Sciencewomen

ISEF 2008: Cool science and practical applications

Category: science education

More selections from projects I'm seeing at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

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Posted by ScienceWoman at 12:30 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

ISEF 2008: Impressive science by high school students

Category: science education

I'm going to be busy judging all day long, so I've scheduled some posts to show you the sort of projects I'll be looking at today. Actually, I'll only be judging -ology projects, but I'll leave you to decide which ones those are.

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Posted by ScienceWoman at 9:55 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

ISEF 2008: Full disclosure

Category: science education

I didn't sleep very well last night, and I'm going to pretend that was solely because I was bothered by not being 100% honest with my readers...so here goes. Why am I judging at ISEF? And why am I giving it so much coverage on blog?

Second things first, Intel is picking up the tab for a trip that I would very much have liked to take even on my own dime. They wanted blog coverage and contacted one of the big-name Sbers who passed the word along. Much as I am sure Intel would have liked PZs blog statistics, they got me. And I am thrilled to help increase visibility for a really worthwhile initiative.

You see, back in the day, I had one of the project displays that I've been showing you. I was a nervous high school student competing at ISEF, sharing my research with the judges, and making friends from across the country. Science fairs were easily the most influential part of my pre-college education and probably the sole reason that I am a scientist today. Science fairs took a nerdy, socially awkward, bookworm and transformed her into someone with speaking, writing, investigative skills, and with confidence to take on the world. I'm not exaggerating here.*

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Posted by ScienceWoman at 7:23 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

ISEF 2008: Day 1 by the numbers

Category: science education

Miles walked: At least 5. The Georgia World Congress Center is huge!
Random "it's a small world" connections made: 2
Not-entirely-unexpected reunions encountered: 3

Ounces pumped and dumped: 7 (so far)
Freakouts had: None since the airport.
Times I've called home: None.(I don't want to risk waking a sleeping baby. I'll call tomorrow morning.)
Time I'll be home tomorrow night: 11ish.

Abstracts read: at least 40.
Hours of judging I'll have tomorrow: 3 without a break, 8 total
Projects I've been impressed by: All of them. It's hard to believe some of the science these high school studentss are doing.

Posted by ScienceWoman at 10:22 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

ISEF 2008: Nobel Laureates Panel

Category: science education

A cool feature of ISEF is the science star power. This afternoon the judges were treated to a panel full of science luminaries: Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Robert Curl, Rich Roberts, Dudley Herschbach, H. Robert Horvitz, and Leon Lederman. I walked in a few minutes late, so I didn't catch the introductions, but the moderators voice sounded so familiar. At the end of the session, I discovered the reason...our panel was moderated by Joe Palca, from Science Friday. The session had an open microphone on the floor for questions from the audience. Both the questions and answers were incredibly thought-provoking and covered a wide range of subjects from science education, to the representation of women, to the social responsibility of science research. Below the fold, I'll share some highlights.

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Posted by ScienceWoman at 7:10 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

First Taste of the International Science and Engineering Fair

Category: science education

So I've arrived at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Atlanta and I'm starting to get my bearings. I've been oriented to judging and have been previewing the projects. There are more than 1500 projects from students in grades 9-12 from 51 countries and the students are competing for almost $4 million in prizes and scholarships. Almost half of the contestants are girls. There will be an estimated 550 judges tomorrow, making sure that each student gets seen by 6 "Grand Awards" judges plus special awards judges representing universities and professional societies. My feet and brain hurt already.

Below the fold, I thought I'd show some of the first projects that caught my eye.

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Posted by ScienceWoman at 4:30 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Flying solo

Category: travel

I'm in the airport about to board my plane. I'd forgotten how wonderful it can be to fly without a child. I'm looking forward to actually getting some work done on the flight rather than just trying to appease and entertain a squirming baby in a cramped middle seat. I think I may even have an aisle seat. Heaven!

But of course, I am tugged by a nagging feeling about leaving my baby behind. What if something happens to her while I'm away? What if her babysitter forgets to pick her up at daycare today? What if she won't take a bottle? (a likely scenario). What if she doesn't sleep at all?

My friends have tried to reassure me. "Babies and toddlers do beautifully when Mommy goes away," they say, "It's you who won't get a wink of sleep. She'll be fine."

"But MY child NEEDS me," I want to scream at them, "our bond is special. We still co-sleep, be still breast-feed. She'll be devastated. She'll feel abandoned. I'm a miserable mother for going on this trip by myself."

Then I try to remind myself that this separation had to happen sometime. And this is a short trip - just over 36 hours. It'll be a good trial run. It'll be hard, but she'll survive. Maybe she'll even do better than expected. And I'll survive too. I'll pump and dump, and one night of missed breast-feeding won't end our special bond. We'll survive. We'll thrive.

And now it's time to board my flight.

Posted by ScienceWoman at 11:39 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

ADVANCing along with the big kids: my tentative first foray into BIGGRANTDOM

Category: Alice shares... • conference chatter • travel • women in science

Okay, so I've been keeping this under my hat for the last six-eight months, scared of jinxing things, but it's becoming arduous to keep hiding, so I'm sharing.

Purdue submitted a proposal in December for an NSF-ADVANCE institutional transformation grant - the purpose of these grants are to improve the lot for and of women in science and engineering academia, particularly faculty positions. I'm listed as a co-PI on Purdue's grant.

NSF hasn't awarded anything yet, so we are in official limbo, waiting for word. However, the waiting game has now bumped into the annual ADVANCE PI meeting, where all the PIs and co-PIs on the grants get together to share successes and challenges. Because NSF hasn't made any decisions yet, some (many? all? I have no idea) of us who submitted proposals were invited to the meeting, even though we still may not get the grant. It's somewhat awkward, and will be super-heartbreaking if we don't get one in the end. But I've been asking around, and this seems to be a fairly common occurrence for ADVANCE, perhaps because it's a cross-cutting program and there's that many more people to convince to pony up the funds. I have no idea.

Anyway. I'm at the meeting today, and wanted to share some thoughts, so figured it was time to come out of the grant closet. And hope the Jinx Fairy isn't watching.

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Posted by Alice at 10:05 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Mother's Day is over-rated. And hard to celebrate.

Category: mommy monday

I have to remember to lower my expectations for holidays. When my expectations are low and things go wrong, the expectations are met, and I am satisfied. When things go right, I am surprised and happy. High expectations of things beyond my control breed dissatisfaction.

Part of the problem with Mother's Day this year was that I couldn't really decide what I wanted from the day. For the weeks leading up to the day, I dreamed of several hours to myself - to go out hiking with the dog or at least to the fabric store to get fabric for a new quilt. I wanted recognition for my hard work and long hours as a mom and recognition that I had once had a life separate from child and job.

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Posted by ScienceWoman at 12:06 PM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks