Positive Actions
thusspakezuska | June 18, 2008I will admit that rap music has more than once caused me to mutter "These kids today! Their music is just noise! When I was young, our music had a melody!" Or something like that. You know, the stuff mom said when I was young. I won't even mention how the generous dose of misogyny that seems de rigeur in rap songs makes me feel.
And yet I confess to being delighted today when I was listening to NPR's Here and Now and heard this story about educational rap. (Scroll down for summary.) Rhythm Rhyme Results (their tag line is "the other three R's) brings together teachers, musicians,…
thusspakezuska | June 9, 2008Because we can't keep our mouths shut forever, nor can we always stay locked safely within our homes, it is inevitable that we must interact with and speak to other human beings. And because of this, it is (nearly) inevitable that we will, at one time or another, say or do something that someone else interprets as offensive.
You know what I mean. You're nattering blithely along, everything's good, we're all happy - except, suddenly, some of us aren't. And you don't understand why. You are a good person. You are not a sexist, you are not a racist, you are not a homophobe. You are an…
thusspakezuska | May 2, 2008
You're a smart woman, and a fabulous scientist or engineer. You know you can be a great researcher or professional engineer. But have you given thought to doing more than your job - to becoming a leader? F. Mary Williams and Carolyn J. Emerson hope you will, and to encourage you, they've put together Becoming Leaders: A Practical Handbook for Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology. The book is a joint project of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Society of Women Engineers.
As the authors note in the introduction,…
thusspakezuska | April 8, 2008From my email inbox: information about AWIS coaching seminars. Two dates, four times, 45 minutes in length, details after the jump.
You know AWIS as a networking and mentoring resource - Now try us as you move to the next stage of your career. If your life could use a little boost, try our new Coaching Program.
Specially designed for women in STEM fields, our one-of-a-kind team of professional coaches has put together some great packages to meet your work-life needs.
I would like to invite you to join us for a "live" coaching demonstration with
our team of professional coaches. They'll…
thusspakezuska | March 28, 2008In the spring a suburban homeowner's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of lawn.
Originally uploaded by garethjmsaunders.
Fertilize! Break out the emergent herbicide! Fire up the sprinklers! Here comes the lawn mower and weed whacker! The relentless battle to maintain a time-, energy-, and resource-consuming monoculture that provides a perfect habitat for Japanese beetle grubs has begun!
Or maybe...just maybe...you could try something different this year. Douglas Tallamy, University of Delaware professor of entomology and wildlife ecology, hopes you will, and tells you why you…
thusspakezuska | February 27, 2008Maybe you've been wondering just exactly how few women scientists and engineers there are in academia in the U.S. Or, to put it another way, maybe you've wondered just exactly how much men scientists and engineers are overrepresented in academia.
There's a new website that gathers and presents comprehensive data you can use to answer those questions. The National Women's Law Center presents The Women's Prerogative. You can find out how many women are teaching in science and engineering at your school - there are data for 150 research universities. There are fact sheets that delineate…
thusspakezuska | February 21, 2008Alice has a very good post over at On Being A Scientist And A Woman about resources on implicit bias, including some really nice stuff to help you counteract implicit bias in reviewing/hiring situations. Go read it!
thusspakezuska | February 21, 2008Yes, February 17-23 is this year's National Engineering Week! I'm a little late to the party, I know...I've been a little preoccupied. But today is Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day! There are events going on all over the U.S. even as we blog. But you know, you can do your own IAGTE activity at any time...it doesn't have to be today. And E-week has a list of 10 easy ways to get involved. Some of them are really easy, like #7: Donate copies of "Changing Our World: True Stories of Women Engineers" to local libraries or a high school guidance office. "Changing Our World" is a product…
thusspakezuska | February 21, 2008What happens when you speak up about gender inequity in Japan's science culture? Why, you can expect to be accused of "tarnishing the reputation" of the university, that's what. That's what happened to biophysicist Mitiko Go when she spoke out about an instance of egregious sex discrimination. One Woman Is Not Enough, an editorial just published in Nature, recounts the tale. It's no wonder Go had to be essentially at retirement before she felt she could risk speaking up. Instead of retiring, however, she's now president of a university and a member of the Council for Science and…
thusspakezuska | October 18, 2007From the BBC News:
The Science Museum has cancelled a talk by American DNA pioneer Dr James Watson after he claimed black people were less intelligent than white people...saying his views went "beyond the point of acceptable debate".
Skills Minister David Lammy said Dr Watson's views "were deeply offensive". He added: "They will succeed only in providing oxygen for the BNP.
"It is a shame that a man with a record of scientific distinction should see his work overshadowed by his own irrational prejudices."
