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Advocate for Women in STEM Disciplines Speaks on Today’s Barriers to ‘Breaking into The Lab’

By Guest PostNovember 30, 2012Media, Scienceadvancement, barrier, biomedical discovery, breaking, knapp center, male population, san francisco, scientific fields, state university, stem discipline, stem fields, sue rosser, the lab, women, women scientists

For Sue Rosser, the obstacles women in the STEM disciplines face today may be less obvious than they were 40 years ago, but they’re as real as ever.

“Today, barriers and discrimination are more subtle and there’s a different language, but it’s still going on,” Rosser said. “It’s old wine in new bottles.”

Rosser, the first woman to serve as provost and vice president for academic affairs at San Francisco State University, presented “Breaking into the Lab: Engineering Progress for Women in Science,” on Nov. 12, at the Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery. Her talk outlined barriers to women’s advancement in scientific fields, and offered advice for women and academic mentors to avoid discrimination. The event, which is part of the annual lecture series, “How to Advance Women in Science and Engineering,” is a collaboration between the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality and the Office of the Provost at the University of Chicago. Rosser’s talk is the second annual colloquium on how to support and advance women in the STEM fields. (more…)

Did You See That? How Could You Miss It?

By Guest PostNovember 27, 2012Generalalan castel, computer program, cpr training, difference, emergency, fire extinguisher, god we trust, keith holyoak, men, michael vendetti, women

You may have received CPR training some time ago, but would you remember the proper technique in an emergency? Would you know what to do in the event of an earthquake or a fire? A new UCLA psychology study shows that people often do not recall things they have seen — or at least walked by — hundreds of times.

For the study, 54 people who work in the same building were asked if they knew the location of the fire extinguisher nearest their office. While many of the participants had worked in their offices for years and had passed the bright red extinguishers several times a day, only 13 out of the 54 — 24 percent — knew the location. (more…)

Q&A: Assoc. Prof. Christopher Berry discusses rise of women in Congress

By Guest PostNovember 17, 2012Politicscharisma, Chicago, christopher berry, congress, congresswomen, federal aid, federal projects, female, fiscal cliff, harris school, healthcare reform, house, hurricane sandy, job performance, legislation, male counterpart, nov election, number, partisan gaps, politicians, President Obama, public policy, representatives, university, us senate, us senators, women

One of the most notable outcomes of the Nov. 6 election was the record number of women voted into Congress, including 20 women who will occupy seats in the U.S. Senate.

Christopher Berry, associate professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, recently discussed the effects of the increase in female U.S. senators. Berry co-authored a 2011 study that found congresswomen consistently outperform their male counterparts on several measures of job performance.

What implications will the increase of female representation have for the U.S. Senate?

Potentially of great interest to the constituents of the new female senators is our finding that they consistently bring home more federal projects and federal aid than their male counterparts. When you think about disasters like Hurricane Sandy, the ability to bring home federal aid for rebuilding efforts is really important. It is going to be good for their constituents and the states they represent. (more…)

When she says, ‘It’s not you, it’s me,’ it really might be you, UCLA study suggests

By Guest PostOctober 25, 2012Healthbehavior, change, christina larson, cycle, deep voice, dominant behavior, dual mating, evolutionary benefit, fertile period, fertility, genetic makeup, genetic mutation, good gene, hormones, hypothesis, martie haselton, masculine face, masculine feature, masculine tend, monthly cycle, mr sexy, mr stable, offspring, ovulation, ovulation cycle, potential partner, progeny, relationship satisfaction, romantic relationship, sex partner, sexually attractive men, sexually desirable men, sexy, sexy look, ucla, women

Women with stable but not-so-sexy mates become more distant, critical during periods of high fertility

Long after women have chosen Mr. Stable over Mr. Sexy, they struggle unconsciously with the decision, according to a new study by UCLA researchers who look at subtle changes in behavior during ovulation.

At their most fertile period, these women are less likely to feel close to their mates and more likely to find fault with them than women mated to more sexually desirable men, the research shows. (more…)

Taking Race Out of the Equation in Measuring Women’s Risk of Osteoporosis and Fractures

By Guest PostOctober 20, 2012Healthafrican american, age, arun karlamangla, background, bone fracture, bone health, bone size, carolyn crandall, caucasian, chinese heritage, data, ethnic, ethnicity, ethnicity information, gail greendale, hip fracture, jane cauley, japanese, mei hua huang, michelle danielson, mixed, national database, new method, osteoporosis, pittsburgh, race, racial, racial line, racial mixture, risk, shinya ishii, ucla, university, women

For women of mixed racial or ethnic backgrounds, a new method for measuring bone health may improve the odds of correctly diagnosing their risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures, according to a UCLA-led study.

Currently, assessing osteoporosis and the risk of fractures from small accidents like falls requires a bone density scan. But because these scans don’t provide other relevant fracture-related information, such as bone size and the amount of force a bone is subjected to during a fall, each patient’s bone density is examined against a national database of people with the same age and race or ethnicity. (more…)

For Some Women, Genes May Influence Pressure to Be Thin

By Guest PostOctober 5, 2012Healthalexandra burt, beauty, behavior, change, cheryl sisk, eating disorder, Environment, environmental, environmental influence, environmental trigger, genetics, ideal, internalization, jessica suisman, kelly klump, michigan, msu, psychological impact, risk factor, self perception, shannon oconnor, state university, symptom, thin, western culture, western society, women, young women

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Genetics may make some women more vulnerable to the pressure of being thin, a study led by Michigan State University researchers has found.

From size-zero models to airbrushed film stars, thinness is portrayed as equaling beauty across Western culture, and it’s an ideal often cited as a cause of eating disorder symptoms in young women. The researchers focused on the potential psychological impact of women buying into this perceived ideal of thinness, which they call thin-ideal internalization. Changes in self-perception and behavior, caused by this idealization, can lead to body dissatisfaction, a preoccupation with weight and other symptoms of eating disorders. (more…)

Researchers Come a Step Closer to Finding HIV Vaccine

By Guest PostSeptember 18, 2012Healthgenetic signature, heterosexual, hiv, hiv 1 vaccine, hiv research, immune response, men, morgane rolland, program, protein, strain, us military, v2 region, women

Scientists used genetic sequencing to discover that the vaccine used in the RV144 HIV vaccine trial, involving 16,000 men and women in Thailand, did offer some protection against certain HIV viruses. The results were published Sept. 10 in the online edition of Nature.

James Mullins, UW professor of microbiology, medicine and laboratory medicine, leads one of the two laboratories that did genetic analyses of the virus. He said the study proved that an HIV vaccine is within reach. (more…)

Witch Hunts Targeted by Grassroots Women’s Groups

By Guest PostSeptember 5, 2012Culture, Economy, Generalalcoholism, anuradha chakravarty, basanti, chicken eggs, culture, disease, domestic abuse, economic, factor, gender equality, government, grassroots movement, India, jalpaiguri, livestock, loan, loan program, michigan, microcredit, microcredit group, native india, plantation worker, practice, self help, social movement, sociologist, soma chaudhuri, state university, stomach illness, tea plantation, tradition, tribal people, village, witch, witch hunts, witchcraft, women

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Witch hunts are common and sometimes deadly in the tea plantations of Jalpaiguri, India. But a surprising source – small groups of women who meet through a government loan program – has achieved some success in preventing the longstanding practice, a Michigan State University sociologist found.

Soma Chaudhuri spent seven months studying witch hunts in her native India and discovered that the economic self-help groups have made it part of their agenda to defend their fellow plantation workers against the hunts. (more…)

Tag Archives: women

What implications will the increase of female representation have for the U.S. Senate?