500 Women Scientists Eugene Pod Coordinators Leslie Dietz, Theresa Cheng and I sat down with KMTR reporter Kelsey Christensen today to about 500 Women Scientists in Eugene, and the Science Salons we’ve been hosting monthly since March. You can find the video clip in the link below.
You can catch up with the Eugene Pod and find our schedule of events online:
500 Women Scientists Eugene is hosting another Science Salon at First National Taphouse; “Hot Mess: Biodiversity in the Sky Islands and following fire.”
Graduate Student at Oregon State University
Title: “Population structure of Rhizopogon in the Madrean Archipielago: The Sky Islands of Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico.”
Bio: Carolyna Piña Páez is a graduate student at Oregon State university. Her adventures in Mycology began in 2005 in the Sonoran Desert, working with gasteroid fungi. Since 2011, she’s been working with truffles and other ectomycorrhizal fungi associated with true fir, pine and oak in the central part of México. In 2013, she moved to Oregon and was amazed with the diversity that this place hosts.
Talk slides: ScienceSalonMarch25_Carolina_fungi_ScienceTalk
Fire Management Officer, a.k.a. “Burn Boss”, Nature Conservancy, Oregon
Title: “Burning for Butterflies, Birds & Blooms”
Bio: Amanda started her career in fire management as a member of a 20-person contract crew in 1999. In 2001, after finishing her BA in Philosophy at the University of Oregon, she returned to fire management, working on hotshot crews, handcrews, and engines; as a fuels technician on the Deschutes National Forest; and assistant fire management officer in fuels management on the Ochoco National Forest and Crooked River National Grassland. She studied Natural Resources at Oregon State University and completed a Masters in Natural Resources, Fire Ecology, and Management at the University of Idaho in 2012. She has since worked for the Prineville Bureau of Land Management as a natural resource specialist coordinating post-fire emergency stabilization and rehabilitation; as invasives program manager for the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests and Crooked River National Grassland; fire management officer for The Nature Conservancy in Oregon and Washington; and chair of the Oregon Prescribed Fire Council.
Talk slides: 20180325_Salon_Amanda_fire
500 Women Scientists Eugene would like to thank the organizations that helped make this event possible. First and foremost, First National Taphouse in Eugene, who shared their wonderful space with us and where we will be putting on future Salons, and donated a keg to the event! We are also extremely grateful to several organizations which contributed raffle or trivia items for us to raise additional funds, including Leslie Dietz and the Eugene Science Center. Our beautiful logo was crafted by Cassie Cook, our amazing event posters were designed by Serena Lim. Fertilab generously lent us a sound system. And of course, we want to acknowledge the national leadership of 500 Women Scientists, who brought us together, gave us a voice, and who suggested these Science Salons as a way to help CienciaPR, a organization which similarly supports science education and infrastructure.
I’d also like to acknowledge the powerhouse team of women who came together to organize this event: Karen Yook, Leslie Dietz, Jessica Flannery, and our wonderful speakers; Carolyna Piña Páez and Amanda Stamper. 500 Women Scientists was formed in the spirit of cooperation and support, and this team truly took that to heart. I can’t wait to organize the next one with you ladies, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one…
The inaugural Science Salon of the 500 Women Scientists Eugene Pod is underway! If you’d like to follow along with the presentation on your device, you can find the pdf formats below:
“Geographical Differences in the Moose Microbiome”; Ishaq Eugene SciSalon 20180311
A few close-ups:
“Genetics and Environment Influence Human Microbiome Composition”; Tavalire_MB_talk_final_03112018
500 Women Scientists Eugene would like to thank the organizations that helped make this event possible. First and foremost, First National Taphouse in Eugene, who shared their wonderful space with us and where we will be putting on future Salons, and donated a keg to the event! We are also extremely grateful to several organizations which contributed raffle items for us to raise additional funds, including Broadway Metro, Sizzle Pie, and the Eugene Science Center. Our beautiful logo was crafted by Cassie Cook, our amazing event posters were designed by Serena Lim, and photographer Danielle Cosme took some incredible event photos. Fertilab generously lent us a sound system, the Biology and the Built Environment Center donated the bacterial culture supplies, and both Theresa Cheng and Jessica Flannery provided materials and support for the interactive portion of the event. And of course, we want to acknowledge the national leadership of 500 Women Scientists, who brought us together, gave us a voice, and who suggested these Science Salons as a way to help CienciaPR, a organization which similarly supports science education and infrastructure.
I’d also like to acknowledge the powerhouse team of women who came together to organize this event, and who turned my silly event title into a reality: Karen Yook, Theresa Cheng, Leslie Dietz, and Hannah Tavalire. 500 Women Scientists was formed in the spirit of cooperation and support, and this team truly took that to heart. I can’t wait to organize the next one with you ladies, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one…
The 500 Women Scientists Eugene, Oregon Pod is inviting you to join our Science Salons for Puerto Rico Campaign. For the last year, our amazing women scientists have put their communication skills to use within our community. Now, we’re channeling that energy into a concerted campaign to raise money to support our amazing partners at CienciaPR as they work to transform science education in Puerto Rico and around the world.
The Eugene Pod’s evening of science will center around the gut microbiome:
Throughout history, salons have acted as gathering places for conversation “either to please or to educate” (Latin: aut delectare aut prodesse). From the salons of the Enlightenment to the 1940s salons of Gertrude Stein, women have played a central role in guiding and driving the discussion.
