Women in STEM: 2023

March is Women's History Month, a time to celebrate the contributions women have made to society. Each year, Sigma Xi celebrates women's contributions to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Throughout the month of March, we will profile different #WomeninSTEM at various points in their careers. They will share insight about what sparked their initial interest in pursuing a STEM career, the accomplishments they are most proud of, and their advice for other women beginning a career in STEM.

2023 #WomenInSTEM profiles: Kathy Lu • Anne Savage • Olivia Lanier • Tashara M. Leak • Lynn R. Cominsky • A. Nayena Blankson
2023 #WomenInSTEM blogs: Marija Strojnik • June J. Pilcher

Kathy Lu, PhD

What is your current role/position?
I am currently a full professor in Materials Science and Engineering at Virginia Tech. During 2001-2004, I was a Materials Development and Processing Scientist at Energizer Battery Company. I am also the incoming President-elect of Sigma Xi, beginning in July 2023. My research interest is related to polymer derived ceramics and composites, materials degradation in harsh environments, data-driven materials processing and characterization, materials synthesis, and fundamental studies.
 
What are the unique perspectives and/or biggest challenges to being a woman in STEM? 
Being a woman in STEM is fulfilling. It brings different perspectives and solutions to complex problems. Historically, women have been underrepresented in STEM fields. This has been a challenge in attracting more women into the field due to a lack of community and peer support. For the women who are in STEM fields, they may face different challenges such as not being heard or treated seriously, lack of mentorship, and fewer opportunities in leadership positions. 
 
What advice do you have for other women considering or starting a career in STEM?
I encourage all women to pursue their dreams and develop their talents. Our society will be better off because of your efforts. In considering or starting a career in STEM, be intentional about establishing a network of support, speaking up, and being heard. 
 
How can men be better allies for #WomenInSTEM and gender equality?
Men should be mindful of their perceptions of women. Moving beyond offensive or demeaning languages and behaviors that are easy to detect, gender stereotypes may be implicit and hard to articulate. As the majority in the STEM field, men can be good mentors and supporters for women in STEM by offering guidance, advice, and opportunities for growth and development. This will set good examples and deter other biases and disadvantages for women. It will help to create a more supportive and inclusive environment for all. It will also attract more women into STEM. Men should also listen to the experiences and perspectives of women in STEM and learn from them. This means taking the time to understand the challenges and barriers that women face and being open to feedback and criticism. Men can use their influence to amplify the voices of women in STEM, for example, by promoting their work, giving them credit for their ideas, and advocating for their inclusion in important discussions and decision-making processes.
 
Studies show that young girls lose interest in STEM around middle school. What can STEM leaders and the public do to help keep girls involved in STEM?
First, parents can promote STEM through real life experiences, and encourage their daughters to explore their interests and ask questions about the world around them. Families can expose their daughters to STEM opportunities by taking them to science museums, attending science fairs/camps, or participating in STEM-related activities and clubs. Families can provide their daughters with access to technology and resources, such as computers, books, and educational materials. 
 
Second, schools can provide girls with access to female role models and mentors in STEM fields, who can offer guidance, support, and inspiration. One example is hiring more female STEM teachers. This can help to combat the lack of representation of women in STEM and can also provide girls with concrete examples of what's possible. Schools can challenge gender stereotypes by promoting STEM careers and activities as gender-neutral and by showcasing the contributions of women in STEM fields. Schools can also provide equal opportunities for girls and boys to study STEM subjects and participate in STEM-related activities, such as robotics clubs or coding camps. 
 
Third, social media can showcase female role models in STEM fields and highlight their achievements, contributions, and challenges. The media can promote gender-neutral language when reporting on STEM topics and careers. The media can also create products highlighting STEM-related events and issues.
 
What is one career accomplishment you are most proud of?
Being elected as the President-elect of Sigma Xi is the career accomplishment that I am most proud of. It reflects my dedication to the scientific community and commitment to advancing scientific knowledge and innovation. As a woman, it is also a recognition of my leadership skills, scientific expertise, and commitment to the mission of Sigma Xi. I look forward to working with all the members to advocate for the importance of scientific research and its impact on society. I also look forward to the opportunity to lead and inspire other scientists and researchers.

Anne Savage, PhD

What is your current role/position?
I've retired as the Conservation Director for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, but I remain active as the Executive Director for Proyecto Tití, Inc.
 
