Spring 2017
Upcoming: GWISE May Book Club: So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson
Date and Time: Wednesday, May 3 12:00-1:00pm
Location: ERB 705 (44 Cummington Mall)
For the past three years, Jon Ronson has travelled the world meeting recipients of high-profile public shamings. The shamed are people like us – people who, say, made a joke on social media that came out badly, or made a mistake at work. Once their transgression is revealed, collective outrage circles with the force of a hurricane and the next thing they know they’re being torn apart by an angry mob, jeered at, demonized, sometimes even fired from their job.
A great renaissance of public shaming is sweeping our land. Justice has been democratized. The silent majority are getting a voice. But what are we doing with our voice? We are mercilessly finding people’s faults. We are defining the boundaries of normality by ruining the lives of those outside it. We are using shame as a form of social control.
Simultaneously powerful and hilarious in the way only Jon Ronson can be, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed is a deeply honest book about modern life, full of eye-opening truths about the escalating war on human flaws – and the very scary part we all play in it.
GWISE has a few hard copies as well as digital versions of the book on loan. Please contact Yaqing (ysu11@bu.edu) to borrow and indicate which version you’d prefer [hard copy, Kindle e-book or Audible audiobook [narrated by the author!)] RSVP
GWISE Earth Day Clean Up
Date and Time: Saturday April 29, 9:00-12:00 am
Location: Meet at Arsenal Street Bridge
Join GWISE as we celebrate Earth Day by cleaning up the Charles River with the Charles River Conservancy. All volunteers will receive a free T-shirt and the satisfaction of doing something for the Earth. There will be a free picnic on the Esplanade following clean up. Hope to see you there! RSVP here
(Iced) Coffee and Conversations: Science Activism Special Edition
Date and Time: Thursday April 27 at 12:00 pm
Location: 44 Cummington ERB 705
No RSVP required – just show up!
Political activism is on the rise, and scientists are no exception, with the March for Science taking place on Earth Day this year (Saturday, April 22). What should the role of scientists in political activism look like? What are effective ways to increase support for and trust in the sciences? Join us to discuss these questions and/or to share your experience at the March. Light refreshments will be served, but feel free to bring your lunch!
BC Microaggressions Workshop
Co-hosted by GWISE
Date and Time: Wednesday, April 26 from 6:30 – 8:00pm
Location: Boston College, Chestnut Hill Campus, Higgins Hall (you can find a map on our website)
Join the Graduate Student Network for Women in Sciences at Boston College to learn how to identify and respond to microaggressions to promote diversity in the workplace. Damita Davis from the Boston College Office for Institutional Diversity will train attendees on how to avoid being the “aggressor” and how to deal with a situation in which you are the “receiver” of a microaggression.
GWISE Speed Networking Event
Date and Time: TODAY! Monday, April 24 from 5:30 pm – 7:30pm
Location: BU Career and Development Center, 100 Bay State Road, Room 613
Join GWISE and the Center for Career Development for a night of networking! The 4th annual GWISE Speed Networking Event will give you an opportunity to learn about different career options and to expand your network. Participants will have 15 minutes in a speed networking format to talk to all panelists about their experiences and professions. We will conclude the night with an open networking session where you can talk further with the panelists and other attendees.
Panelists include:
-Amanda Yarnell, Editorial Director, Chemical and Engineering News
–Keith Seitter, Executive Director of American Meteorological Society
–Anais Gervais, Life Science Consultant, Putnam Associates
-Julie McNamara, Energy Analyst, Climate & Energy Program, Union of Concerned Scientists
–Meredith Danowski, Systems Engineer, L-3
–Atwood Cheung, Investigator III, Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research
–Kalin Atkin, QA Test Engineer, DEKA
–Meredith Keybl, Lead Multi-Discipline Systems Engineer, MITRE
–Elona Hart, Principal Data Scientist, Oracle
–Leila Pirhaji, Founder and CEO, ReviveMed
Light Hors D’oeuvres will be served. Feel free to bring your business cards, but leave your resumes at home – this is NOT a career fair. Space is still available, so make sure to register ASAP! Hope to see you all there!
GWISE presents “The Physics of Food”
Date and Time: Thursday, April 20 from 5:00-7:00PM
Location: SCI 352, 590 Commonwealth Ave
Curious about the science of cooking? Join GWISE as Prof. Rama Basil presents a lecture and cool hands-on demonstrations on the physics of food featuring liquid nitrogen ice cream and popping boba! The event will be capped at 30 members, so please RSVP to join: http://tinyurl.com/gwisecooks
2017 GWISE Annual Spring Keynote featuring Dr. Catherine Dulac
Co-hosted with the Center for Career Development at Boston University
Date and Time: Wednesday, April 12, 4:15pm–6:30pm
Location: Center for Career Development, 100 Bay State Rd. Rm. 613A
Please join us for GWISE’s 7th Annual Spring Keynote, featuring Dr. Catherine Dulac, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, and Higgins Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. Her work explores neural circuits underlying instinctive social behaviors in mice, and the nature and function of genomic imprinting in the brain. She grew up in Montpellier, France, graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, and received her PhD from the University of Paris VI. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University and joined the faculty of Harvard in 1996 as a junior faculty, before becoming full professor in 2001, and Chair of Harvard’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology from 2007 until 2013. She is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, and of the French Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a recipient of the Liliane Bettencourt Prize, the Richard Lounsbery Award, the National Academy’s Pradel Research Award, and the Edward M. Scolnick Prize in Neuroscience.
