Women in Science

Abstract

Last year we, the editors of Cell Metabolism, started our “Rosie project,” where we asked women scientists to share some of the defining stories of their careers and for their advice for the next generations of researchers. We were inspired by the World War II poster, Rosie the Riveter, which we featured on the May 2015 Cell Metabolism cover to debut the “Women in Metabolism” series of “Voices.” Throughout the year, we published 41 Voices in three installments from scientists all over the globe. The response of our readers has been so overwhelmingly positive that we decided to continue and extend the Rosie series.View Large Image | View Hi-Res Image | Download PowerPoint SlideSo welcome now to the second act of the Rosie project. For starters, we have broadened the series to include men! For the first 2016 Rosie series, we are partnering with our Cell Press colleagues to highlight an upcoming LabLinks meeting on “The Gender of Science and the Science of Gender” to be held Thursday, May 19, 2016 at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT in Massachusetts, USA. To provide some background, LabLinks are a Cell Press tradition we are particularly proud of. They are free Cell Press-sponsored meetings, held in various cities around the world, which, for one day, bring together scientists with a shared interest. Time and time again, we have been told that, though most of the speakers and attendees are from the same city, they do not often have such an opportunity to come together and discuss topics close to their hearts. Invariably, fruitful discussions have led to productive collaborations, exciting research, and new vistas. Since the first LabLinks on microbial immunity a decade ago, we have covered a diverse portfolio of topics in the life sciences, ranging from chromatin and DNA repair to synthetic biology via metabolic disease. This is, however, the first time that we are tackling a non-traditional topic combining social and biological sciences as well as policy.The LabLinks on gender and science is the brainchild of one of us, Nicole, while Liz, the author and curator of the Female Scientist blog, was a natural partner to co-spearhead the project. Together with other colleagues across Cell Press and Elsevier, and in a first-time partnership with the Massachusetts chapter of the Association of Women in Science (Mass AWIS), we are excited to be able to present this meeting exploring both the social issues of gender diversity in science and the biology of gender. The goal of the meeting is to keep the conversation about women in science going. It’s clear the conversation started a while ago; we now need to move beyond the beaten tracks to recognize and capitalize on gender diversity in a smart and empowering manner for both women and men.Reflecting the meeting’s duality, Londa Schiebinger, from Stanford, will deliver the keynote lecture about gendered innovations—the true incorporation of gender as a variable in scientific research and technology development, from using crash-test dummies with the body composition of both men and women to including sufficient women or men in clinical trials—while the second keynote speaker, Catherine Dulac, from Harvard, will talk about the neurobiology of human behavior—does our biology drive men and women to think and behave differently? The speaker roster, composed of an 85% ratio of women speakers, which is reflective of the customary number of male speakers at scientific conferences, includes Evelyn Murphy speaking on wage equality and David Clapham speaking on male contraception strategies. The LabLinks will include a panel discussion on how diversity can be achieved in a meritocracy.For this Cell Metabolism Rosie series, we invited the LabLinks speakers, as well as Sangeeta Bhatia and Harvey Lodish from MIT, for their reflections on women scientists. Reading the authentic accounts of these rock stars of science, we are particularly struck by their passion and perseverance in pursuing their dreams in advancing science and society and by the incontrovertible importance of mentorship. A culture of inclusion not only provides a diverse “highly educated, creative, innovative, and motivated” talent pool, it is “essential for both individual success and to provide the creative spark …” Besides fostering meritocracy, diversity improves the financial bottom line of institutions and countries.Our collective aim is to make science a better place so that we can be a “scientist” first and foremost, not a “woman scientist” or a “man scientist” or have any other similar qualifier before our professional job description. We hope you enjoy this series of Voices as a preview of the May 19th event in Cambridge, and that you will continue to support each other as fellow STEM researchers. We can do it!