The Journey I've Begun

The Journey I've Begun

This week on #MeetAScientist, get to know Dr. Kirsty Nash, a marine ecologist at the Institute for Marine & Antarctic Studies and founder of aKIDemicLife.com. The website is an online resource to connect parents and carers working in research or academic settings to information to support their work and their child caring responsibilities. In this interview, Kirsty chats about her work studying the resilience of marine social-ecological systems, as well as the inspiration for launching the aKIDemic Life, as part of our #SciMomJourney campaign.

Take Action Tuesday

Take Action Tuesday

Mothers working in science have a tough job – juggling the demands of a career and looking after family. A recent study published in Nature found that in the United States “more than 40% of women with full-time jobs in science leave the sector or go part time after having their first child”. This week in #TakeActionTuesday the focus is all about supporting mothers in science. How can you help those around you?

So Much Left to Learn

So Much Left to Learn

This week on #MeetAScientist, get to know Dr. Jessica Ware, an entomologist, evolutionary biologist, and Associate Professor at Rutgers University-Newark. In 2014, she and her colleagues discovered a never-before-seen species of cockroach in New York City! In this interview, Dr. Ware chats about how she found her way to studying insects, as well as her experiences being a single queer mother to two LGBTQ children in line with our #SciMomJourney campaign. You can follow Dr. Ware’s research group on Twitter @JessicaLWareLab.

Critical and Conscious Reiteration

Critical and Conscious Reiteration

This week on #MeetAScientist, get to know Shaila Kotadia, Director of Culture and Inclusion at Stanford University and a member of 500 Women Scientists’ advisory board. Shaila received her PhD in Genetics and Developmental Biology, and now works to eliminate barriers in STEM through building creative programs, mitigating bias, and changing policies and practices. In this interview, she chats about her work in the equity and inclusion space, as well as a little bit of her #SciMomJourney.

Weekly Wrap-Up

Weekly Wrap-Up

Today, we look to the students from around the world who have walked out of school to demand action on climate. We’re reminded that it’s not enough to draw inspiration from them today if we fail to act on climate tomorrow. 500 Women Scientists reaffirms our commitment to advocate for science-based policies that promote equity and justice—and leave the world a better place for the generations ahead!

Developing a Thick Skin

Developing a Thick Skin

This week on #MeetAScientist get to know Dr. Liz McCullagh, a neuroscientist and leadership team member of 500 Women Scientists. She has co-led some of our major initiatives like the Request a Woman Scientist resource and our newly launched #SciMomJourney campaign to raise awareness around challenges facing science moms in STEM fields and connecting them to resources and support. In this interview, she chats about these initiatives and what has propelled her through her career in science.

International Women's Day

International Women's Day

Happy International Women’s Day! We are excited to be celebrating by raising a pint with our pods. Tag us on twitter or instagram (@500WomenSci) and let us know how you are celebrating. And as put by Athene Donald, let’s also honor those forced out of science. Thank you to everyone in our network, we are so grateful to you and the important work you do!

Weekly Wrap-Up

Weekly Wrap-Up

Yesterday I was finally able to attend my first Wikipedia edit-a-thon #diversithon (co-organized by the awesome Jess Wade). What is so awesome about editing Wikipedia pages is that you can have both a large and long lasting impact on representation in science all while sitting behind your computer! The importance of seeing women, and especially women of color, in science cannot be overstated and I am so glad to get to contribute this way! We’d love to hear from you, have you joined an edit-a-thon? Or maybe you like other methods to address representation.

Take Action Tuesday

Take Action Tuesday

Today we show our support for #metooSTEM. The institution of science is not free of sexual harassment and assault on women. You may remember this past winter when astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson was accused of harassing women, and as Prof. Chandra Prescod-Weinstein said, the event reminds “us that racial and gender bias continue to harm science and scientists”.  

Take Action Tuesday

Take Action Tuesday

A current conversation in US academic spaces and on #AcademicTwitter is the role that the GRE (Graduate Record Examinations) has in STEM grad school admissions and the reasons why it acts as a barrier to access for a lot of folks, especially people of color, international students, and folks from disadvantaged backgrounds. As put by wokeSTEM, the GRE is “a deeply structured and institutionalized barrier for diversifying STEM”.

Weekly Wrap-Up

This week, we showed our gratitude to our amazing and strong women colleagues and supporters for #InternationalDayOfWomenInScience. We also continued to use our collective voice to make sure women’s contributions in STEM and beyond are recognized and valued. In March, we are launching a new campaign to bring more visibility to the journeys of SciMoms and SciParents - please share your story with us! Have a great weekend everyone!

What we’ve done

What we like

Photo by Nicole Harrington on Unsplash

500 Women Scientists is on its way to becoming a powerful organization representing the voices of tens of thousands of women scientists all over the globe. With your gift we can pay for the vital infrastructure we need. Plus, your donations help keep 500WS resources free and open, one less barrier to women in science.