women, tech and commercials (kind of part 2)

You probably don't remember, but earlier this year, I blogged a bit about the surprising backlash against a Best Buy commercial that only featured male tech leaders in the phone/app industry. I still don't have a huge issue with the commercial, but somebody in Best Buy's marketing department must have heard because just recently this new commercial started airing:

Thanks Best Buy for not only featuring women, but diverse women in science and technology! Plus, the commercial is doubly awesome because the first woman featured is my fantastic friend and fellow microgravity flyer, Meredith Perry! So great!

blessings abounding

really I should be asleep at this point in the evening. but if I had gone to sleep 10 minutes ago, I wouldn't have seen one of the most exciting emails come in:

I was awarded an NSF Fellowship!!!!!!!!!

After waiting for over 4 months, finally got word that my proposal was reviewed favorably and that I have funding for at least the next three years. I'm still waiting on the other 7-ish fellowship programs to get back to me, but it is incredibly relieving to have a secure funding option. And it might solve my summer funding issues - apparently I can start receiving the grant money as early as June 1st. Need to discuss this with my advisor, of course :)

Getting this is so affirming in many aspects - that I can write a decent proposal, that my science is innovative, and that people other than me,  my advisor and my friends believe that investing in me as a scientist is a positive thing. (I'll be honest though, no scholarship/fellowship notification has yet to top my NASA MUST email. That was seriously one of the best moments ever. Could be that I'm just tired now and all my excitement chemicals are suppressed....)

I'm still waiting expectantly to hear back from some solar/tech companies I applied to for the summer (the one Seattle company turned me down), but this NSF news is just so wonderful.

because it's 1am and I don't have any 'excited face' pictures on my computer (though this might suffice), please enjoy this adorable kitty:

{usually my eyes get all squinty when I have a large smile....}

MORE exiting news from the past week - I was accepted into the UW Nanotechnology PhD program! Which, yes, means that I'll kind of have two doctorates at the end of the day :) I'll be honest - the program seems more like a 'certification' or 'specialization' than a whole second PhD - but who am I to complain?). My full degree will be a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering and Nanotechnology. Isn't that a mouthful?!

oh yes, and I passed my solar cells class with a way higher-than-expected grade! 

and my lab is basically now set up! (yay for lab work!)

and I get to go to a climbing comp saturday! 

wow wow wow. so blessed. 

dreaming

This video has been floating around the internet lately, but I thought I'd post it here for all my friends who might not generally watch NASA/space-inspired videos. yes, I know that if you're in my g+ "NASA Friends" circle, you've probably already seen it :) (also, this is so I can remember it later...)

watch is as you prepare your taxes. watch it with anyone you know who is thinking about being a scientist. who wouldn't be inspired by that incredible imagery? even though my goal in life is to build solar cells for people here on earth, I still dream of exploring space.

the only thing missing in the video? more women in science. there was one, did you see her in the orange flight suit? 

life in a lab coat.

yesterday, as I was getting frustrated with the kids in the lab that I TA, I realized just how many hours of my life I've lived in my lab coat. I should probably wash my lab coat, but I'm afraid I spilled something a long time ago that doesn't like water. Realistically, I probably haven't, but I don't want to accidentally destroy the laundry machine....

In contemplating the state of my lab coat, I realized that there are a large number of pictures of me in a lab coat floating around the internet, including this lovely image:

note - that is dry ice....I tried so hard to convince the photographer that we should represent 'real chemistry' (not that dry ice in water is not 'real chemistry,' but it feels like cheating...alas, we also had to use food coloring (!!!) he did not like my tiny bottle of blue azulene that I had worked for more than two quarters to synthesize :(

this was my expression in response to the photographer prompting: this is the coolest the reaction you've ever seen! yeah, right. food coloring in water - coolest thing ever.

(more pics here)

drawing on windows while sporting my lab coat is always fun - this was the azulene project as well.

finally, I'm so glad NASA Ames switch to more professional headshots (see my google+ prof pic), since this was my 'action shot' one year:

and yep, it now resides on the NASA website, for all the world to see....