Dr. Dulac will share her career path, experiences as a woman in STEM, and some of the research that her group does, particularly, the differences in social behaviors between sexes. Dr. Dulac’s talk will be followed by a reception for networking and further discussion of issues relevant to women in STEM. RSVP
Lincoln School’s Third Annual Science Night
Date and Time: Friday, March 31
Location: Lincoln School
Join GWISE at Lincoln School’s third annual Science Night on March 31st. It will be a fun night of interactively sharing science with K-8 students. If you would like to help and volunteer on the day of the event please email Sam Berry at sberry2@bu.edu.
GWISE Craft Night 2017!
Date and Time: Monday March 27, 5:30-7:30pm
Location: LSEB 103
Sun’s out, canvas tote bags out! Join GWISE for Craft Night 2017 as we decorate canvas tote bags, enjoy food and drink and bring out our inner artist. One canvas bag and decorating materials will be provided; just bring your creativity and sense of haute couture! You don’t want to be caught dead without a personalized GWISE bag this year!
GWISE Networking Workshop with Career Strategist Sarah Cardozo Duncan
Date and Time: Thursday March 23, 5:00-7:00pm (Food and drinks will be provided)
Location: Photonics Building Room 901
Join GWISE and Career Strategist Sarah Cardozo Duncan as we explore the impact of networking through this fun and interactive workshop. Statistics tell us that 90% of all positions are landed through people you know. Therefore, networking is an essential component to move your career forward. Through this workshop, you will learn to:
- Tell a compelling career story
- Write convincing networking letters that will put you in front of people 80% of the time
- Understand communication styles by the way the person greets you
- Develop a networking plan
Hope to see you there!
GWISE Surviving the Grad School Slump
Date and Time: Thursday, March 2 from 5:00-7:00pm
Location: LSEB 103 (24 Cummington Mall)
Are you settled into grad school and wondering how best to set yourself on a path for success in the future? Do you have questions about advisor relationships or building networks? Do you want to hear about how to continue productivity over the long haul?
Come and hear stories from those who have survived and thrived and now can tell the tale- postdocs and professors. We’ll start with a brief panel where we address some of the common bumps mid-track PhD students face, and how to overcome them. Then, we’ll grab some food and drinks and head to small group discussions led by postdocs and professors who are glad to share lessons learned from their paths to the PhD.
Some topics we’ll cover: advisor relationships, the job market, impostor syndrome, how to get and deal with feedback, keeping on track to finish on time, mentoring relationships, and more! Come prepared with all your questions or send us your questions in advance through the RSVP link or to nvaisman@bu.edu.
GWISE March Book Club–Why Nations Fail: the Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
Date and Time: Wednesday, March 15 from 12:00-1:00pm
Location: ERB 235 (44 Cummington Mall)
—Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are?
Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence?
Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including:
– China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West?
– Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority?
Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at—and understand—the world.
GWISE Grad Students Parents Lunch: Rescheduled for Feb. 23!
Date and Time: Thursday, February 23 from 12:30-1:30 pm
Location: BRB 117
Calling all grad student parents, moms AND dads! This is a special meeting hosted by the GWISE Mothers’ Group, welcoming dads too. Future moms and dads are welcome also, whether you’re expecting or just contemplating parenthood. Students face unique challenges when working toward a graduate degree while raising little ones, and this is a chance to connect, vent and share strategies. We’ll also talk about possibilities for future meetings that include grad student dads. Lunch is included. GWISE members, please spread the word to grad dads you know! We hope to see you there! RSVP
GWISE Wine Tasting
Date and Time: Tuesday, February 21 from 5:30-7:30 pm
Location: ERB 203 (44 Cummington Mall)
Currently the event is full, but feel free to RSVP to the wait-list. We will contact you if a spot becomes available.
Red vs white, varietal and regional wines, enrich your palette with a blind wine tasting! We will lead you through 10 samples of different wines and have discussions on sweetness, acidity, tannin, body, and flavors. Come join us because learning about wine should be as fun as drinking it! RSVP
GWISE Grad Students Parents Lunch
Date and Time: Thursday, February 9 from 12:30-1:30 pm
Location: BRB 117
Calling all grad student parents, moms AND dads! This is a special meeting hosted by the GWISE Mothers’ Group, welcoming dads too. Future moms and dads are welcome also, whether you’re expecting or just contemplating parenthood. Students face unique challenges when working toward a graduate degree while raising little ones, and this is a chance to connect, vent and share strategies. We’ll also talk about possibilities for future meetings that include grad student dads. Lunch is included. GWISE members, please spread the word to grad dads you know! We hope to see you there!
RSVP with your lunch order by Feb. 4
Coffee and Conversations: Hidden Figures
Date and Time: Tuesday, Feb 7 at 12:00pm
Location: 44 Cummington ERB 705
Join us to discuss the recent, Oscar nominated movie Hidden Figures, which is based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly about female African-American mathematicians who worked at NASA in the 1960’s. The discussion is open to all who have seen the movie, read the book, or just want to participate! Bring your own lunch, but coffee & snacks will be provided.