At this time I would like to thank the whole Board and especially my innovative Vice President, Ann Reisenauer, who has consistently supported me throughout my term. Ann recruited me to the Program Committee about five years ago, and we have become friends. Ann was first to use email reminders for our chapter meetings, a factor that has increased attendance 100% in the last 2 years. Ann has been active behind-the-scenes in Membership and Outreach, and she was instrumental in forming the Scholarship Committee which is now in its third year. Thank you, Ann!
My thanks also go to incoming President, Lisa Wang, and the other newly elected officers of the Board (see biographies in this newsletter). Speaking from experience, the Prez is a role that one never feels ready for. Yet, Lisa, with her past performance as Chair of Mentoring, has shown that she is a leader. I am certain that the chapter, now in its 16th year, will go wonderful places under her guidance. We have experienced Chairs heading each of our Committees, and I know Lisa will feel supported by her Board.
I have been impressed that most people (when asked) are eager to volunteer for AWIS. A little of one’s own personal time, offered at the moment it is needed, can go a long way to building the community of women in science. Please ask how you can help the next time we request volunteers for a newsletter folding party, for an outreach activity, or when we issue a call for mentors in the fall. Thank you all!
The Votes Are In!Results of the Board Election have been tallied. Thanks to everyone who voted! We received 24 ballots by US Mail, and 52 ballots returned by email, for a grand total of 76 votes cast. That means about 30% of our electorate voted, which is a very good voter turnout. The new Chapter officers are: Lisa Wang, Prez; Annette Lewis, VP; Karen Lowe, Secretary; Adrienne Yang, Treasurer; and Wendy Levine, Member-at-Large. Please congratulate these stalwart volunteers who have agreed to carry on the fine traditions of Palo Alto AWIS! New officers will meet their outgoing counterparts and assume duties on May 6th at the next chapter Board meeting. We look forward to an exciting year of fresh ideas under the direction of the new Board.
Aradigm Corporation has several positions in their Aerosol Technology Development group that investigates and optimizes the fundamental operation of state-of-the-art drug delivery systems designed to deliver drugs for systemic and topical effect via the inhalation route. BS or MS Research Associates and Associate Scientists with backgrounds in physics and engineering are needed. A solid understanding of heat transfer and thermodynamics required. Knowledge of mechanisms, aerosols, aerodynamics and/or materials a plus. Job encompasses design, testing, and documentation of various aspects of the aerosol formation, with an emphasis on the energetic of the process. Please contact Dr. Joan Rosell (510-265-8893) or Dr. Jeff Schuster (510-784-5051 or Jschuster@ aol.com) if you would like to contribute to the introduction of a revolutionary medical device. The Insulin group is looking for PhD Senior Scientist/Manager. Contact Nancy Jennerjohn (njenner1@ix.netcom.com) for more information.
Santa Clara U. is looking for a Lecturer qualified to teach upper division lecture/laboratory courses in Cell & Molecular biology/Physiology. The successful candidate should also be prepared to teach lower division courses for non-science students in his/her areas of specialization. PhD applicants with relevant teaching experience should send resumes with 3 references to Dr. Dennis R. Parnell, S.J. , Chair, Department of Biology, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053-0268
Of Interest…Eppendorf Sponsors May Meeting: A big thanks goes to Lee Tierney from Eppendorf who is sponsoring our May 13th chapter meeting with a donation of $100. Lee will be at the meeting displaying some of Eppendorf's new PCR product line. Please stop by to say hello, pick up some product literature, and thank him for his sponsorship!
THANKS to all whom responded to our ad for a new WebMistress. We will have two co-Webmistresses for the chapter. Information and questions regarding the web site can be directed to pa_webteam@yahoo.com. Anyone who volunteered and was not chosen this time will be given first choice whenever the next spot opens up! Sales of the 40-cent breast cancer research stamp have been very strong. Seven cents from each stamp sold goes toward breast cancer research. National stamp sales have been over 67 million, with more than $5,200,000 going to cancer research. Our AWIS-Palo Alto Chapter Newsletters will continue to be mailed (almost 5000 stamps to date) using the breast cancer research stamps for as long as they are available.Imagine this: you have just finished having dinner with some AWIS friends and one of them pulls out a stack of scholarship applications for everyone to read. You are told to choose the top two women from a total of 10 applicants based on their GPA, educational goals, financial need and community service. After 2 hours of reading and discussing the merits of each applicant, two women are chosen…Mihaela Popescu and Alison King are the lucky winners this year. They will each receive $500 from the Palo Alto chapter to help fund their college education.
