Women Atop Their Fields Dissect the Scientific Life
Posted by: Career Staff / Category: Career Resource Center
Find career advice from four distinguished women in various scientific disciplines. The New York Times Science section ran an article this past week interviewing four highly regarded female scientists at the top of their fields – Elena Aprile, Joy Hirsch, Mary-Claire King and Tal Rabin. All four were in New York for the World Science Festival, and were invited to a 30-minute round-table discussion at The New York Times to discuss their lives as scientists, the joys and struggles of research, and the specific challenges women in science face. The featured article is a condensed and edited transcript of one part of the discussion where they share their insights into what it takes to be a successful female scientist in today’s highly competitive world.
Here is an excerpt from the article “Women Atop Their Fields Dissect the Scientific Life” by Gina Kolata
GINA KOLATA: I once wrote about the life of a senior scientist who traveled from meeting to meeting promoting himself and his work. A woman scientist I interviewed said it was really hard for her to travel that much, and she felt that her career had suffered because of that. I was wondering if this is still a problem. And if it is, how do you handle it?
MARY-CLAIRE KING: We are very well established. It may be more of a problem with younger women who can’t travel because their children are small or travel far less compared to their younger male counterparts — although it is also true that young men are much more involved nowadays taking care of the small children, and it may be more of an equalizer.
ELENA APRILE: You have to do what the guys do, and it does not matter what it takes. It is important to be out there, and so it comes with the territory. You have to find a way around to solve the practical problems. You have to.
TAL RABIN: Even when we do make it to the conferences, I think that there is still something different about the way that we promote ourselves.
I remember standing next to one of my co-authors, and he was talking to some other guy, and he was telling him, “I have this amazing result. I just did this, I just did that.” And I was sitting and thinking there, what result is he talking about? Until he got to the punch line. It was a joint result. It was a result of mine also. I would have never spoken about my result in the superlatives that the guy was speaking about it.
READ more from the article by Gina Kolata. There is also an audio of the discussion available on the website at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/science/07women.html.
Here is a brief overview about the scientists:
Dr. Aprile, a professor of physics at Columbia University, is searching for dark matter. Dr. Hirsch, a professor of neuroscience at Columbia University, maps brain processes. Dr. King, a professor of medical genetics at the University of Washington, studies the genetic basis of common complex medical conditions like breast cancer and mental illness. And Dr. Rabin is a cryptography researcher at I.B.M. Dr. Aprile, a professor of physics at Columbia University, is searching for dark matter. Dr. Hirsch, a professor of neuroscience at Columbia University, maps brain processes. Dr. King, a professor of medical genetics at the University of Washington, studies the genetic basis of common complex medical conditions like breast cancer and mental illness. And Dr. Rabin is a cryptography researcher at I.B.M.
