Washington Wire
Edited by Rachel Britt, PhD
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Greetings!,
As we close out February, I know that most of us are excited about the prospect of Spring just around the corner. It has certainly been a long winter. To celebrate the "almost" arrival of Spring, we are excited to announce the AWIS Spring 2014 Webinar Series.
We've got a jam packed season of webinars for you to choose from no matter what your career-level, there is something for you. Covering areas such as building a senior leadership network envisioning the STEM workforce of the future, and powerful communication we hope you find something on our list that appeals to you.
Over 1,000 AWIS members have signed up for webinars since the Fall. If you have not yet signed up, I encourage you to give it a try. These webinars are an included membership benefit and will add value to your career.
Have an idea for a webinar? Let me know.
Best Regards,
Ric Weibl
Chief Learning Officer
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 Careers |
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Contributed by Ramya Natarajan, PhD
Nailing the Phone Interview
With hundreds of applicants vying for a single job these days, hiring managers are increasingly conducting initial job interviews by telephone to narrow down the list. If you fail to make an excellent first impression over the phone, your chances of getting the job could end there. So, follow these phone interview tips and make it your goal to secure an in-person interview.
Getting past round one
Should You Quit Your Job?
We all have bad days at work when we find our jobs to be stressful, frustrating, or even boring. But if you're constantly unhappy at work such that it negatively affects your energy, output, and morale, it might be time for a change. If you're contemplating leaving your job, peruse the questions posed in this article to make an informed decision.
Should I stay or should I go?
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Contributed by Rachel Britt, PhD
Graduate Student Pay Gap
While many graduate students in the STEM fields make a low wage, their peers in the social sciences and humanities make even less... sometimes at or below the federal poverty guideline of $11,490/year! In an effort to attract the best and brightest humanities graduate students, some universities are raising stipends. At other universities, students have taken matters into their own hands, staging sit-ins to convince university leaders to raise their wages closer to those received by their STEM peers.
Skimpy stipends
I Was Told There Would Be No Math Involved
While making STEM education more engaging is a worthy pursuit, astronomer and educator Dr. Sten Odenwald laments that math is often minimized or left out of the equation entirely. Odenwald points out that the national aversion to math has prompted many entities to downplay the subject in their efforts to market STEM fields as fun and exciting. Even NASA, a math intensive agency, seems to focus its outreach mostly on the aspects of STEM popular with the general public.
STE(m)
Building Interest in STEM Fields, One Block at a Time
Studies of school children suggest that playing with block toys, like LEGOS, can have a positive effect on children's achievement in mathematics. The colorful blocks also serve as STEM ambassadors as children use them in classrooms to build robots or to create models during science lessons. The abundance of LEGO science models could make the toy a hands-on way to spur excitement in STEM learning.
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 Science and Technology |
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Contributed by Shabnum Patel
Your Face at the Sochi Olympics
A Mount Rushmore-style wall was built at the Sochi Olympics with the help of 11,000 pistons. Visitors were able to take their picture in several photo booths around the park and receive a 20 second time-frame in which their face was displayed on the wall. This technology generated a 20-foot 3D image of faces based on the photo, displaying visitors side-by-side, in the friendly spirit of the international competition.
20 seconds of fame
Printing Human Tissues
Imagine being able to print living human tissues with the touch of a button! Harvard researchers have now developed just that - a new bioprinting method to create 3D tissues comprised of cells and blood vessels. The hope is that these tissues can eventually be used to treat individuals with tissue injury by simply taking a CAT scan and using a computer to design a 3D tissue for the area. Researchers are now focusing on creating tissues that can be screened for safety and effectiveness.
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 Work-Life Satisfaction |
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Contributed by Becky Mercer, PhD
Three Steps to Productivity
Increased productivity is something we all crave. Here are three important steps to increase your daily productivity at home and at work-and it doesn't involve working harder or longer hours! Steps include: do only those things you can do, and outsource the rest; be smart when you outsource; and automate as much as possible.
Outsmarting by outsourcing
What Does Success Mean to You?
How do you measure success? In a recent Harvard Business Review blog, the authors presented a matrix for categorizing the different components of your life in order to assess what drives you. The grid separates career from personal, and objective from subjective attributes, to determine which categories you derive the most joy and satisfaction.
Analyze this
US Work-Life Balance Ranks Poorly on Better Life Index
For a developed country, the US does not rank well in creating a balance between work and life away from work. We work longer hours, have less vacation and spend as much time taking care of our families and homes as our counterparts. The US is also the only country that does not have a national paid leave policy for mothers and fathers after a baby is born.
All work and no play....
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2014 AWIS Winter & Spring Webinars
March 5, 2014
1:00 - 2:00 p.m. (EST)
March 25, 2014
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. (EST)
April 2, 2014
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. (EST)
April 16, 2014
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. (EST)
April 28, 2014
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. (EST)
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Member Spotlight
Dr. Irit Rappley PhD
Biochemist, Cell Biologist at The Scripps Research Institute
AWIS Member since 2013
Dr. Irit Rappley, PhD is a cell biologist with 5 years' post-graduate experience and broad expertise from biochemistry and biophysics to model development and in vivo analysis.
She received her PhD in Neuroscience from Harvard University and is now a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Scripps Research Institute.
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Now Available!!!
Order Today
Equitable Solutions for Retaining a Robust STEM Workforce: Beyond Best Practices, a new book from AWIS (Association for Women in Science) addresses many of the work/life issues faced by those in STEM careers. It was developed to provide both academic and private sector STEM work environments with the tools they need to retain their workforce, especially women.
Interested in ordering?
Current AWIS members receive a 30% discount.
