs and External Relations
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| Careers | |
Contributed by Meghan Mott
5 Steps to Sabbatical Success
While taking sabbatical leave can interrupt your research and family life, getting away is worth it. New environments and refreshed perspectives revitalize and boost creativity. Faculty members who take sabbatical leave score better on self-reported life satisfaction and stress compared to those who do not take leave. Sabbaticals are designed for professional development, so be flexible and start planning now!
Get away
Tips for Effective Communication
The ability to articulate your work simply and concisely is a crucial skill that evades many scientists. Whether you are interviewing for a job, applying for a grant, or wooing a potential collaborator, thoughtful preparation is key to delivering an effective pitch. Step back, consider the bigger picture and tailor your message to the listener.
Selling your science
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| Education | |
Contributed by Jacqueline Akech
Retractions, Reproducibility and Impact Factors!
Most scientists understand that publications are critical for the trajectory of their careers. Recently, reports of numerous retractions from high profile journals, concerns of experimental reproducibility and the controversial determinants of journal impact factors have left scientists questioning the fairness of how their work is evaluated. A recent article re-visits these concerns and reviews our current practices in scientific communication.
Publish or perish
Salary Increases: Addressing Gender Inequality
As female scientists, salary bias thus gender inequality practices continues to be an issue with minor efforts among employers to change the status quo. The University of British Columbia has set an example and taken this issue head-on by increasing the salary of its entire pool of tenured or tenure track female faculty. This decision came after an investigation citing a disparity in pay within its faculty.
Leading by example
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| Health | |
Contributed by Lara Kallal
Potential Preventive Treatment for Alzheimer's
Little success has been made in developing drugs to treat the devastating neurological decline associated with Alzheimer's disease. Researchers believe that the disease begins long before symptoms arise. Trials are now aiming to use current drugs to treat individuals with pre-symptomatic disease or those that are genetically predisposed.
Peace of mind
Unexpected Reason to Stop Drinking Diet Soda
A new study by French researchers found that women who consumed light or diet drinks had a greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes than those consuming sugar-filled beverages. Although a causal link has not been established, it is thought that the major ingredient in diet drinks, aspartame, induces an overall increase in the craving for other unhealthy foods.
Drink water instead
Clues to Brain Functioning: Origins of Fear
The amygdala has long been known as the part of the brain that is responsible for sensing external fear. Interestingly, women lacking a functional amygdala who showed no fear to typically fearful triggers, such as physical assaults, experienced a panic attack in experiments simulating the feeling of suffocation. Researchers believe that a different pathway may be involved in processing fear associated with internal stimuli.
Fear not
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| Science and Technology | |
Contributed by Demetra Farley
Remains Belong to English Monarch
Last year, scientists from the University of Leicester uncovered the remains of King Richard III. Mitochondrial DNA from the recovered skeleton helped link the remains to descendants of the king's bloodline. But DNA was not the only scientific tool used to verify King Richard's identity. The skeleton provided evidence ranging from the monarch's known scoliosis to his royal eating habits. Taken together, these clues present a strong case for the discovery of the lost king.
Reunited with King Richard III
Chip Turns Thoughts to Movements
Tim Hemmes, paralyzed from the shoulders down following a motorcycle accident, is learning to use a robotic chassis to carry out daily functions. How does Tim direct the chassis' movements? He simply thinks about them. A biochip, created by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, translates signals from Tim's brain to a computer, which effectively interprets those same signals into actions.
From brain waves to motility
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| Work Life Satisfaction | |
Contributed by Catherine Moorwood
Don't Bring Your Work Stress Home
Do you have trouble 'unplugging' when you go home from work? New research from Kansas State University has found that people who can detach from job stresses at home have lower levels of fatigue and burnout and are engaged and proactively problem-solving at work.
Recharge your battery
Define Your Life Chapter for Better Balance
Thinking about the story of your life in chapters is a good way to define your priorities and take charge of your situation. Whether your current chapter is raising toddlers or making a career shift, defining the chapter helps to focus on the present, rather than getting stuck in the past or worrying about the future.
What's your story?
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| Events | |
AWIS Greater Cincinnati Chapter
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Opportunities
| Presidential Innovation Fellows
The Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program pairs top innovators from the private sector, non-profits, and academia with top innovators in government to collaborate during focused 6-12 month "tours of duty" to develop solutions that can save lives, save taxpayer money, and fuel job creation.
AWIS Chapter Mini-Grants
AWIS Chapter Mini-Grants are available to support chapter initiatives focused on increasing membership recruitment and retention. Applications are due at least 30 days in advance of the date of the event. Applications will be considered on a quarterly basis and are due no later than March 31, June 30, September 30, or
December 31.
Travel Award Program for Early Career Investigators
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. 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.
2013 Alma Dea Morani, M.D. Renaissance Woman Award
The Foundation for the History of Women in Medicine is currently accepting nominations for the 2013 Alma Dea Morani, M.D. Renaissance Woman Award. This award will honor an outstanding woman physician or scientist in North America who has advanced the practice and understanding of medicine in our lifetime. Deadline for electronic submission of nominations is April 1, 2013.
2012-13 AWIS Star Chapter Award
The AWIS Star Chapter Award honors those chapters who have accomplished many of the key objectives outlined in the Strategic Plan. The award encourages chapters to perform specific activities designed to ensure that women in STEM fields are able to achieve their full potential.
Opportunity for Scientists to Collaborate with European Colleagues
To further scientific and technological cooperation between the European Community and the United States, an Implementing Arrangement was signed on July 13, 2012 to enable U.S.-based
scientists and engineers with NSF-funded CAREER awards and Postdoctoral Research Fellowships to pursue research collaboration with European colleagues supported through EU-funded European
Research Council (ERC) grants.
ADVANCE Program Solicitation
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.
Marie Curie Fellowship
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. 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.
Small Business Postdoctoral Research Diversity Fellowship
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. 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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| Member Profile | |
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Member Spotlight
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Betty Shanahan, Executive Director and
CEO of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), accepted the 10th Annual Henry C. Turner Prize for Innovation in Construction Technology on behalf of
her organization.
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| Volunteer Spotlight |
Isabel Escobar, PhD
is the Interim Assistant Dean for Research Development and Outreach and Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Toledo. As President of the Northwest Ohio chapter she doubled her chapter's funds by leading their first, now annual, fundraising
activity.
Hear Isabel's fundraising ideas during the March 21 STEMiNAR
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| Featured Jobs | |
Vice President for Research Colorado State University Lead Scientist Exotic and Invasive Weeds Research Unit USDA |
| Black History Month |
African American Women Chemists, by AWIS Fellow and Central NJ AWIS chapter member Jeannette Brown, is available from Oxford University Press.
Order a copy |
| 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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| International Year of Statistics | |
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