By Robbin Koenig

​African American women face unique challenges in college because they are often first- generation university students and lack the guidance and support from family role models. Ezella McPherson’s book, Dream On! Supporting and Graduating African American Girls and Women in STEM, addresses these distinct problems and offers advice to these students tackling a major in STEM. Her recommendations are based on her research in sociological and educational theories. Ezella also discusses the “hidden curriculum,” the non-academic areas of engagement and protocols that are a necessary part of a successful college experience.
 
The following is excerpted from an interview with Ezella where she shared what inspired her work, how she turned her academic research into a book, and advice for STEM majors and aspiring writers.

By Nektaria Riso

Do me a favour, and type “women in STEM” in your Google search engine. Trust me, go on and do it! So, how many search results do you get? You should get hundreds of millions of results ranging from newspaper articles to government statistical reports, and I’m sure they all say the same thing: the gender gap in STEM is alive and well! The gap is larger in some fields than others, especially in engineering and in computer science. According to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), only 18.7% and 20.9% of undergraduate degrees in computer science and in engineering, respectively, are awarded to women.

By Vijendra Agarwal

The year 2020 marks the 120th year of the globally acclaimed Nobel Prizes. This October was slightly different because we were recognizing the most important scientific discoveries and inventions at the same time that we were also experiencing the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. While cures to major diseases like coronavirus and the flu remain elusive, the vaccines under trial may be future candidates for the Nobel prize. Here’s hoping that at this time next year we will be celebrating new breakthroughs in medicine that uphold Alfred Nobel’s mission to reward discoveries that help humankind.  ​

​What does folding paper and designing a space rocket have in common? Quite a lot, according to Allison Redderson-Lear, Staff Engineer at Saratech. “Origami became one of the vectors that drew me to engineering,” says Allison. “Not only is it something that combines art and geometry, but lots of things can fold, not just paper — solar panels on satellites, medical devices, and even proteins.”

By Lauren Koenig

By Shreya Challa

By Vijendra Agarwal

Since 1901 to date, there are 935 Nobel Prize recipients, but only 52 are women. The proportion of Nobels awarded to women in the sciences (20/607 in Physics, Chemistry and Medicine; PCM) is more unequal than in other categories (32/328 in Economics, Peace, and Literature; EPL). This October, like any other, the world celebrated the addition of 8 science Nobel laureates (including 2 women), the highly acclaimed distinction accorded to individuals for making breakthroughs in their fields. This year, there was a welcome change when a Nobel was awarded to Donna Strickland, the first woman to receive the Nobel in physics for the first time since 1963, and Frances Arnold, the first woman to receive the Nobel in chemistry since 2009.

By Lauren Koenig

Amidst a flurry of business cards and networking at this year’s Scientista Symposium career fair, researcher Maomao Zhang connected with Calico Labs Head of Talent Matt Valentino and took the first step towards landing a dream job.  

By Robbin Koenig
 
When you think of the famous faces and voices associated with science documentaries and TV programs, which celebrities come to mind? Wildlife lovers might volunteer Sir David Attenborough. Physics fans may put forth Neil DeGrasse Tyson or the stars from Mythbusters. While the face of science still heavily relies on male personas, there’s been a growing call for gender equality in filmmaking. That change is already starting to happen on the other side of the camera.

An updated version of this interview is available here ​https://bit.ly/3l6QRqB

By Amy Massack


Susanne Lettner is the STEM ambassador for the Berlin based initiative MINT Zukunft schaffen (MINT is the German translation for STEM). She also serves as an ambassador for the Vienna based initiative Young Science, which is a Center for the Cooperation of Science and Schools. We talked with her about STEM education in Germany.