thusspakezuska
Posts by this author
November 12, 2006
Female Science Professor has the most wonderful story to tell about a career forum at her university. Organized by a junior female faculty at her school,
There is typically a panel with representatives from various types of academic institutions (small colleges, research universities, medium-…
November 10, 2006
What are the best pickup lines for scientists and science-savvy folk?...
I think I can best answer this Ask A Science Blogger question by quoting myself.
So:
Suzanne Franks, in her fabulous essay Suzy the Computer vs. Dr. Sexy: What's A Geek Girl To Do When She Wants To Get Laid? which you can now…
November 8, 2006
I started this as a reply to a comment by Chris on my post Why Are All The White Men Sitting Together In The Other Conference Rooms? but it became a post of its own. Chris wrote:
As someone who's attended quite a few engineering conferences, I find that sessions about the profession/discipline…
November 8, 2006
Since I brought up the X-Gals, I've been thinking of another model of group support in academe, the Mujeres Universitiarias Asociadas at Central Florida. They were featured in an article in a recent Chronicle of Higher Education special issue on diversity.
The Mujeres (pronounced moo-HAIR-ays)…
November 8, 2006
Found this blog via a comment on Young Female Scientist this evening
Rising to the Occasion
Saxifraga is in Scandinavia and says of herself
I am a newly minted PhD in the natural sciences. I work as a research scientist and is currently holding a temporary position as an associate professor. I…
November 7, 2006
Calling all geek girls: The She's Such a Geek blog is up and running. And is it ever good! Please do check out Kristin's post Show and Tell. You have not lived until you've seen a bra with a voltmeter-ammeter panel. I mean it.
In theory I am also blogging over there but in practice I have…
November 7, 2006
Back on October 6, the Chronicle of Higher Education published a column titled The X-Gals Alliance and I missed the chance to blog about it at that time. The second in the ongoing series of columns from these fabulous women is now out, Balance It Out.
From the original column:
"We" are the X-…
November 7, 2006
File this under: I have an imaging tool and I need something to do with it that will garner grant support. Hey, let's study people speaking in tongues! Because we will learn....something! That will be of use for....whatever!
At least as far as I can tell they aren't claiming the images prove…
November 3, 2006
What's the most important local political race to you this year (as a citizen, as a scientist)?...
Dear god, please save me from Rick Santorum...oh wait. Is that a bit strange, to be praying for relief from Mr. RightWingChristianFundamentalist? Mr. EvolutionIsEvilNaziPropaganda? Mr.…
November 3, 2006
Yes, it's November, and that means it's time to plant spring bulbs! Yay!
Okay, I already planted eighty bulbs last week:
10 Prinz Claus crocus
10 Pickwick Crocus
10 Chionodoxa Luciliae (Glory of the Snow)
10 Iris Reticulata 'Violet Beauty'
40 Galanthus (Snowdrops)
Now please note that while…
November 2, 2006
Regular reader and blogger Michael Anes wrote to tell me:
I haven't heard any Scienceblogging on the gender equity report issued this morning and profiled on the Chronicle? Did you check it out?...My post and challenge is here -- I'd be interested in your take on the issue and the action I suggest…
November 2, 2006
Ask a Science Blogger asks:
UPDATE:
THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE OCT. 27TH ASK A SCIENCE BLOGGER ANSWER
What's the most underfunded scientific field that shouldn't be underfunded?...
I can't presume to know the definitive answer. But I can give you one answer: a field that's not even on the radar…
October 31, 2006
So I'm at a conference where the majority of attendees are white males. Well, after all, it is an engineering conference. Anyway, given the demographics, do you expect to walk into any particular parallel session and find that there are only two, three, maybe five white males, and the remaining…
October 30, 2006
So I'm at the Frontiers in Education conference, and there's so much good stuff going on my brain is on overload. Plus, there are other people here who call themselves feminist engineers! It was worth the price of admission just to be in their company. And there are men who are giving papers…
October 25, 2006
Well, I'll never work in academia again after those last two posts.
