Updates & News
The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education. -Martin Luther King, Jr
Meet Rukmani Vijayaraghavan, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Virginia who, using her NSF fellowship resources, has organized a awesome science camp for middle school girls, Girls Exploring the Universe. Rukmani's outreach demonstrates the value in reaching out and setting an example for young girls.
This week I was asked to give a short 'Welcome Back & Happy New Year's' speech at work. Just a few minutes on my thoughts of 2016 and an outlook for 2017. Since I am in the Netherlands, I didn't want to make my speech too political, too soapboxy, or too focused on the USA. But then, I was asked to step up onto a small stage, almost literally a soapbox, and how could I not get a little carried away.
Happy New Year Friends!
Many of us are happy to leave 2016 behind, but as Sarah Myhre recently wrote, "2017, you are going to be huge". And like Sarah says, we are ready to face 2017 straight on. We are over 12K strong and growing. We are global. We are women. We are scientists!
500 Women Scientists will be joining the Women's March on Washington.
If you would like to meet up with us, all the details can be found in the calendar.
If you are marching elsewhere in the country let us know!
One of the goals of 500 Women Scientists is to empower women to grow to their full potential in science. Mentoring and professional development trainings offer a great avenue to achieve this goal. As a start to 2017 we put together a list of resources that may be of interest for those of you searching for mentoring, professional or other networks.
It has now been a month since the first texts and emails and the initiation of the 500 Women Scientist. The month has flown by, full of signatures, press coverage , discussion, new connections and many exciting directions to take the movement. Before we get too far along we wanted to stop and introduce our lead organizers, Kelly Ramirez and Jane Zelikova.
As the year is coming to a close, we at 500 Women Scientists are keeping busy (and the reason we missed this post yesterday!). We continue to grow, with almost 12K signatories from 100 countries, we are setting up meet-ups at science conferences around the globe, and we took steps to secure future 500WomenSci projects! Read on to find out what happened this last week:
Do you know of a family member who is a gift procrastinator? Ask them to donate to an organization or candidate that you support! Send them the link, make it easy! e.g. Renew your ACLU membership.
Communicate with elected officials by calling and writing YOUR district/state office and by blogging or writing an op-ed that will set off their google alert. I know calling can be uncomfortable, but it is quick - I challenge you to try it!
Keep up the heat on climate change action! Write or call a denier in your state or district. Be sure to say you are a constituent. Wall-of-us summarizes the deniers in this link. E.g. Cory Gardner District phone (719) 543-1324
Investigate Russia’s influence on our election process! Call your Senator or Representative. If you have one on the Senate and House Intelligence Committee, call them every day!! Ask your office to speak out by publicly calling for an investigation.
Need more action? You can sign up for daily action ideas on this site recently highlighted in Vogue.
Our mission is to serve society by making science open, inclusive, and accessible, and to transform society by fighting racism, patriarchy, and oppressive societal norms
