Yesterday marks two years since the day of our very first meeting! Thanks to everyone who’s been involved, whether you were here from the beginning or you’ve just started. Here’s a timeline of some of the events and projects we’ve worked on during our second year as a student group.
October 24: Betsy Harasek, J.D., gives a talk entitled “From the Bad to the Not So Bad Days for Women in Science”, about her career as a chemist and patent lawyer.
November 13: Amy Cuddy visits to give the Danz Lecture for the UW Graduate School Public Lecture Series, after being nominated by WCS last year. We co-sponsored her visit and got to spend some time with her learning about power poses.
December 5: Shoshanna Barnett, a graduate student in the chemistry department, leads a very informative discussion about pregnancy during graduate school.
February 13: Elaine Klein, a graduate student in the College of Education, gives a talk about “Equity-Based Approaches to STEM Research and Education”.
March 15: WCS members lead a workshop at the Seattle Expanding Your Horizons conference for middle school girls. We solved a mystery involving a chemical spill in Lake Washington, using ink chromatography, pH measurements, and metal salt precipitation tests.
March 28: WCS hosts a panel discussion on “Managing Up: How to Get the Most from Your PI” featuring Emma Williams, Associate Ombud; Susan Terry, Director of the UW Career Center; and Kelly Edwards, Associate Dean for Student & Postdoctoral Affairs.
April 23: Professor Alexes Harris, of the sociology department at UW, leads a discussion: “It’s Not Just You! A Workshop on Imposter Syndrome.”
May 23: WCS members Addie, Scott, and Joan, who are developing a mentoring toolkit for students and PIs, lead a workshop on “Fostering Communication Between Graduate Students and Advisors.”
June 18: Meghann Gerber, PsyD and licensed psychologist, leads “Managing with Mindfulness: A Meditation and Mindfulness Workshop.”
June-September: WCS members read and discuss the book “Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do” by Claude Steele.
July 27: In the first WCS summer outing, organized by Joan, WCS members go canoeing in the UW arboretum.
August 12: The Graduate Student Symposium, organized by a committee that includes several WCS members, takes place at the ACS National Meeting in San Francisco. The committee invited speakers, fundraised, advertised, and hosted a symposium with the theme “International Collaborations with International Impact: Chemistry for Global Change.”
October 2: Jen Self, of the Q Center, leads a discussion called “Gender Diversity: Beyond the Binary.”
Thanks to everyone who participated in these activities, especially those who helped plan and organize so many cool events! Year three promises to be even more awesome, with a number of talks and workshops already scheduled, plus more outreach.
Our first event of the new WCS-year features Professor Christy Haynes of the University of Minnesota, this Tuesday (meeting and discussion at 9:15 am in CHB 439; seminar on “Proving ‘Them’ Right: Pursuing Chemistry as a Career” at 10:30 am in CHB 102 with refreshments provided). We hope to see you there!