Mihaela, originally from Romania, is majoring in computer science at Foothill College and plans to transfer to Santa Clara University next year and continue her quest to become a computer expert. Alison is in her second year at DeAnza College. She wants to become a conservation biologist and hopes to join the Peace Corps after getting her BS in Biology. Besides concentrating on her studies, Alison works part-time as a waitress and volunteers at a women and children's shelter. Mary Alice Yund The Ellen Weaver Award winner is Rosario (Rio) Denoga, a Quality Assurance Development Scientist at Bayer. She has been active working with interns in her research group and participating in other science outreach programs for students in the community.The Judith Poole Award winner is Cherrill Spencer, magnet engineer at SLAC. Cherrill was instrumental in forming the Palo Alto mentoring program, a founding member of Expanding Your Horizons (S.J.), a long time board member of The Math Science Network, served on the education committee and numerous panels relating to career development for the American Physical Society.
Heartfelt congratulations go to the winners - with our thanks.
May & June Programs Flyer July Program Flyer
Asked about her goals as President, Lisa says, " Palo Alto AWIS is now 16 years old. What mission shall we adopt in moving the Palo Alto chapter into the 21st century? Some of the evolving issues that we, the newly elected officers, face relate to the role of our chapter and the community. Will we focus more effort on becoming more member-oriented, committed to member recruitment and retention, sensitive of career and personal growth issues, or evolve into a job-searching organization? A balance of different roles is key, and I look forward to hearing the opinions and preferences of our members as we move forward." We are excited to see where Lisa will guide the Board in the years ahead!
Our new VP, Annette Lewis, was a post-doc at Stanford in developmental neurobiology 4 years ago when she joined AWIS Palo Alto. Annette said, "I realized the importance of being involved in a dynamic, empowering group like AWIS". Annette is now at Entelos, working with a team of life scientists and engineers doing biological systems modeling of asthma and other diseases. She enjoys hiking, skiing, cycling, travel, and music.
Annette has worked on the Programs Committee for two years. She was responsible for two wildly successful programs: on Bioinformatics and on 'Happy Bench Scientists'. As for her role as VP of the Chapter, Annette is enthusiastic. She's a lady with energy and ideas, and we're happy to have her on the Board.
Our new Secretary, Karen Lowe, has been an active member in AWIS for five years including fundraising for the NCC. Interested in finding mentors and problem-solving career issues, Karen began volunteering by giving a program on networking and informational interviews. Karen recently honed these skills in a job search, which resulted in her current position at Beckman Coulter managing a molecular biology R&D group. Her group develops new technologies to automate nucleic acid purification and gene expression analysis using cDNA arrays. Karen also enjoys being domestic - gardening, sewing and cooking. But no housework! She'll gladly take notes at the Board meetings, just don't ask her to clean!
Adrienne Yang, newly elected Treasurer, has been an AWIS-PA member for nearly 3 years. Prior to this formal election, she had graciously stepped in to fill the Treasurer’s role vacated last summer. Adrienne works as an Associate Scientist at Rhone Poulenc Rorer Gencell in the development of gene therapies for the treatment of cancer. In addition to her duties as Treasurer, Adrienne has been Co-Chair of the Programs Committee. Adrienne would like to increase membership and continue working to bring a variety of interesting topics and program activities to the Chapter. Outside of AWIS, Adrienne enjoys hiking, reading, and movies.
Wendy Levine, newly elected Member-at-Large, has been an AWIS-PA member for almost 10 years. She works as a Senior Scientist at Aclara Biosciences in the development of micro-fluidic devices for capillary electrophoresis used in DNA sequencing and fragment analysis. Wendy has been very active within the Mentoring Program and proudly notes that her very first protegee is currently doing a Post-Doc at the Pasteur Institute. Her current protegee, Michelle Boytim, is in the process of writing her dissertation, looking for a Postdoc and one of our new Webmistresses. Wendy’s goal for the Chapter is to expand and increase membership and the diversity of programs. Wendy also enjoys painting, yoga, travel, and teaching her parrot "Mango" various phrases…the latest being "Let’s go shopping!"