Contact AWIS at awis@awis.org to get your 30% discount code.
Click here to order.
Sign up to hear author Dr. Donna Dean discuss the case studies used for this book on April 2. Click here to register.
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1321 Duke Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
awis@awis.org
(703) 894-4490
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 Health |
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Contributed by Jaime Smith, PhD
Female Viagra Faces Challenges at FDA
The unsuccessful quest for a female Viagra equivalent reflects drug makers' difficulties in designing a pill that improves women's libido as well as federal regulators' reluctance in approving such drugs. The drug flibanserin was developed 12 years ago, but last month the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked for more safety tests, disappointing some women's groups. Critics say the agency is succumbing to society's double standard about female sex drive.
Little pink pill
New Guidelines to Prevent Unnecessary C-Sections
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine jointly published new recommendations that advise doctors to give healthy women more time to deliver babies vaginally before performing C-sections. Nearly one in three women in the U.S. now give birth by C-section, and while some C-sections are necessary, they can also introduce serious health risks. This highlights the larger issue that current obstetrics practices are based on labor definitions set in the 1960's; it is not reflective of labor as it is today, which has been impacted by changes such as the increase in maternal age.
Cease and de-C-sist
Women with Cancer-Causing Mutation Advised to Remove Ovaries by 35
Women who carry the so-called BRCA1 cancer-causing genetic mutation can cut their risk of breast and ovarian cancer by 80 percent if they remove their ovaries by age 35, a new study suggests. The decision to have the life-altering surgery is not an easy one - women instantly enter menopause and end any hope of bearing children. However, the Journal of Clinical Oncology study suggests that the findings are so striking, the life-saving benefits outweigh the costs.
Cut it out
First Fecal Transplant Bank
It is estimated that 14,000 Americans die annually from gastrointestinal infections by Clostridium difficile which are increasingly resistant to conventional treatments. However, a fecal transplant - whereby a donor's stool can be transplanted in the intestine or colon of a sick patient - has been posed as an alternative treatment, in which the healthy bacteria in the donor stool restores a normal community in the patients gut. OpenBiome, the nation's first human stool bank, collects stool from donors and sends sample preparations to hospitals. The question now is how to regulate this field.
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 Events |
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MARCH
For more information on upcoming events for 2014, or to register for an event, visit the AWIS Events Calendar online!
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 Opportunities |
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2014 National Medal of Science - Call for Nominations
The National Medal of Science, established in 1959, is the Nation's highest honor for American scientists and engineers. The Medal is given to individuals deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding cumulative contributions to knowledge in the chemical, physical, biological, mathematical, engineering, or behavioral or social sciences, in combination with exemplary service to the Nation. It is administered by the National Science Foundation and, to date, has been awarded to over 450 individuals. Nominations must be submitted by April 1, 2014. A complete submission consists of a nomination form and three letters of support. These items must be received via the National Science Foundation's FastLane system at https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/honawards. If you have any questions, please contact the program manager at nms@nsf.gov or 703-292-8040. For more information, please visit http://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/medal.jsp. NEW OPPORTUNITY!
White House OSTP Summer Internship Program
The Office of Science and Technology Policy advises the President on the effects of science and technology on domestic and international affairs. The office serves as a source of scientific and technological analysis and judgment for the President with respect to major policies, plans and programs of the Federal Government. Interns are accepted for one of three annual terms (Spring, Summer, or Fall), which each last no more than 90 days. While these positions are without compensation, the assignments provide educational enrichment, practical work experience, and network opportunities with other individuals in the science and technology policy arena. For questions, please contact Rebecca Grimm rgrimm@ostp.eop.gov. NEW OPPORTUNITY!
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Summer Interns
NASA is still actively recruiting interns for its paid summer internship program! Internships are available in a wide variety of disciplines including engineering, physics, astronomy, life and earth sciences, and even some business and finance. The deadline is March 1st. To apply, visit http://intern.nasa.gov to complete your base application and apply for up to 15 specific internship opportunities. NEW OPPORTUNITY!
In support of our mission, MASS AWIS strives to provide their members the opportunity to receive and explore valuable resources beneficial to their scientific career. After a very successful collaboration with Propel Careers last year, MASS AWIS is excited to continue the Career Exploration Scholarship program for the second year.
Five MASS AWIS members will be awarded an admission to one Propel Careers' 2014 Future in Life Sciences Series event through this Career Exploration Scholarship. For more information, please visit http://mass-awis.org/career-exploration-scholarship-2014/. NEW OPPORTUNITY!
BBRG Scholars-In-Residence Program
Each year, the BBRG hosts a new group of approximately ten competitively selected scholars from the U.S. and abroad for a period of one academic year. (from August 21, 2014 to May 15, 2015). The BBRG Scholars-in-Residence Program is open to senior and junior faculty (tenured and untenured), visiting scholars, postdoctoral scholars and independent scholars, from any country, whose work is centrally on gender and women. Applicants must have received their Ph.D. (or its equivalent) at least one year prior to the projected beginning of their residency at BBRG. (Applications due March 15, 2014)
BBRG Affiliated Scholars Program
The BBRG Affiliated Visiting Scholars Program is designed to accommodate scholars who would like to spend a relatively short period of time in residence, ranging from one month to six months. The BBRG Affiliated Visiting Scholars Program is open to senior and junior faculty (tenured and untenured), visiting scholars, postdoctoral scholars and independent scholars, from the U.S. and abroad, whose work is centrally on women and gender. Applicants must have the Ph.D. (or its equivalent) in hand one year prior to the beginning of the appointment. (Applications accepted throughout the academic year)
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.
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.
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