500 Women Scientists has borrowed from the spirit of the salon to bring discussions about science to the communities we serve. We invite you to listen to speakers sharing 10 to 20 minute talks about their work, geared toward a public audience, followed by ample time for questions and discussion. The purpose of the salon is two-fold, creating an opportunity for the community to learn about our membership’s amazing research while giving our members a platform to hone their public speaking skills. And by charging admission — through a donation — the Salon will raise money for CienciaPR to transform science education in Puerto Rico. Ciencia PR is a global community of scientists, students, educators and allies who believe that science can empower individuals with the knowledge, capacity, and agency to improve their lives and society.
As a women-led nonprofit, CienciaPR taps into its rich and diverse community to democratize science and transform science education and career training in Puerto Rico. We’ve partnered with CienciaPR because our missions to democratize science and foster agency among underrepresented communities are well-aligned. While CienciaPR focuses on Puerto Rico and its diaspora, their strategy can serve as a model to other communities that are underrepresented in or disengaged from science. We are thrilled to support their ongoing efforts and learn from their organization’s successes in building capacity and fostering community.
Immediately after Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated Puerto Rico, CienciaPR worked with the Department of Education to create disaster-related and project-based science lesson plans that could allow displaced students to continue learning. Early in 2018, CienciaPR will launch a pilot project to train educators to implement four science lessons in natural disaster and environment related topics: renewable energy, environmental sustainability, clean and potable water, and terrestrial ecosystems. Later in the year, they will bring together scientists and educators to co-create project-based science lessons that foster creativity, entrepreneurship, and critical thinking skills. These new lessons will serve as a platform for students to work together to address the challenges they see in their communities. This pilot project kicks off the implementation of CienciaPR’s new 10-year strategic plan of transforming science education in Puerto Rico, by engaging its community of scientists, educators, and students to bring discovery, experimentation, and problem-solving to the classroom in ways that are culturally and socially relevant to Puerto Rican children.
You can donate to CienciaPR at any time outside of the Science Salons campaign. You can also read more about CienciaPR’s strategic vision in their latest op-ed for Scientific American, “Rebuilding Science Education in Puerto Rico.”
At a conference this summer, I attended a lunch discussion on gender equality in science, and diversity and equity in the workplace in general, hosted by the activist group; 500 Women Scientists. What was planned to be a small meeting of 20-30 women very quickly turned into a standing-room-only event as an unexpected number of women and allies arrived; a momentum which has been gathering since the inception of 500WS. Following the 2016 presidential election, four women decided it was time to act and founded the organization with the goal of getting 500 women in STEM to sign an open letter in support of science. As of writing this, more than 20,000 supporters from over 100 countries have joined the movement, which has sparked a number of actions.
First, 500WS seeks to spread awareness of issues and provide resources towards improving life in the workplace. In particular; recognizing, preventing, and providing justice for sexual harassment in the workplace has been a large focus of the 500WS group, among many other organizations and individuals in the #MeToo movement.
Second, 500WS aims to create gender equality in STEM and the workplace in general, by promoting inclusion, by advocating for employee-friendly practices, and by reducing bias. These policies not only help women, for example; they help working parents of all genders through the implementation of policies like parental leave. One of the 500WS measures is providing an online resource for people to Request A Scientist, to promote the visibility of women in STEM and support their inclusion in news articles, on panels, as speakers, and in leadership positions. This visibility in the media reinforces the idea that women are actively working in STEM, are making important contributions to it, and can help dispel gender stereotypes and bias which lead to pay discrepancies and missed career opportunities. Along with similar resources like the Diverse Sources Database, 500WS seeks to reinforce the idea that scientists come in all sorts of formats.
Third, 500WS is an activist group. In addition to promoting the March for Science movement last year and this year, they regularly post actionable items for women in STEM and supporters on their Take Action Tuesday blog posts. Most recently, 500WS is also launching a Science Salon campaign to raise money for Puerto Rico, which has yet to recover from catastrophic hurricane damage due to insufficient US recovery funds and a lack of media attention.
Those of you following my blog know that I am a firm supporter of equity in science (although largely from the point of view of women in STEM – write what you know, after all); I have debated the existence of the pay gap with others online; I have written about the lack of women in STEM, the disparity between what women are expected to do at work and how their performance is judged, the awkward problem of name changes and publication records, and not missing out on brilliant researchers because of bias; I have hosted a STEM workshop for girls, been a mentor to an elementary student, attended Meet a Scientist day at the Eugene Science Center; and I have marched for science, equality, and human rights when I could.
I am thrilled to announce that I’m also joining the 500 Women Scientists Eugene Pod as a co-coordinator! The Eugene Pod leadership has been working hard to develop a Eugene Science Salon, and we hope to make it a reoccurring event which will promote local women in STEM, increase public engagement and education in STEM, and raise money for a variety of causes.
You can find the Eugene Pod online on Facebook and Twitter and both women in STEM and supporters of any gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nationality, age, career path, field, and preferred Oregon college sports’ mascot are welcome to join. If you are a woman (the inclusive definition of woman) in the Eugene area who would like to join the group and attend meetings to plan larger events, please join our Meetup group.
The national 500 Women Scientists is here: Organization | @500womensci | Facebook