Mentoring TransitionsAfter volunteering for three years on the mentoring committee, two of those years as serving as chair, I will now be stepping down from both responsibilities to pursue other opportunities. Committee members Meredith Williams, PhD physicist at Applied Materials, and Shalini Gidwani, project manager at Alza, have both served three years on the mentoring committee and will also be stepping down. Kathy Reynolds Lacey, biology grad student and student representative at Stanford, Sejal Desai, PhD biologist at Clontech, and Elizabeth Pavel, PhD chemist at Gasonics, will be continuing their efforts on the mentoring committee in the coming year. I would like to thank everyone on the committee for her individual contributions that have made the past few years a success!
We would also like to welcome our newest committee members, who will have key roles in adapting the mentoring program to the changing needs of Stanford students. Melissa Ramser Thomas, graduate student in chemistry, will be transitioning into Kathy's role as student representative in the coming year. Diane DeNagel, PhD biochemist at Roche Biosciences, will be continuing her contributions as a mentor and also joining the mentoring committee. Maia Richardson, postdoc at UCSF who received her PhD from Stanford chemistry, will be joining Elizabeth as committee members who were once protegees in the mentoring program.
We welcome enthusiastic, energetic individuals who would like to share a few hours of time to join us in shaping the mentoring program in the coming years! Feel free to contact any one of us with questions, suggestions, or ideas!
Washington, D.C. - What children experience in the pre-kindergarten years could determine how well they learn science, mathematics, and technology when they are older. This is one of the findings revealed in Dialogue on Early Childhood Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education, released in January by Project 2061, the long-term education initiative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The book brings together 15 papers commissioned by AAAS for the February 1998 Forum on Early Childhood Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education which was funded by the National Science Foundation.
"The roots of later competence are established long before school age, and recent findings from neuroscience confirm the importance of the link between early experience and subsequent achievement," writes Barbara T. Bowman, president of the Erikson Institute. Bowman is one of 18 widely respected education scholars and researchers who contributed to the volume. Child development expert David Elkind of Tufts University supports Bowman's assertion. "Early childhood is a most important period for math, science, and technology education," Elkind insists. He suggests that many adults assume that young children are born knowing certain fundamental concepts such as light and heavy, before and after, and night and day. "None of these is inborn," Elkind explains. "They must all be constructed using a great deal of time and effort."
Past educational research has cast doubt on very young children's abilities to understand science, mathematics, and technology. However, several experts contend that young children may be capable of learning more than previously thought. One sociologist and anthropologist writes, "More recent [research] grounded in developmental and cognitive psychology suggests that children are indeed capable of concept-based, theoretical learning." If so, then, more effective science, mathematics, and technology education in early childhood is needed. "It becomes all the more important to ensure that early education exploits the capabilities that young children have," states another researcher.
Copies of Dialogue on Early Childhood Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education (item # 99-06S) are available for $12.95 each ($10 for AAAS members) from the AAAS Distribution Center, 1-800-222-7809. A one week loan of the book from AWIS-Palo Alto Outreach is available for members by contacting Katy (kuokaty@ricochet.net or 650-340-0395).On February 22nd, Dr. Doree Allen, Lecturer at Stanford's Center for Teaching and Learning, presented a workshop titled, "Communicating with Authority". She spoke on issues of voice and silence, including how women use tone of voice and non-verbal cues to affect their message delivery. We sometimes get silenced or silence ourselves especially during scientific interactions. Mentors and protegees shared their experiences in a lively discussion. Dr. Allen also presented an excellent workshop on Oral Communication to the mentoring program last year.
