Category Archive: Sciencing while Female

ESA Early Career Fellows are well balanced by gender

ESA announced its 2016 Early Career Fellows a few weeks ago. The program is fairly new – only in its fourth year – and its aim is to recognize the achievements and potential of excellent ecologists, broadly construed. The announcement of the 2016 cohort brings the total number of Early Career Fellows to 27. And …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/06/29/esa-early-career-fellows-are-well-balanced-by-gender/

How and when to tell your advisor you’re pregnant (or your partner is)

I have had the experience of telling three advisors I’m having a kid — two as a grad student and one as a postdoc. And probably because I’m a bit noisy, I’ve had others ask me for advice on how to tell their advisors that they’re about to become parents. Below is my suggested game …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/06/22/how-and-when-to-tell-your-advisor-youre-pregnant-or-your-partner-is/

When should I start a family? (Actual advice rather than platitudes for the early career academic)

Standard replies as to when to have kids when you’re on the academic path are: “there’s no good time” or “when it’s right for you” or “there are tradeoffs” or variations on these themes. While this advice is true, it’s also useless. And for people who are looking for actionable advice, it’s frustrating to not …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/05/18/when-should-i-start-a-family-actual-advice-rather-than-platitudes-for-the-early-career-academic/

Increasing the number of women in computer science requires real cultural change, not just recruitment

Not too long ago, NPR’s Planet Money had a segment on what’s happened to women in computer science. It really struck a chord. To summarize, women were a mainstay of computer science from its earliest years up until 1984. Then, the number of women in computer science at universities started plummeting, while the number of …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/04/06/increasing-the-number-of-women-in-computer-science-requires-real-cultural-change-not-just-recruitment/

I am unwilling to relocate again (and it will probably cost me my academic “career”)

Multiple moves are the norm in academia and it’s a major structural problem that gets in the way of diversity (and other) initiatives. Long gone are the days when the academic was (only) a hetero white male who was either single (and a highly eligible bachelor with his PhD in hand) or had a family …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/03/23/i-am-unwilling-to-relocate-again-and-it-will-probably-cost-me-my-academic-career/

The resurgence of Title IX and women’s rights in U.S. academia

Less than two years ago, the U.S. Department of Education released a list of 55 institutions of higher education in 27 states that it was investigating for improper handling of sexual harassment and assault complaints. Since then, results from surveys looking at sexual harassment and assault in U.S. higher education and in the field have …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ecologybits.com/index.php/2016/02/24/the-resurgence-of-title-ix-and-womens-rights-in-u-s-academia/