a blog by the NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology
How can creative output at the nexus of art and science help with the much-needed efforts to promote diversity in science? In this post, I'm excited to tell you about one initiative I've been involved with, and highlight the amazing artists who have contributed their work to the project. Dr. Jeanita Pritchett next to her …
Continue reading "Artivism in Chemistry"
Transcript & summary by Emma Bublitz Graduate school applications can be difficult to navigate under the best of circumstances. Each department, program, and institution often requires a different set of materials and has different, often unspoken, expectations for how students should navigate the system.1 However, for LGBTQ+ students there are additional challenges in the process. …
Continue reading "Applying to Graduate School: Advice for LGBTQ+ students from the community"
December 7-12, 2020 is #BlackinNano week! This week-long celebration is just one facet of the Black in Nanotechnology organization, co-founded by Olivia Geneus, a Physical Chemistry Ph.D. Candidate, and Jarriaun D. Streets M.S., a Senior Biological Scientist. Black in Nanotechnology aims to: Highlight Black scientists advancing the field of nanotechnologyBuild partnerships and networks to push innovative …
Continue reading "It’s #BlackinNano Week!"
Are you an undergraduate student, or do you know any undergraduate students? If the answer is yes, this blog post is for you! Believe it or not, many summer research programs have application deadlines in January or February, which means that winter break is the perfect time for undergrads to be thinking and planning for …
Continue reading "It’s December – time to apply for summer research!"
National Infertility Awareness Week (April 21-27, infertilityawareness.org) is a time to recognize that “anyone can be challenged to have a family.” For me, the stigma, trials, and tribulations of infertility were heaped on top of the stresses of a tenure track job as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. While I have been with my partner …
Continue reading "#InfertilityUncovered"
Alvin Chang, Senior Graphics Reporter for Vox, wrote and illustrated an article last year called "The subtle ways colleges discriminate against poor students, explained with a cartoon." In this episode of the podcast, we share the audio of a webinar that Chang presented for the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology about his work. He tackles challenging …
There has been a recent upswing in promoting a “culture of safety” in academic chemistry departments and labs across the country.1,2 Industry labs have been heralding this as a much needed training element for chemistry students and are happily hiring graduates of the most progressive departments. It’s not as though chemistry departments didn’t care about …
Attending Spelman College helped me to realize my potential as a scientist and as a scholar. Sitting in a room full of women, the pressure of impressing members of the opposite sex removed, I was able to come into myself, build confidence and explore my role in scientific discourse. I did not realize how comfortable …
Continue reading "Girls-in-STEM Programs & My Single-Sex Education Experience"
Last week, we scientists from the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, who usually use our weekly video conference calls to discuss science, spent time discussing the recently published book “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg. This is not standard reading for chemists; in fact, it’s written for business people, but I was inspired to read it because …
Continue reading "“Leaning In” — Scientists’ Thoughts on Gender Equity"
I was talking to my mom the other day, about nanoparticles of course, and she said: "Wait a second! Are there different sizes of nanoparticles?? I thought nano was just nano! You know?" Thanks for the question mom! 🙂 Refresher: nanoparticles are just spherical or nearly-spherical nanomaterials. To answer my mom's question: There are LOTS of different …
Continue reading "In which my Mom questions the size of my nanoparticles"
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