I suppose if my migraines ever get under control I can always go back to industry. Pharma is always desperate for experienced medical writers and they pay better than academia anyway. Plus the hours are better. Let's just hope…
October 25, 2006
As I promised, here is the email I received from President Lewis Duncan of Rollins College after I wrote a blog post on his comments on the Karpova-Tonegawa affair. My commentary on his email is in brackets and italicized. Email and my commentary after the jump.
Dear Ms. Frank, [sic]
I take…
October 24, 2006
Back in early August, I wrote about the Karpova-Tonegawa controversy at MIT, and about Rollins College president Lewis Duncan's comments on the topic in the Boston Globe.
More on the Karpova-Toadygawa story. This may be the best part of all. Because you see, Zuskateers, it isn't just Toadygawa…
October 24, 2006
I'm reading two books at the moment (in addition to the five or so others I've started and gotten halfway through and not finished...well, they'll always be waiting for me to come back...someday...). The first is Sisters in Science: Conversations With Black Women Scientists on Race, Gender, and…
October 23, 2006
Got this from Kate, who got it from Coturnix, who was apparently sent there by Shelley....Factorizer!
I swear I am not making this up. This is what it gave me the first time:
"If God had a name, it would be Zuska."
The second time it said "Zuska plays Minesweeper with real mines." Hee.
It…
October 21, 2006
So, you ask us bloggers this week...
...What's the best science TV show of all time?...
For real-life science shows, I guess I would have to pick NOVA. This is because Mr. Zuska, who is not a scientist or an engineer, will actually sit and watch Nova and become absorbed in the program and…
October 20, 2006
I have lots of nice blogs in my blogroll to the left. Nearly all of them deal with gender and science or gender and engineering or gender and science & engineering. In some of the blogs you'll find discussions of race issues as well as gender. But I don't think race is a central topic in any…
October 20, 2006
So, I'm catching up on my Chronicle of Higher Education reading, and I come across this article (you need a subscription):
A Finger on the Pulse of Cool
Finding out what young adults consider cool is the key to success for advertisers and marketers. College students alone spend billions each year…
October 16, 2006
My fellow SiBling Dr. Charles has written a post about women and breast cancer that is a gift. Skip the pink ribbons and read what he's written. That dude can tell a story.
Dr. Charles quotes Audre Lorde from The Cancer Journals on women with breast cancer as warriors; the patient he's…
October 15, 2006
It's Ask a Science Blogger time again....
...A reader asks: Is severely regulating your diet for a month each year, as Muslims do during Ramadan, good for you?
Here's hoping my doctor and pharmacist SiBlings will take on this question and give us a medical perspective. I'm going to approach "is it…
October 13, 2006
Dr. Shellie has a post on the National Academies report and the ensuing discussion on Inside Higher Ed. Dr. Shellie says:
I am increasingly frustrated with the issue of discrimination against women in academia. Rhetorically, women are being put in the position of having to prove that…
October 13, 2006
It's Friday, and I've had two whole days this week without migraine, plus one day with a headache that only lasted an hour. So far today (9:16 a.m. as I write) I do not have a headache and the sun is shining, which, as Zuskateers know, constitutes the makings of a perfect day for Zuska. In the…
October 9, 2006
Gleanings from my inbox, in lieu of something creative...I've had a stinking migraine every stinking day for the past week...Be sure to check out the info on the DuPont award - they've been handing it out since 1956. I know I just posted a previous entry maligning the awarding of prizes in general…
October 6, 2006
Shane asked the following:
So Zuska, just to be clear, did your post mean to suggest:
1. The structure of science is hostile to or biased against women, leading to an under-representation of women at its highest level. Eliminate this bias and more women would be awarded the Nobel Prize *in the…
October 3, 2006
From the Ask a Science Blogger feature...The 2006 Nobel Laureates will be announced on Monday, October 2. Any early guesses as to who this year's honorees will be?...
I'm thinking...I'm thinking...yes, it's coming to me...the winners will be...
...
...
...
...
A bunch of guys.
October 3, 2006
I am breaking my word from yesterday in order to post news about this report because the results are so disturbing I can't keep them to myself. I want someone else to be upset with me. From The Chronicle of Higher Education:
Black men are underrepresented at institutions of higher learning over…