...A spokesman for the Science Museum said: "We know that eminent scientists can…
thusspakezuska | October 9, 2007I know I would. So how do you do that? Well, Seed Media Group will help you by matching your donation. The first $15,000 in donations made through the Scienceblogs Challenge will be matched by Seed Media Group through its Science Literacy Grants. From the press release:
Seed Media Group is launching the Seed Media Group Science Literacy Grants, a commitment valued at $100,000 through a combination of cash (matching contributions of funds raised on its online community site Scienceblogs) and in-kind advertising (in its print magazine Seed and on Scienceblogs).
Today, science affects every…
thusspakezuska | October 1, 2007So, I see that sly Dr. Free-Ride is bribing her readers with promises of poems and original artwork from the sprogs and writing blog entries on the topic of their choice if only they will contribute to Donors Choose. Very clever, very clever indeed. And not to be outdone, Sciencewoman is promising a personalized handprint from Minnow to anyone who donates $25 or more to her challenge.
What to do, what to do? I have not written a poem since my teen years. Though as a 7-yr-old, I did launch the entrepreneurial Poem Manufacturing Company, which promised you a poem on the topic of your…
thusspakezuska | October 1, 2007I wasn't a part of ScienceBlogs yet last June for the first Donors Choose fund-raiser, but I sure am glad to be able to participate this year. If you haven't heard of Donors Choose, here's a quick description:
DonorsChoose.org is a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund.
A bunch of us…
thusspakezuska | August 20, 2007Sooooo beautiful. You must read what Pat has to say about APS's CSWP compiling a list of female-friendly physics departments. And follow the links therein. Here's how my various alma maters responded to this survey question: Please describe why someone applying to graduate school who is interested in a female-friendly department should choose your department.
Duke University
The physics department at Duke University has quite a few females. Interaction among the women of this department is encouraged by having lunch together a few times a year among and other social events. I am told by…
thusspakezuska | July 31, 2007Absinthe has an announcement on her blog about a new online support group for junior female particle physicists.
There is a new online discussion group aimed at junior female particle physicists (up to and including the postdoctoral level). The group allows junior females to talk openly and anonymously with other junior female particle physicists from around the world about career issues that are important to them. Most particle physicists at the junior level are based at large laboratories in Europe and the US. The unique work environment at these labs can lead to workplace issues and…
thusspakezuska | July 25, 2007Tara at Aetiology has a review of Danica McKellar's new book Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind Or Breaking A Nail. She also snagged an interview with McKellar which you can find here. She asks McKellar about her motivations for writing the book and also why she choose to weave examples around stereotypical "girly" things like fashion, shopping, and makeup, among other questions.
McKellar, for those of you who don't know or remember, starred as Winnie in the television series The Wonder Years. Afterwards she went on to earn a math degree summa…
thusspakezuska | July 24, 2007That fabulous group of women, the X-Gals, is back with the last of their installments in the Chronicle of Higher Education and it is truly Must Read C (of Higher) E.
This last installment is titled On the Origin of Academic Species and it is a cataloging of the various types of folks who've responded to their columns over the past year. Included, as might be expected, are The Generally Disgruntled, The Me-Too, The Condemning Wo/man, and The Dismissive Male. Of the latter, X-Gal Tess Isaac writes:
...when Jana described an adviser who told her to choose between work and family while her…
thusspakezuska | July 19, 2007Sandra at Omni Brain has posted a collection of interesting websites with cool science games for kids, most of them related to brain science. There are also resources for K-12 educators.
I especially like the Brains Rule web site. You just gotta check it out, and pass on the info to a curious kid of your acquaintance. I love the "Meet a Brain Whiz" feature, and especially the fact that the Brain Whiz talks about her hobbies and home life as well as her work. In my experience, young girls especially want to know the ways in which a scientist or engineer has a "normal" life in addition to…
thusspakezuska | July 18, 2007Well, the White House finally got around to naming the winners of the 2006 National Medals of Science. Of the 11 winners named, two - count 'em, two! - are actually women! Rita Colwell and Nina Federoff made the cut. Here's how the Chronicle of Higher Education summarized their accomplishments:
Rita R. Colwell, a professor of microbiology and biotechnology at the University of Maryland at College Park. Ms. Colwell, who was director of the National Science Foundation from 1998 to 2004, will receive the prize for creating a better understanding of marine microbes -- the agent that causes…
thusspakezuska | July 17, 2007From the Chronicle of Higher Education today:
Women who play sports in high school are more likely to earn a college degree than women who do not, according to a new study by Mikaela J. Dufur, an assistant professor of sociology at Brigham Young University, and Kelly P. Troutman, an adjunct instructor of anthropology and sociology at West Chester University of Pennsylvania...The findings..."suggest a societal benefit to female sport participation in the form of increased educational attainment," they say. Therefore, they argue, "rather than looking for ways to excuse schools from Title IX…