Karla Shepard Rubinger
Executive Director
Rosalind Franklin Society
www.rosalindfranklinsociety.org

Announcing the 2024 Rita Allen Foundation Scholars.

The Rita Allen Foundation has named its 2024 class of Rita Allen Foundation Scholars, celebrating seven early-career leaders in the biomedical sciences whose research holds exceptional promise for revealing new pathways to advance human health. The Rita Allen Foundation has been an important funder of our annual RFS awards in Science. Read more. (Image via Rita Allen Foundation)

Apply today for BII & Science Translational Medicine Prize for Innovations in Women's Health.
The prize seeks to recognize researchers who have developed innovative advances with translational potential to impact women’s health. Researchers who have advanced development of new solutions that can be readily deployed in low- and middle-income countries are encouraged to apply. Read more.

‘She was right, and they were wrong’: the female astronomers hidden by science’s male elite.
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin showed stars were primarily made of hydrogen and helium, contradicting the scientific orthodoxy of the 1920s, which held that they were made of an array of elements. Read more.

Embracing Risk to Accelerate Better Health Outcomes for Everyone.

ARPA-H Director Dr. Renee Wegrzyn explains how ARPA-H makes pivotal investments in high-risk, high-reward ideas that cannot be achieved through traditional research or investment. Read more. Watch her RFS presentation here: Room at the Top: Leadership at the Federal Level. (Image via ARPA-H)

The 2025 Organization for the Study of Sex Differences (OSSD) Meeting Program Committee invites proposals for Scientific Symposia and Individual Talks.
The Organization for the Study of Sex Differences (OSSD) is a unique scientific organization that seeks to enhance knowledge of sex/gender differences by facilitating interdisciplinary communication and collaboration among scientists and clinicians of diverse backgrounds. Read more.

2024 Joanna Fowler Award Winners Announced.

The Chemistry Division at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and Brookhaven Women in Science (BWIS) have named Paris Watson of Johns Hopkins University, Michele Myong of Brookhaven Lab, and Edelmy Marin Bernardez of Stony Brook University as the recipients of the 2024 Joanna Fowler Award in the Chemical and Biochemical Sciences. (Image: Paris Watson, Michele Myong, and Edelmy Marin Bernardez). Read more.

Crafting tales of science with Theanne Griffith.
Theanne Griffith can’t help thinking in stories. After having her first child, Griffith decided to push her love of storytelling further by writing a children’s book. Seven years later, she has published 15 books as part of two series: a nonfiction chapter book series, “Ada Twist, Scientist: The Why Files,” and her own fiction series called “The Magnificent Makers. Read more.

SpaceX's private Polaris Dawn mission will set altitude record for female astronauts.
Two women astronauts will set a spaceflight record next week, if all goes according to plan. Polaris Dawn's four-person crew includes female mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both of whom are SpaceX engineers, as well as male pilot Scott "Kidd" Poteet. Read more.

Dr. Geri Donenberg was named NIH Associate Director for AIDS Research.

Dr. Geri Donenberg was among the first to establish the role of mental health in adolescent HIV risk taking and to design and implement HIV prevention interventions for youth with mental health distress. She will join NIH this October to lead the advancement and coordination of HIV/AIDS research at NIH, working closely with NIH Institutes and Centers. Read more.

For men only? Lack of women winners for million-euro science prize draws protests.
At a June ceremony in the scenic Swiss village of Villars, three scientists each collected a huge new prize: 1 million Swiss francs ($1.1 million) to invest in their research to safeguard the planet against various environmental tipping points. All the winners of this year’s Frontiers Planet Prize (FPP), with a cash award bigger than the Nobel Prize, were men, just as they were last year. Read more.

Because of Her Story Interns Uplifted Women’s History Across Smithsonian.
This paid, eight-week internship program offered students or recent graduates the opportunity to be involved in programs across the Smithsonian—from the National Zoo to the National Postal Museum—to support projects that amplify women’s voices and contributions throughout history to tell a more complete American story. Read more.

