Women in Materials Science and Engineering

The Women in Materials Science & Engineering interest group provides a forum for dialog among women (and men) working in, or pursuing education towards a profession in materials science or engineering. The goal is to share ideas and strategies that may be useful in professional life and to generate ideas for promoting awareness of women's issues to the broad professional community.  


August 2012:
We invite and encourage all visitors to this site to view this note from MRS Awards Committee Chair C. Barry Carter regarding the importance of nominating women for MRS Awards.

 women in mse 4  women in mse 5 

We invite you to participate in the Women in MS&E activities:

 

  • Women in MS&E Breakfasts
    The events are held at both the MRS Spring and Fall Meetings. These special gatherings feature a timely discussion of issues facing women in the materials science and engineering professions. It is also a great opportunity to network with eminent women in MS&E from around the world. Details regarding specific Women in MS&E Breakfasts at upcoming meetings will appear on individual meeting pages (Special Events). A history of speakers is available below.

    • 2013 MRS Spring Meeting
      Diversity in STEM - Climbing the Corporate Ladder in Academia, Government and Private Industry
      Magaly Spector
      University of Texas at Dallas
      Dawnielle Farrar
      Johns Hopkins University
      Naida Lačević
      NextGen Aeronautics, Inc.
      Sponsored by Aldrich
      S13 Women in MS&E Breakfast
       
    • 2012 MRS Fall Meeting
      Women in Engineering - A Premier Power Source (Presentation PDF)
      Gwendolyn Boyd
      Executive Assistant to the Chief of Staff
      Johns Hopkins University
      Applied Physics Laboratory
      Sponsored by Aldrich
      F12 Women in MS&E Breakfast
       
    •  2012 MRS Spring Meeting
      Three Degrees Above Zero (Virtual Presentation)
      Kristi S. Anseth
      University of Colorado, Boulder
      sponsored by Aldrich
      S12 Women in MS&E Breakfast

       
    • 2011 MRS Fall Meeting
      Unpacking Gender: Men and Women in Science, Technology and More
      Debbie Chachra
      Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
      Sponsored by Aldrich
      F11 Women in MS&E Breakfast
       
    • 2011 MRS Spring Meeting
      Women and Materials Science and Engineering – is the “Leaky Pipeline” the Wrong Metaphor? (Presentation PDF)
      Fiona M. Doyle
      Donald H. McLaughlin
      Professor of Mineral Engineering
      University of California, Department of Materials Science & Engineering
      Sponsored by Aldrich & FEI Company
      S11 Women in MS&E Breakfast
       
    • 2010 MRS Fall Meeting
      Girls in STEM – Inspiring the Next Generation of Scientists
      Jennifer Stancil
      Executive Director of Educational Partnerships
      WQED Pittsburgh
      Sponsored by Aldrich
      F10 Women in MS&E Breakfast
       
    • 2010 MRS Spring Meeting
      Do Babies Matter in Science? (Presentation PDF)
      Mary Ann Mason
      Professor and Co-Director
      Berkeley Law Center of Health, Economic and Family Security (CHEFS)
      Sponsored by Aldrich
      S10 Women in MS&E Breakfast
       
    • 2009 MRS Fall Meeting
      Not Reinventing the Wheel: What Women in the MRS can learn from the experience of the Women in the APS  (Presentation PDF)
      Catherine L Fiore
      Head, Office of Environment Safety and Health at MIT Plasma
      Science and Fusion Center (PSFC)
      Research Scientist, Alcator Project
      Sponsored by Sigma Aldrich
      F09 Women in MS&E Breakfast
       
    • 2009 MRS Spring Meeting
      Future Challenges Bring New Opportunities in Materials Research
      Dr. Gregg A. Zank
      Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Director
      of Science and Technology
      Dow Corning Corporation
      Sponsored by Dow Corning Corporation
      S09 Women in MS&E Breakfast 
     
  • Workshops
    The Women in MS&E Subcommittee also offers various professional development workshops at the Fall MRS Meetings. Details regarding past workshops conducted can be found below. Please refer to the individual meeting pages (Special Events) for upcoming events.

     
  • SUBSCRIBE to the Women in MS&E E-Newsletter: In general, coverage will be driven by the active involvement of the readers. Topics might include academic tenure, career strategies, management styles, family management issues, among others. You will also see announcements of forums, meetings, Web sites or other mailing lists of particular interest to women in the materials research community. You are encouraged to make use of this avenue to make announcements or raise issues of interest to you.

    This newsletter is moderated and edited by Women in Materials, Science & Engineering Subcommittee to ensure appropriate discussion on topics for women in materials science and engineering. Comments recorded here are those of the participants and are not those of the Materials Research Society. The Society will not accept legal liability for comments posted in this newsletter. If you have any questions or comments for the moderator, please direct them to women@mrs.org.

     
  • Women in MS&E Newsletters 
     
  • Links:
    • The Next Generation of Title IX: STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (June 2012)
       
    • The 2012 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience is given to Mildred S. Dresselhaus of MIT (May 2012)
       
    • New report details status of women in science and engineering at MIT (March 2011)
       
    •  L’ORÉAL-UNESCO For Women in Science Program
      The For Women in Science program is a global effort by L'Oréal and UNESCO to celebrate women who have dedicated their careers to scientific research and to encourage emerging talent to pursue scientific discoveries. For further details please go the L'Oréal website.
       
    • Gender and Biodiversity
       
    • Gender and Science (UNESCO) (2011)
       
    • Materials Community Examines Gender Equity
      (MRS Bulletin)
      Nearly 100 members of the materials science and engineering community from across the United States met May 18–20, 2008 at the University of Maryland, College Park, six miles from Washington, DC. Academic department heads, national laboratory researchers, and federal agency representatives attended the workshop on “Gender Equity in Materials Science & Engineering.” They convened to learn what unconscious biases are and to discuss how biases and institutional systems affect the representation of genders in the field.
      (September 25, 2008)
       
    • Her College Experience Is Not His
      (The Chronicle of Higher Education, requires subscription)
      ... data has enabled me to assess how gender shapes the characteristics of women and men entering college, how both genders experience college, and how college influences them. And I have found that women and men differ significantly from each other — and in ways that raise many questions for further research.
      (September 25, 2008)
       
    • Women and Minority Members Tend to Take Longer to Earn Ph.D.s
      (The Chronicle of Higher Education, requires subscription)
      Women and members of minority groups tend to take longer than other subsets of the population to complete doctoral programs, while international students stand out as the fastest in earning Ph.D.'s, according to a report being released today by the Council of Graduate Schools. The report, based on data from 24 universities in the United States and Canada, is unusual both in its large scope—covering 19,000 students who entered doctoral programs in the 1990s—and in its attention to which students finish doctoral programs later than others.
      (September 9, 2008)
       
    • A New Frontier for Title IX: Science
      (The New York Times)
      Until recently, the impact of Title IX, the law forbidding sexual discrimination in education, has been limited mostly to sports. But now, under pressure from Congress, some federal agencies have quietly picked a new target: science. The National Science Foundation, NASA and the Department of Energy have set up programs to look for sexual discrimination at universities receiving federal grants. Investigators have been taking inventories of lab space and interviewing faculty members and students in physics and engineering departments at schools like Columbia, the University of Wisconsin, M.I.T. and the University of Maryland.
      (July 15, 2008) 
       
    • Broad National Effort Urgently Needed To Maximize Potential of Women Scientists and Engineers in Academia
      Report by The National Academies dated September 18, 2006.
     

 

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