Washington Wire
Edited by Rachel Britt, PhD
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Greetings!,
We hope you enjoyed your copy of the new AWIS Magazine, the premiere lifestyle publication for and by women in STEM. We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of congratulatory notes and emails.
The AWIS Magazine is a record of women's contributions to the STEM enterprise and their impact on society with story ideas that come from the real challenges our members face every day in labs, classrooms, corporate boardrooms, and government offices around the country. AWIS Magazine editors and contributors-- who volunteer their time--mine their own experiences and frustrations to create content ideas. As with all our publications, we look to our AWIS members across all disciplines and employment sectors to tell us where they need support in their work or in their lives and we offer them practical, everyday solutions that are impactful, smart, and inspiring.
AWIS staff would like to take this opportunity to give a special shout out to all of the volunteers who contribute to our publications. Our communication efforts are more effective because of you.
Best Regards,
Janet Bandows Koster
Executive Director & CEO
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 Careers |
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Contributed by Ramya Natarajan, PhD
Leadership Course Aims to Help Women Succeed
In June 2013, the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) offered its usual laboratory management course with an unusual twist ... only women scientists were invited! With aspirations to remedy the underrepresentation of women in senior positions in the life sciences, EMBO tailored the course to help women succeed as leaders in academic science. Key aims were to break gender stereotypes, boost self-confidence, address shortcomings and create a peer group.
Leadership tips
A Metric to Predict Academic Career Success
A recent article in BioScience concluded that publication frequency (early and often) was the key determinant for academic career success and that far too few female scientists achieved the pinnacle of success in large part due to fewer publications when compared to male peers. The findings were based on data collected from CVs of 1400 biologists from four different continents.
Publish early, publish often
Seven tips for an effective cover letter
While it may not be as widely read anymore, the cover letter remains an important tool to help you stand out from other job applicants. Its purpose is to entice the reader to want to know more about you and hopefully call you in for an interview. Thus it serves as an excellent opportunity to drive home the reasons why you would be an especially good fit for the position. Check out what hiring managers consider to be important features of an effective cover letter.
Hire me
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Contributed by Rachel Britt, PhD
Financial Hardship Hits U.S. Universities
According to a report from a financial consulting firm, one-third of America's universities are in financial trouble as their expenditures outstrip income. The hardest hit institutions include private schools and institutions that are not highly ranked. A combination of factors including reduced government funding and declining enrollment threatens the solvency of many schools. The financial woes of colleges and universities will make sought-after faculty positions even harder to obtain.
Frustrating finances
Crowdfunding Financial Aid
The University of California system is hoping to boost contributions to undergraduate financial aid by taking advantage of crowdfunding. While donations in large sums from businesses and regents are still being collected, the organizers of the campaign are hoping to engage many more donors over a range of donation levels. Perhaps the celebrity lent by supporters like Academy Award-winning actor Jaime Foxx or California Governor Jerry Brown will inspire civic funding of financial aid.
Democratizing donations
New Online Tool to Access STEM Education Data
How well are the students in your state prepared for science and mathematics? Curious about the STEM job market for new graduates? A new online statistical tool issued by the National Science Board is designed to help parents, students, teachers, policy makers and other stakeholders answer these questions and more. The Board made the information from its biennial Science and Engineering Indicators report available for search, download and sharing online.
Tool for school data
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AWIS Fall Webinar Series
Space is Limited - Register Today to Guarantee Your Spot
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At Takeda,we continue to transform the future of healthcare by bringing important medicines to market. We are driven to improve lives. www.takedajobs.com
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RTP, NC
Coral Gables, FL
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Volunteer Spotlight
Amy Keesee, PhD
Amy is a Research Assistant Professor at West Virginia University, leads the AWIS West Virginia Chapter, and serves on the Chapters Committee for AWIS.
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 Science and Technology |
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Contributed by Shabnum Patel
Woman Gets Pregnant Without Ovaries
Doctors in Australia were able to help a woman, who had her ovaries removed during cancer treatment, become pregnant. By preserving some of her ovarian tissue before her ovaries were removed, doctors were able to graft that tissue to her abdominal wall, allowing her to produce two eggs, which were placed in her uterus. She is now expecting twins, making her the first woman without ovaries to get pregnant using an abdominal tissue graft.