Apply for the 2024 Paula Kantor Award.

Nominations are now open for the 2024 Paula Kantor Award for excellence in research. Nominate exceptional women researchers under the age of 40 who are citizens of countries located in a low- or middle-income country. Read more.

The American Public Health Association announces 2024 awards for excellence in public health.
“We’re excited to present these prestigious awards to those working tirelessly to improve public health across the country and around the globe. Their innovation, leadership and advocacy demonstrate a deep commitment to public health and health equity,” said Georges C. Benjamin, MD, executive director of APHA. Read more.

How a little-known 17th-century female scientist changed our understanding of insects.
Maria Sibylla Merian’s beautiful and disturbing illustrations, which shaped how we look at the natural world, will be on show at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. Read more.

Fatima Cody Stanford Receives the 2024 Meritorious Award.

“I am so thankful to the National Medical Association for selecting me as the 2024 Meritorious Award Recipient. This award is given for noted national and international achievement and prominence. In my work in obesity, nutrition, and fitness, I help reduce bias and stigma, which are particularly prominent for those with excess adipose and particularly those of African descent,” says Fatima Cody Stanford. Read more. Image via  Harvard Medical School.

FASEB’s Excellence in Science Awards honor outstanding women scientists.
Do you know an outstanding woman scientist who is committed to the professional development of others, her scientific society, and the broader biological and biomedical science community? Nominate them for the 2025 FASEB Science Excellence Awards. Read more.

Please continue to share important news and opportunities with us so that we may share it with you and others who are committed to supporting the careers of exceptional women in science.

Stay safe and sound,

Karla Shepard Rubinger
Executive Director
Rosalind Franklin Society
www.rosalindfranklinsociety.org

For the first time, women make up 50% of Caltech's incoming undergraduate class.
In a historic milestone for Caltech, the incoming undergraduate class will comprise 50% women. The class of 2028 is the first to reach gender parity since the Institute began admitting female undergraduates in 1970, and includes 113 women and 109 men, according to admissions data. Read more.

Celebrating women's participation in STEM: Breaking barriers and building futures.

To encourage women's participation in STEM fields from an early age, NSF funds innovative projects, such as Rural Girls in STEM, SciGirls and Sci Girls Code. Image: The Emmy Award-winning television show "SciGirls," produced by Twin Cities Public Television and supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, is the only PBS series built on best practices for engaging girls ages 9-13 in STEM. The show features real girls that viewers can relate to. Credit: SciGirls, Twin Cities Public Television. Read more. 

Checking in on Pandemic Impact on Women in Science.
Before the pandemic, less than 30% of the world’s STEM researchers were women. When the lockdowns started, it didn’t take long for warning signs about women’s ability to get their work done to emerge, including in science. Now that it’s been a few years, Hilda Bastian checked in to see how gender diversity seems to be faring. Read more.

Immunotherapy pioneer inspires audience as UTSW’s first Mendelson Visiting Professor.
Every year, the Women in Science and Medicine Advisory Committee (WISMAC) selects an influential researcher for the Distinguished Visiting Professor Keynote Lecture. Dr. Bollard’s decades of work on cellular therapy made her an ideal choice for the 2024 WISMAC event. Read more.

How moms may be affecting STEM gender gap.

Women have been underrepresented in science and technology fields, and new research suggests a somewhat surprising possible contributing factor: the influence of moms. “Mothers have the strongest effect on their daughters in pushing them away from STEM fields and into humanistic fields,” said Michela Carlana, Harvard Kennedy School assistant professor of public policy. Read more. Photo courtesy of Michela Carlana.

STEM Girl Summer Shows High School Students a Future of Possibilities.
Even today, women remain underrepresented in STEM careers, especially in male-dominated fields like physics, engineering and mathematics. University of California San Diego graduate student Robin Glefke hopes to change that with STEM Girl Summer. Read more.