In some ways, this lab coat is my 'suit' while at work in the lab (which, somewhat unfortunately, also requires wearing pants and flat, closed-toe shoes), and clearly, not made for a female figure. But, as men probably developed the lab coat, it fits their shape, not mine. I can't complain too much, because I'm not willing to take my coat in to be more fitted due to a safety issue - I want the lab coat material as far away from my skin as possible if I spill something on it. A narrowly cut coat could hold the chemical close to my skin, which could just cause larger problems than me having to wear a baggy lab coat!

gogglelinesforlife

booth babes

ommph. I would audibly express my frustration, but my roommate is trying to learn how to nap (I know, who doesn't know how to nap?!) so I'm going to write about it. I'm also putting off finishing homework, but that's nothing new.

you all know how I struggle with appropriate dressing in a male-dominated science field, but there is absolutely no reason booth babes should exist.

'Booth babes' stir controversy at 2012 CES
(for some reason, BBC won't let me have an embed code, but you should click on the link and watch the video, it's not too long)

Booth babes are insulting to women working in the tech field and only encourage gender stereotyping and inappropriate behavior. Regardless of if a women voluntarily agreed to work as a booth babe, she should not be subject to inappropriate comments and behavior from men, as seen in the BBC clip. (I also hate the way women are dressed in most video games and sci-fi books, but that's for another post.) I also finding it insulting to attendees to just assume that they would not be interested in a product if they don't have a scantily-clad model holding it. The problem only doubles when models are hired and not expected to know anything about the product. A company engages an attendee by objectifying a woman and then can't the sell the product because the rep doesn't know what she is handling - awesome marking strategy PR department (a marketing team probably all filled with men, but I won't put it past a woman to set something up at a male-heavy expo) Someone attending something like CES is there specifically to find out about new products, so I really don't see the point of hiring booth babes to introduce new products. And to the gal in the red shirt who though what they were wearing was fine because they weren't practically naked and laying across the hood of a car - if the clothing isn't appropriate for the tech workplace, it shouldn't show up at a tech conference.

Violet Blue, over at ZDNet has a humorous and pointed discussion about what it would be like if booth babes were male. also awful was the number of men taking pictures of the women without a product in her hands (link is from another gaming conference where apparently booth babes were supposed to be absent. it's quite funny, actually). If you're a guy who would go ask about a product because of the women holding it, not because of the actual product itself, I never want to work with you. That behavior quickly translates into an uncomfortable atmosphere in the workplace and I want nothing to do with it.

I also found the model's comments on women not being interested in technology telling about what she values and how the low visibility of women in tech makes entering the filed intimidating. I don't believe girls will see science and technology as a viable career to pursue until we get more women doing high-profile awesome things in a non-exploiting manner. Which is tricky, because minds, values, and attitudes in the industry have to change now before more women will join. I'm not sure what exactly to do to help this change happen, but I think that starting by mentoring girls and showing them how they can excel in those fields and supporting women like my friend Meredith, who is blazing trails through the tech industry.

for more discussion about booth babes, there are some other articles that have popped up on the internet:
another ZDNet one
one from The Guardian - apparently women were dancing in thongs at CES....really?!!!
from The Atlantic Wire
CNET (via huffington post) posted an except of a Women in Tech Panel - and look how awesomely they all were dressed!!!

and a whole ream of photos of booth babes - can you tell what they are marketing?
oh wait - there's more
and look! some gadgets, but don't forget the booth babes.

I'm done ranting now, but if you read all the way through this, I'd be interested in hearing how you would/do respond to the idea or presence of booth babes at a conference.

Also, no relevant pictures in this post, because the only related pictures would be of scarcely clad women, and I don't want that on my blog. But I can give you a cute kitten picture!

I would totally check out a product if a marketing department used kittens to sell it.....

{diversity in science}

This Sunday, I'm flying out to Albuquerque, NM (good thing I don't actually live there, I would never ever spell that town correctly without spell checker....) to give a 'how to apply to graduate school' presentation to underrepresented STEM students at New Mexico Sate University. I gave a similar talk to the NASA MUST program students at our symposium this past summer and was asked by my program coordinators to give a similar talk at NMSU. (If you or someone you know is applying for grad school, you can check out my handout here - any feedback is greatly appreciated :) )

Preparing for this presentation has made me notice the diversity present in my department and in my group. Compared to what I saw at my undergraduate university, the UW is seems much more diverse. SPU felt much less diverse, though apparently we're up to ~25 % minority students in the newest incoming class. My little group of 3 BS Chem students were all Caucasian and all our profs were Caucasian (and only one was female).

Now, in my MSE department, I'm surrounded by people of all backgrounds, nationalities, cultures, etc. In my windowless office, there are five of us - me, one kind of really awkward caucasian guy, two asian females and one asian male (I'm not sure where exactly they are from). In my group, where my PI is from India, there are three Chinese guys, one Iranian guy, one Indian guy, and one caucasian guy (well, two if you could the senior undergrad who just joined our group this week). Though, I must say, there is still a large number of caucasian males.