On March 29th, Mary Singleton, recently retired from Lawrence Livermore National Labs and representing the Women's Chemist Committee of ACS, gave a slide presentation entitled "Women of the Manhattan Project". This presentation has been supported by the ACS as a means for addressing and affirming the role women played in the wartime development of the atomic bomb. In addition, Ellen and Harry Weaver joined the discussion. Dr. Weaver is one of the women in the Manhattan Project, professor emeritus at SJSU, and former AWIS National President. The stories demonstrated the breadth of the nature of women's contributions. Ms. Singleton told of how the Manhattan Project impacted women's scientific careers - both positively and adversely. She also gave accounts of several couples, such as the Weavers, whose relationships included dynamic scientific collaborations.
Are you a mom who is interested in getting more involved in AWIS-Palo Alto? You would love to attend the program meetings but have wondered how you would juggle childcare, two parent schedules, and dinner? You want to join a newsletter folding party but you have childcare responsibilities that evening? How can our chapter cater to your specific needs? Voice your concerns and suggest solutions! Contact Katy at kuokaty@ricochet.net or call 650-340-0395 (before 4pm, between 8-10pm).
CorrectionIn the March/April newsletter, the article "Turn a Frog into a Prince!" mistakenly referred to Dr. Rivka Sherman-Gold as Dr. Gold. We certainly understand the significance and importance of professional women choosing to use a hyphenated last name for self-identity. Our sincerest apologies to Dr. Sherman-Gold.
The March meeting was held at the beautiful Genencor facility. "The Joy of Science" program was an evening of networking, and sharing the wisdom and views of successful women in science.
Dr. Sue McConnell loves the "freedom to sink or swim" that is provided by her academic position, Associate Professor at Stanford. It is meaningful to her to have fun while working and still be able to relax by competitively showing her dogs.
Dr. Janet Carminati described the difficult decision to move from a postdoctoral position at Stanford to a fast moving, exciting start-up biotech company, Deltagen, Inc. She emphasized distinguishing between what YOU want to do in life, and what your Ph.D. advisor wants you to do.
Dr. Cherrill Spencer, "Particle Physicist masquerading as a Mechanical Engineer" at SLAC, has found academia and industry equally challenging. She shared several of the joyful moments of her career, explaining that "knowing what motivates you" is the key to finding the right job.
Dr. Fiona Harding, Senior Scientist at Genencor, Inc., enjoys her industry position partly because it allows her the opportunity to figure things out and to ask that famous question "Why?" In science, including a biotech company, you may find that you must "dance to someone else's tune." Fiona suggests that you just find a tune that you like!
A Big Thanks from All of Us!Our outgoing Prez, Susan Bernhard, has given much to our chapter and AWIS over the last 4 years. She's been a welcoming face at all our meetings, an untiring supporter and evangelist for AWIS, a mentor and a cheerleader. While president of the chapter she has participated in newsletter folding parties, outreach activities and the programs committee all with untiring enthusiasm!
A great big thanks, Susan, and our gratitude to someone who has done almost everything for the last 2 years.
C A L E N D A R o f E V E N T S
Palo Alto Board Meeting
Spring Symposium
Environmental Concerns in the Bay Area
Six local scientists will be featured speakers on environmental concerns in the Bay
Area. There will be a judged poster session with monetary awards in graduate student,
postdoctoral, and staff scientist categories and a noon career workshop
Sponsored by GETA (Genetic and Environmental
Toxicology Association)
Registration fees include a boxed lunch
To register, contact Ritchie at ritchief@aol.com
Women of Vision
Annual Women of Vision Fundraiser
COST: $85 (Fundraiser)
Contact mweil@careeraction.org or 408-343-2750 for more information
Brown Bag on Criticism
WOMEN & LEADERSHIP
"The Role of Women in Leadership"
Speaker: Tama Olver
VP and Chief Officer, Informix Software
Advisory Board Member,
Women in Technology, International
See p. 3 for more directions
Contact Susan at bernhas@baxter.com or 510-723-2094
for additional information
ebAWIS Networking
NAFE Conference
1999 National
Leadership Convention and Satellite Conference
Nine inspirational speakers
Sponsored by NAFE (National Ass. of Female Executives)
Cost: $59 NAFE Member, $79 non-member
Register at www.nafe.com or 800-285-6233
WITI Conference
Ice-Cream Social
Science Education
Tech Treck
