AASWOMEN for February 27, 2009

The book "Academeology" by Female Science Professor (FSP for short) is chock full of useful advice for students and faculty. It's written by a woman physical scientist whose blog:

http://science-professor.blogspot.com/

is apparently well known. Although I'm not very with it, I confess that a quick look now had me hooked. I was given Academeology by a colleague in Biology at Yale who wanted to know who FSP was. That I don't know, but I know I'm a fan. The book was also reviewed in Nature (Nov 27, 2008, 456, 445), if you want to know more details. In any case, I was so impressed with the book that I've ordered copies for students and postdocs in my group. To buy a copy, either an electronic download or the paperback, go to

http://www.lulu.com/content/3666072

By the way, it's mostly about life in academia, not specifically about women, although toward the end of the book there is a very interesting chapter on the experience of being a woman (especially a petite blonde young-looking woman) in science.

Progress in STEM? Eight engineers at the University of Texas at Austin received NSF CAREER grants - and half of them were awarded to women! Given that my sister obtained her masters in Electrical Engineering at UT less than 10 years ago and said she was often the only woman in her building besides administrative assistants, I hope this is a good sign! See:

http://www.utexas.edu/news/2009/02/17/nsf_career_awards/

Take a look at the Michigan ADVANCE web site:

http://sitemaker.umich.edu/advance/stride

It has lots of interesting links and ideas including:

-Frequently-Asked Questions: Dual Career Issues
-Frequently-Asked Questions: Retention of Science and Engineering Faculty
-Giving and Getting Career Advice: A Guide for Junior and Senior Faculty
-Guidelines for Writing Letters of Recommendation
-Handbook for Faculty Searches and Hiring
-How to Help New Faculty Settle In: Common Problems and Alternative Solutions
-Positive and Problematic Practices in Faculty Recruitment

The theme of this month's Scientiae Carnival is Role Models. (Click here for the full article.)

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