Applying to Graduate School: Advice for LGBTQ+ students from the community

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. …

It’s #BlackinNano Week!

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 …

It’s December – time to apply for summer research!

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 …

Ep 28. Who’s Not In the Room and Why Not? Inclusivity and Bias Across Class Backgrounds in College Education

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 …

Putting “Diversity, Innovation, Safety, and Communication” Front and Center in Scientific Research

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 …

Girls-in-STEM Programs & My Single-Sex Education Experience

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 …

“Leaning In” — Scientists’ Thoughts on Gender Equity

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 …

In which my Mom questions the size of my nanoparticles

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 …