Today, we’re going to talk about the typical day of a PhD parent – mom addition – except I don’t have a “typical” day. Instead, I have a three-and-a-half month old, Percy, who is teething and going through the four month sleep regression early, so no sleep for baby and no sleep for me. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to run downstairs in the morning – normally, a little bit before 7 a.m. – to start making my breakfast. Before it’s even ready, my son will wake up from his last nighttime sleep session. Before eating my oatmeal and drinking my tea, I’ll go back upstairs and change him out of his pjs and dirty diaper. When infants don’t feel well (like when teeth are forcing their way through their gums), they tend to get clingy, so he’ll sit on my lap while I eat breakfast…
Tag: women in STEM
Welcome to the Weaver Lab: An interview with Dr. Lesley Weaver
Dr. Lesley Weaver, an alum of IU’s Department of Biology, has returned to campus as an Assistant Professor after her finishing her postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins University. This past September, I had the opportunity to interview her about her experience as an early career researcher, setting up her lab, navigating IU in her new role as an Assistant Professor, and how the COVID-19 pandemic shift to online has simultaneously highlighted issues with and solutions to accessibility and diversity in academia.
“They have seaweed in the library?”: Algological books by Victorian women
Of all the wonderful things a great library can be, “a vessel for preserving the natural world,” may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But the library can be a preservational space as significant as a national park or a wildlife preserve. Not just in words and images, but in actual specimens. Take, for example, the copy of a rare and unusual book by Elizabeth Allom, The Sea-Weed Collector, found at IU’s Lilly Library.
Science as a bridge to barriers in diversity and inclusion
This post is from ScIU’s archives. It was originally published by Alex Moussa-Tooks in February 2019 and has been lightly edited to reflect current events. A look inside the work of Dr. Mary Murphy in celebration of Black History Month Picture this: you’re a Black student on a large college campus. This is your first year…. Read more »
Bridging the gap between sex differences in exercise participation: An interview with Jessica Freemas
More than 50% of women quit sports following puberty, and women leave sports at twice the rate of men. These drop-out rates likely have long-term consequences for women, including fewer exercise benefits, less representation in sports, and weaker exercise performance. Yet, very little is known about why women leave sports at such high rates during… Read more »
My journey with science – What role do opportunities play in STEM?
As an international woman of color in STEM who didn’t grow up attending science fairs, it was quite a shock to my family (and myself) when I declared science as my field of study. As a teenager in India who was forced to decide my career at the age of 16, it was quite a… Read more »
A change of perspective
One author is ScIU guest writer Melanie Chin, a graduate student in IU’s Department of Biology and Program in Neuroscience. This post is part of a series featuring amazing science images and the stories behind them. Comment below with your guess and read on to see if you are correct! There is no argument that the… Read more »
Science as a bridge to barriers in diversity and inclusion
A look inside the work of Dr. Mary Murphy in celebration of Black History Month Picture this: you’re a Black student on a large college campus. This is your first year. One day, you are accosted by a White male slinging racial slurs and threats, as your peers (~70% of whom are White) stare, yet… Read more »
Interwoven Threads
This post is from ScIU’s archives. It was originally published by Liz Rosdeitcher in February 2018 and has been lightly edited to reflect current events. A profile of IU professor Sharlene Newman in celebration of Black History Month Any glance at the demographics tells us that African American women are among the least represented of any group in… Read more »
Graduate learning outside research: I CAN PERSIST STEM initiative
I remember one night when I was a second-year graduate student looking for an email from my advisor, feeling the pressure of yet another transition from a research filled summer to a teaching intensive fall. Instead, I found an email from my department chair with the subject “requesting assistance.” As you may have guessed, it… Read more »