In a strange way, the diversity present in my department at the UW is divisive. I don't see much reconciliation between people of different backgrounds, even with the commonality of science. (But, maybe I shouldn't expect much reconciliation at all apart from Christ?)

though it wasn't consciously intentional, the other grad students I have begun to become better friends with are all caucasian. the large number of chinese students (I think - could be another asian nationality, I'm really bad at being able to tell them apart.) typically tend to group together, speak their native language, and not mix with the other grad students. Even in our lab group I've noticed this, even though it could be partially due to the fact that all the Chinese students are working on closely related projects.

I've tried to imagine how I would interact with other students if I was the visiting student and didn't speak the national language. I'm sure that I would probably feel most comfortable with other American students, but I should hope that I would not exclusively interact with them. I suspect that going to Sweden one of these summers will be a bit different experience than if I were to go to an Asian country - even though their national language is not english, Swedes are pretty white :)

Should we be satisfied with the current drive for 'just' increasing the number of diverse students in our schools and communities? how do we interact with each other well, learning from our differences, celebrating our respective cultures and build collaborations? I want to become a more global scientist, and right now, to me that means learning work with people of all backgrounds and cultures. So far, I'm afraid I've not been too successful, and I'm not sure how to change that.

but for now, I should go back to studying for my one in-class final next week. it's all about symmetry. I can break down the pretty Hungarian needlework below to a variety of symmetry elements....

women in science.

As I've mentioned before, there are very few women in my MSE department here at the UW, which just follows the general trend in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.

After reading The Disappearing Spoon, (a really good book - I highly recommend it!) I was slightly encouraged about the current status of females in STEM - in the recent past, women did all the work and their male counterparts got all the credit. (This is not a story confined to science, I'm sure.) At least, now women can author papers and are recognized for their work!

However, from all the lecture's I've attended, from the books that I have read, and from my own experiences, I still don't see women as a whole fully supported in STEM. (disclaimer - even though I'm the only women in my research group, I don't perceive any difference in the way I am supported by my advisor.) I don't know what it is going to take to change the fundamental cultural belief that women aren't as capable in the sciences as their male counterparts, just as I don't know what needs to happen to change the perception of scientists as a whole. (I do have some stories to share about my experiences thus far as a female scientist, but I'll save those for another post, this one is already kind of long....) I may be the lone voice here, but sometimes I get frustrated that scientists are presented so one-dimensionally as people who stereotypically lack social skills and don't dress well. I've already ranted about this on my other blog, so I won't repeat it here, but if you're interested, you can read it here.

Someday, I'd like to create a documentary about women in science. I'm sure it's probably been done before, but I'd like to create an exciting, yet holistic, picture of female scientists, not just reproducing the stereotypical perceptions of women in STEM. Recently, I saw a clip for First Robotics filled with celebrities encouraging students to participate in the robotics competition and to pursue science/engineering/math as a career. There was only one female - Miley Cyrus. (I don't have anything against her, but I feel like the editor didn't cut her sections well.) Even the famous scientists they highlighted through the clip were all male. Sure, Albert Einstein was a genius and, arguably, modern science would not be where it is today without his work, but  without the female scientists throughout history, we wouldn't know the structure of DNA or fundamentals of radiation.

{Rosalind Franklin - fundamental DNA structure work via x-ray crystallography}

{Marie Currie - fundamental knowledge of how radiation occurs}

(though I'm sure that if you're reading my blog, you already know about these women :) )

more recently recognized women: 

{Françoise Barré-Sinoussi - fundamental HIV research; Nobel prize 2008}

{Barbara Liskov - (first female US PhD in Computer Science; object-orientated programing}

I did find this video - but let's be real, what was more exciting/inspiring: the video on women in science or the one  with celebs for FIRST? And that was the best looking video I quickly found on YouTube....

So. What can I do now? How can we get more women in STEM? I'm still not sure, but I'm going to do my best to encourage and support every female I work with. I'm headed to NM in a week and a half to give a presentation to underrepresented students in STEM - hopefully my story can encourage them to continue STEM careers.

I've also picked up Right Stuff, Wrong Sex recently from the library, all about the first female astronaut candidate. I can't read it until break, but I'm looking forward to reading it. I'm also on the hunt for other books/media on women in science - so if you have any suggestions, let me know!

(on an slightly unrelated note - I changed my blog theme - what do you think?)