December 2006
WISE sponsors two panels for graduate womenWISE sponsored two panels in November: the first was a lunch panel at Rackham that featured new female faculty and fellows talking about strategies for success. "Women to Women: Strategies for Success" featured panelists Amy Cohn, Assistant Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering, Sera Cremonini, Assistant Professor of Physics and Fellow with the Michigan Society of Fellows, and Brisa Sanchez, Assistant Research Professor of Biostatistics. Panelists described their paths from graduate school to their current positions, including events and experiences that made them decide to pursue their particular positions. One of the panelists decided to pursue a research track position over a tenure track professorship because she preferred to focus on research rather than trying to balance teaching and research. They also described what they saw as the pros and cons of positions. Some saw the flexibility that their position allows to be a great fit with balancing a family. Amy Cohn described being able to go to watch the Halloween parade at her children’s school and help out with a class party. They all enjoy the ability to come into work every day and pursue research questions that are interesting to them. They also enjoyed not being told what to focus on, which may be the case with those who do research at companies. Some concerns from the panelists included the stress of finding funding and the negative attitudes of some colleagues. One panelist pointed out that if she misses a meeting, her colleague assumes it’s because she is taking care of her children, even when she is missing one meeting to attend another. She explained that neither she, nor her colleagues assume that when a male colleague misses a meeting, it is because he is attending to his family, even if that is the case. She explained that her chair is very supportive of her and this kind of support is critical to find when looking for a faculty position. The graduate students in the audience had many questions for the panelists including: Do you reveal that you have a partner that is also looking for a placement? How do you know if a department is supportive of balancing family and work? Where do you find job postings? One panelist suggested that waiting until you receive an offer is too late to reveal that your partner needs a position as well. It takes a long time to put an offer in place, and departments are frequently going through this process at the same time. If you wait until you get an offer, then offers will have already been made across campus and there will no vacancies for your partner to be considered for. The WISE program also helped the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) student organization sponsor a pizza dinner panel that featured representatives from industry, academic and government work sectors talking about the pros and cons of working in each sector. Lee Harle, Former NSF/AAAS Policy Fellow (current electrical engineer at General Dynamics) spoke about working for the government on science funding and policy issues, as well as about working in industry. Bonnie Ludwig, a Dow physicist, spoke about working in industry and Melanie Sanford, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, spoke about working in academia. Harle enjoyed her policy experience and recommended the AAAS fellowship to others. During her year-long policy fellowship, she organized review committees for NSF proposals and helped to develop NSF initiatives. In addition, she attended frequent dinners with the scientists and policy makers from all over the world. The downside of this policy fellowship was being away from research. While she did land another policy position after her fellowship ended, she decided to return to the hands-on work of electrical engineering. The industry representative on the panel, Bonnie Ludwig, described working as a PhD for industry as a sometimes stressful but typically supportive and very doable job. She said she feels like her company sees their employees as their biggest investments and biggest assets: they want them to be happy so that they will remain at the company. There is an emphasis on work/life balance; Ludwig’s manager told her that if she needs to work more than 40 hours per week, he will wonder why it’s taking her so long to get her work done. She also explained that, as a PhD, in addition to research you will always be in a managerial position. The upside is that you are given lots of management training. She also pointed out that the review process includes those who supervise you, and those whom you supervise. If you get negative reviews from below, it matters. Harle also felt very supported by her employer. Her only complaint is that every 15 minutes of her time needs to be charged to an account. Melanie Sandford, the panelist from the academic sector, believes that, although being a professor at a research university is hard work, it is also one of the greatest jobs in the world. You get to be a lifelong student, get paid for it, and paid to travel all over the world. She puts in long hours, but she decides what she’s going to work on, she gets to pursue questions that are of interest to her. She finds the teaching equally as satisfying as the researching.
|
|
|