Dr. Shellie

Women are doing great work in science and engineering. Unfortunately, the percentage of women in certain fields is still quite low, particularly in academic positions. (For example, women make up only about 10% of the faculty in physics departments granting PhD’s.) Making science departments more welcoming to women and minorities will result in a better working environment for everyone. 

Fortunately, a number of great initiatives are in place to do just this. Some of the main issues are to:

• Insure equal recognition for equal work. See, for example, the MIT Report on Women Faculty and Prof. Virginia Valian’s excellent tutorials on how gender influences our evaluations of ourselves and others.
• Encourage all students to actively participate in classroom activities in research, particularly talented students with low initial confidence. See for example, Dr. Sheila Tobias’ work on inclusiveness in science education.
• Value scientific contributions and content, not aggressiveness and self-confidence. Teach scientific communication skills and conflict resolution techniques.
• Promote role models for women and minorities in science and engineering. Break the public image of the scientists as a “nerdy guy in thick, black-rimmed glasses.” See for example the Women in Science poster project and the National Academy of Science’s “I was wondering” website.
• Work to accommodate dual-career issues and hiring concerns, which disproportionately affect women scientists. See for example, this survey.
• Develop university policies to accommodate childbirth and parental child-care responsibilities. The tenure-track years coincide exactly with women’s prime child-bearing years.

There are a lot of things I like about the National Academy of Science’s "I was wondering…" website, designed to encourage girls’ interest in science. First off, I like the personal approach– 10 women scientists are featured on the site. For each woman, a comic tells a story about her life and work. Scrapbook web pages talk about her childhood, how she got interested in science, and what she does in her job. I don’t know what 8th grade girls find interesting (other than MySpace?), but I thought this was cool. Another nice thing– the range of science covered is broad, including a physicist, a medical researcher, an engineer, a social scientist, a marine biologist, and others. And lastly, the site is a refreshing breather from the elitism of academic science (more on this later). While a fair number of the women are professors, the site doesn’t overemphasize their academic pedigrees. The emphasis is where it should be, on their life and work as active scientists, and the impact of their work for society.

I don’t know about the teenage girls, but this site encouraged me!

Twice in the last month, I have heard someone comment that "there just don’t seem to be any black physicists– they aren’t into physics or something." 

FYI: a recent news report on student research prize winners at the National Society of Black Physicists/ National Society of Hispanic Physicists 2006 annual meeting.

Before I go shopping, I like to rationally assess my needs. After surveying my closet I find, for example, the following gaps in my wardrobe:

• one off-white sweater to wear with (previously purchased but never worn) fancy, pink, silk skirt to my former housemate’s wedding next month
• off-white dress shoes, heels not too high
• about 5 pairs of black socks

Then I head to the mall. For the first half hour or so, I dutifully ignore everything but off-white sweaters. After finding and trying on three, I start to think that there may not be an off-white sweater in the entire world that has a chance of looking good. My outlook grows glum. While half-heartedly looking for the off-white shoes, I spot an beautiful bright blue lambswool sweater with embroidered dragonflies in colored thread, available for $195, which absolutely must be paired with a super-cool retro-print paisley shirt ($98) and artfully-faded denim jeans ($158). Dimly realizing that my budget will not support such extravagance, I settle for the $65 tee-shirt on the next rack, which, as I realize 3 weeks later, is not only overpriced, but in fact 3 sizes too small and only looks good on anorexic models. Oh– and I didn’t need another tee-shirt.

Lately I have realized that the way too avoid such tragic mistakes is simple: EAT FOOD AT THE FIRST SIGN OF WEAKNESS. Usually, shopping disasters strike when I have forgotten to eat lunch, and my blood sugar is low. Backed up by a strong tea, I can manage to recover my senses and steer away from draining my wallet.

Unfortunately the same option is not available when I give scientific talks. Now, I love giving talks. And I give absolutely fantastic talks of less than 20 minutes. For that brief period of time, I am utterly convinced that my results are the most fascinating thing I have ever heard, and my duty is to communicate them to the world, for oh, how will the world benefit! Riding high on the waves of nervousness and adrenaline, my every word is crystal clear, my eye contact is serene and direct, my use of the laser pointer is exemplary!

Not so for 45-minute talks. About 25 minutes in, my carefully-conceived, rational goals (describe my recently-published calculation method, illustrate in detail how it works on a case of particular interest, and outline in general how it might be applied to a variety of further cases of interest to the field, for example) begin to fade. I grow tired. My eyes lose focus. The remaining 48 slides I have to get through before ending start to seem personally oppressive. I start to wish I had never derived all these results so I wouldn’t have to describe them. I wonder why I didn’t pick some other problem to look at that would have produced prettier slides. Conversely, I wonder whether the pretty slides I have might not conceal some lack of subtle understanding on the topic.

Then (eventually) it ends. People ask questions, I answer. Afterwards, everyone says the talk is good. And it probably was. The fact that I carefully plan the conceptual flow of the talk ahead of time guarantees a certain level of clarity. But what sticks in my mind is how tired I was, how I probably didn’t sound very excited or confident, and how I flubbed the transition on Slide #42. For a few hours I am glum.

All this could be solved very simply and cheaply with the same method I use while shopping. I just need a few minutes in the middle to sit down, eat, oh, chocolate-jam cookies, sip some strong Darjeeling tea, and recover my senses. Unfortunately, this is not encouraged. If I’m ever influential and famous enough to get away with it, I’m going to have to start this tradition. Colloquium speakers will thank me. So will audiences. I call for a mandatory three-minute stretch break in the middle of the seminar! And cookies for the speaker.

A postdoc named Jake studies flying snakes. Check out his photos here. I particularly like the stopped-motion sequence showing how a snake gains acceleration when taking off from a tree branch!