About the Scientista Foundation
Mission
Although much progress has been made in recent decades, there are persistent hurdles to the advancement of women in the sciences. The "leaky pipeline" model describes the proportion of women "on track" to potentially becoming top scientists as falling off at every step of the way, from getting interested in science and math in elementary school, through doctorate, postdoc, and career steps. In biology, for instance, women in the United States have been getting Master's degrees in the same numbers as men for two decades, yet fewer women get Ph.D.s; and the numbers of women P.I.s have not risen*.
The Scientista Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to bridging the gaps between established professionals and female students interested in pursuing careers in the sciences. While many organizations target professional women, or young girls, no national organization focuses on the specific needs of female college and graduate students.Recognizing that direct communication between women at these different stages in their careers is difficult, we seek to serve as a one stop, comprehensive online resource for aspiring campus women in STEM. By offering mentorship, advice, resources, and opportunities, we hope to help young women across the country realize their career goals.
Scientista aims to build the largest network of campus women in science. Scientista serves to connect existing communities of women in science at campuses across the nation, giving such important organizations more visibility and resources, and building a strong, cohesive network of women in science that can act as one voice.
Since it's founding, the Scientista Foundation has gained 16 campus organizations from across 11 campuses in three us regions.
* Louise Luckenbill-Edds, "The 'Leaky Pipline:' Has It Been Fixed?",The American Society for Cell Biology 2000 WICB / Career Strategy Columns (11/1/2000)
The Scientista Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to bridging the gaps between established professionals and female students interested in pursuing careers in the sciences. While many organizations target professional women, or young girls, no national organization focuses on the specific needs of female college and graduate students.Recognizing that direct communication between women at these different stages in their careers is difficult, we seek to serve as a one stop, comprehensive online resource for aspiring campus women in STEM. By offering mentorship, advice, resources, and opportunities, we hope to help young women across the country realize their career goals.
Scientista aims to build the largest network of campus women in science. Scientista serves to connect existing communities of women in science at campuses across the nation, giving such important organizations more visibility and resources, and building a strong, cohesive network of women in science that can act as one voice.
Since it's founding, the Scientista Foundation has gained 16 campus organizations from across 11 campuses in three us regions.
* Louise Luckenbill-Edds, "The 'Leaky Pipline:' Has It Been Fixed?",The American Society for Cell Biology 2000 WICB / Career Strategy Columns (11/1/2000)
History
The Birth of W.I.S.E Words Magazine
The idea for Scientista was born in 2009 by founder Julia Tartaglia, who was a junior at Harvard College. Since high school, Julia had been interested in understanding why there weren't more women in science and started writing a book of interviews of female scientist mentors and role models. When she got to Harvard, she joined the women in science organization (WISHR), and met like-minded peers who were all searching for a community and support network. Yet she felt that there was more that could be done to empower young women to attain scientific careers and to make prominent women in science more visible. Around this time, she became fascinated with the power of online media, as she became the webmanager of several organization websites, including the WISHR site. It was at this point that her idea for the Scientista website was born. In 2009, Julia put together a team of Harvard students and created WISE Words (Women Innovating Science and Engineering), an online magazine aimed at empowering college women in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) fields.
In Spring of 2011, Julia was joined by her sister, Christina, an equally passionate biology major and Harvard alum, who came on as a co-founder. Julia and Christina saw the potential of WISE Words to be more than just a magazine, but a foundation that addresses the needs of all pre-professional women in STEMM. Together, they entered the Harvard Innovation (I3) Business plan competition in the social venture track. They were awarded the runner-up TECH prize for best senior led team, which gave them the seed funding and office space at Harvard square that they needed to take WISE Words national. Over the summer, the site received a great amount of interest, attracting hundreds of followers from students in Boston and across the nation.
The Scientista Foundation
In November of 2011, they rebranded as the Scientista Foundation to incorporate a new mission of connecting communities of women in science and engineering from across campuses. The Scientista Foundation is still in it's beta phase, and will be evolving greatly over the next year. We welcome you to become a part of our history and join our team!
The idea for Scientista was born in 2009 by founder Julia Tartaglia, who was a junior at Harvard College. Since high school, Julia had been interested in understanding why there weren't more women in science and started writing a book of interviews of female scientist mentors and role models. When she got to Harvard, she joined the women in science organization (WISHR), and met like-minded peers who were all searching for a community and support network. Yet she felt that there was more that could be done to empower young women to attain scientific careers and to make prominent women in science more visible. Around this time, she became fascinated with the power of online media, as she became the webmanager of several organization websites, including the WISHR site. It was at this point that her idea for the Scientista website was born. In 2009, Julia put together a team of Harvard students and created WISE Words (Women Innovating Science and Engineering), an online magazine aimed at empowering college women in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) fields.
In Spring of 2011, Julia was joined by her sister, Christina, an equally passionate biology major and Harvard alum, who came on as a co-founder. Julia and Christina saw the potential of WISE Words to be more than just a magazine, but a foundation that addresses the needs of all pre-professional women in STEMM. Together, they entered the Harvard Innovation (I3) Business plan competition in the social venture track. They were awarded the runner-up TECH prize for best senior led team, which gave them the seed funding and office space at Harvard square that they needed to take WISE Words national. Over the summer, the site received a great amount of interest, attracting hundreds of followers from students in Boston and across the nation.
The Scientista Foundation
In November of 2011, they rebranded as the Scientista Foundation to incorporate a new mission of connecting communities of women in science and engineering from across campuses. The Scientista Foundation is still in it's beta phase, and will be evolving greatly over the next year. We welcome you to become a part of our history and join our team!