An eggcellent outcome
The Breast Cancer Pill
A federal panel recommends that women who have an unusually high risk of developing breast cancer take one of two FDA approved pills to reduce that risk. Tamoxifen and raloxifene have been shown to lower the risk of developing breast cancer, though both carry the possible side effect of developing blood clots. This treatment is suggested for women who have at least a 3% probability of developing breast cancer in the next 5 years according to a risk calculator.
Prevention pills
Scented Naps Can Lessen Fear
A recent report in Nature Neuroscience reveals that scented naps could serve as a relearning process for phobias and PTSD associated with certain odors. Volunteers were first taught to associate fear with the combination of a face, an odor and a nasty shock when awake. While volunteers were asleep, the same odor was redelivered, and some participants learned the scent was safe, dissociating it from fear. Scans showed that the dissociation from fear was accompanied by changes in brain activity in areas linked to emotion.
Need some odor therapy?
Is There Arsenic in Your Drinking Water?
A few micrograms of the odorless and tasteless element arsenic in one liter of water can damage the immune system and corrode cells. Maps released by the U.S. Geological Survey show alarming levels of arsenic in our soil, rocks, and drinking water, suggestive of a major public health threat. Several regions in the U.S. with elevated levels of arsenic are of particular concern because they supply both drinking water and agricultural products.
Arsenic and old lakes
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 Work-Life Satisfaction |
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Contributed by Becky Mercer, PhD
Six Steps to Becoming a Happier Manager
In a recent article on Intuit.com, author Anita Bruzzese cited six steps that managers can take to keep themselves happy. Steps include starting the day on a positive note (which means NOT checking email but rather meditating or exercising after waking), getting enough sleep, investing in career development through workshops or coaching, getting regular exercise, and keeping a sense of humor.
Managing your happiness
Overcoming Your Own Self-Doubt
Sometimes the mountain seems too high to climb and no matter how many co-worker/friends tell you that you can do it, you just don't believe it. The key to achieving may be to start with smaller goals. Make a list of some things you can do now that will help you move towards achieving your big goal? As you make your way through your list, you may be surprised with the final outcome.
Baby steps overcome big obstacles
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 Health |
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Contributed by Jaime Smith, PhD
Maternal Obesity Linked to Extreme Preemies
A study recently published in JAMA found that the risk of babies being born between 22 and 27 weeks of gestation grew quickly with increasing maternal weight. Women with a body mass index between 30 and 35 were 58 percent more likely to deliver early than those at a healthy weight. More than half of American women of reproductive age are overweight, predisposing them to other risk factors as well, including gestational diabetes.
Baby fat
Better Models of Breast Cancer Yield Clues for Better Treatments
New research published in Cell Reports shows that human breast tumors transplanted into mice maintain the genetic mutations that caused the original cancer, providing an improved model for breast cancer. Because the tumors remain nearly genetically identical after transplantation, researchers can sequence the healthy genome, tumor genome, and corresponding mouse genome to determine what is driving growth and to test new drugs.
Good, better, breast cancer models
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 Events |
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OCTOBER
OCTOBER 7
AWIS San Diego Chapter
AWIS Central New Jersey Chapter
OCTOBER 15
OCTOBER 19
OCTOBER 24
AWIS will be presenting several sessions
OCTOBER 25
AWIS Cincinnati Chapter
AWIS Sacramento Valley Chapter
AWIS Webinar - FREE for Members
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 Opportunities |
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2014 Alan T. Waterman Award
This is the highest honor bestowed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and has recognized outstanding young researchers (within 7 years of receiving the PhD or younger than 36) since 1976. And you can't win if you don't get yourself nominated. Nominations deadline is October 25, 2013.
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.
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.
2014-5 University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
Established to encourage outstanding women and minority PhD recipients to pursue academic careers at the University of California. Fellowships are awarded for research conducted at any one of University of California;s ten campuses. All applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents and must hold or receive a PhD from an accredited university before the start of their fellowship. Online Application Deadline: November 1, 2013.
NSF-led Gender Summit 3 - North America Diversity Fuelling Excellence in Research and Innovation. The aim is to achieve positive change towards greater diversity in the STEM workforce and leadership, and greater inclusion of the "gender dimension" in research content and process. Visit www.gender-summit.com for more information.
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