A final story that celebrates a woman’s ideas and achievements.
Obituaries of scientists are much more often about men than women. Communications Earth & Environment is initiating a series of articles highlighting the lives and work of women scientists, aiming to inspire the next generation with their stories and career paths. Read more.

Anneke Levelt Sengers: An international authority in the thermodynamics of fluids and a passionate advocate for women in science.

Johanna Maria Henrica (Anneke) Levelt Sengers, a Dutch American physicist, an international authority in the thermodynamics of fluids and fluid mixtures, especially near critical points, and a passionate advocate for women in science, passed away at Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg, Maryland on February 28, 2024, a few days shy of her 95th birthday. Image Credit: The National Institute of Standards and Technology Digital Collections. Read more.

Review: How a Group of Women Launched Modern Cosmology.
A new biography of astronomer Henrietta Leavitt celebrates the meaning of making in science. Fans of Hidden Figures and The Glass Universe will appreciate Anna Von Mertens’s captivating portrait of Henrietta Leavitt and the Harvard Computers, who laid the foundation for modern cosmology at the turn of the 20th century. Read more.

Summer Interns Help Illuminate Impact of Disease on Marine Life.
The Quantitative Marine Disease Ecology Lab hosted three interns this summer. As a team they made strides in understanding the health and climate impacts of marine diseases and advancing the tools scientists use to study them. Read more.

Isabella Weber, associate professor of economics, has been awarded the 2024 Ellen Meiksins Wood Prize. 

The prize, established by Ed Broadbent and the Broadbent Institute in 2017 in honor of distinguished author and academic Professor Ellen Meiksins Wood, recognizes outstanding academic contributions in political theory, social or economic history, human rights and sociology. Image: Isabella Weber and Jen Hassum, executive director of Broadbent Institute. Photo by Jack McClelland, Broadbent Institute. Read more.

Please continue to share important news and opportunities with us so that we may share it with you and others who are committed to supporting the careers of exceptional women in science.

Stay safe and sound,

Karla Shepard Rubinger
Executive Director
Rosalind Franklin Society
www.rosalindfranklinsociety.org

Susan Wojcicki, who played a key role in Google’s creation and became one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent female executives with her leadership of YouTube, died on Friday. Her sister Anne was a founder of the genetic testing firm 23andMe. Read more. 

Groundbreaking poverty alleviation project expands with new Arnold Ventures, J-PAL North America collaboration.

J-PAL North America, a regional office of MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), will significantly expand its work to conduct rigorous research and strengthen evidence-based policymaking due to a new grant from long-time supporter and collaborator Arnold Ventures. Image: Laura Arnold, founder and co-chair of Arnold Ventures (right) and MIT Professor Esther Duflo, scientific director of J-PAL, speak during J-PAL North America’s 10-year anniversary convening. Photo courtesy of J-PAL North America. Read more.

Now open: Applications are currently being accepted for the Jefferson Science Fellowships.
Established in 2003 by the Secretary of State, the Jefferson Science Fellowships serve as an innovative model for engaging the American science, engineering, and medical communities in the U.S. foreign policy and international development process through a one-year immersive experience at the U.S. Department of State or the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Read more.

Quantum computing aims for diversity, one qubit at a time.

Announcing the 2024 Winners of the McNulty Prize.
The McNulty Foundation and the Aspen Institute announced the 2024 John P. McNulty Prize winners––courageous leaders tackling critical issues, from environmental injustice and disaster recovery, to addressing a national crisis of leadership and education. Each of their organizations will receive $150,000 in support of their exceptional efforts. Read more.

HHMI Invests Over $300 Million in 26 New Investigators.

HHMI, a member of the Rosalind Franklin Society, Council of Academic Institutions, just announced its new crop of 26 investigators for 2024. 10 of the 26 are women. Great to see Sam Sternberg and Vijay Sankaran included. Read more.