What advice do you have for other women considering or starting a career in STEM?
One of the most important things to remember is that you don't need to excel at everything you do, but you need to know who is the best in class to help you when you find yourself entering areas that are outside of your comfort zone as you grow in your career. It is very common that you learn the basics of your field while you are in school, but when you enter the workforce you may need to apply those learnings in different scenarios. Building a strong network of friends and colleagues in your field and related to your field are always great to call on when you need a little extra advice. Attend professional meetings in your field of study so that you can stay abreast of what is happening in your field and interact with colleagues. You never know when those contacts will come in handy in the future!

What is one career accomplishment you are most proud of?
When I began studying cotton-top tamarins as a graduate student, I founded Proyecto Tití so that people in Colombia could become involved in protecting this critically endangered primate. Today Proyecto Tití is funded by a US (Proyecto Tití, Inc) and a Colombia non-profit organization (Fundación Proyecto Tití) led by women and the majority of our leadership team is women. Proyecto Tití is a well-respected and effective conservation organization that has worked to study cotton-top tamarins in the tropical forests of Colombia, engage communities in education and sustainable development programs, and protect and restore forest habitat to insure a long-term future for this primate found only in Colombia..

What is one career accomplishment you would love to achieve?
In the field of conservation biology, we don't always get good news. I would love to be able to say that the number of cotton-top tamarins has increased so they would no longer be classified as Critically Endangered. Proyecto Tití is working with other organizations and individuals to make that dream become a reality!

Olivia Lanier, PhD

What is your current role/position?
I am a Provost Early Career Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. I work on developing oral delivery platforms for patients with autoimmune diseases, as a more accessible alternative to infusion-based therapies, with Dr. Nicholas Peppas. My goal is to design accessible delivery systems for patients, while using inclusive design principles that promote health equity. With Dr. Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez, Dr. Gilda Barabino, and Dr. Mykel Green, I created 10 rules for engineers to improve health equity through inclusive design, which are published in PLOS One Computational Biology and fall into three categories: diversifying teams, prioritizing under-researched areas, and considering the community during the design process.

What is it like to be a woman in STEM? Do you feel that your gender gives you a different perspective from your male counterparts? 
It is empowering to be a woman in STEM. I love my career and the brilliantly talented people from around the world that I get to work with every day. I also love being able to do work that interests me while also contributing positively to the community. I feel blessed for the educational opportunities I received to get to the place I am at today. I understand that many promising people do not have access to the same opportunities. I have made it my mission to help as many people as possible advance in their lives through education.

My gender, along with many other personal attributes and personal experiences, have provided me with a different perspective than others. Everyone has a unique set of life experiences that contribute to their passions and interests, as well as their blind spots. Only by improving diversity and inclusion in STEM will we be able to create technologies that work for all people and eliminate blind spots in design. In fact, studies have shown that a person’s identity contributes to their research interests. For example, as more women entered the STEM field, more research on women’s health emerged. 

The biggest challenge for me as a woman in STEM has been sexism. This has shown up in a variety of ways, including: microaggressions that disregarded my personal successes; people attributing my awards to my gender instead of my ability; and harassment and assault. These experiences led me to want to use my position and voice to create a safe space in STEM for not only all women, but for people from any background, to be able to study what they like and have their ideas heard and celebrated.

There is an endless number of women in STEM who inspire me daily; have helped me personally reach the point in my life where I am today; and have dedicated their time to education, research, and outreach efforts that have improved our society. I want to thank all of them for everything they do, and I hope to be able to spend my life doing the same.

My mentoring team at UT Austin includes three women that I look up to very much: Dr. Lydia Contreras (Jim and Barbara Miller Endowed Faculty Fellowship in Chemical Engineering Professor in Chemical Engineering), Dr. Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez (Cullen Trust for Higher Education Endowed Professorship in Engineering #2 Professor in Biomedical Engineering), Dr. Adrianne Rosales (Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering), and Dr. Leah Harris (Chief of Pediatrics). It has been inspiring to be mentored by three amazing women in different stages of their careers, who are all committed to education of the next-generation and performing life-saving work and research.
 
Another woman who inspires me is Dr. Laura Ensign, the Marcella E. Woll Professor of Ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins University.  Dr. Ensign is a dedicated mentor and revolutionary scientist. She is doing groundbreaking research in the field of women’s health and drug delivery, two areas that I am extremely passionate about. Her recent research study on pre-term birth, which currently has no FDA approved treatment, was innovative and probed mechanisms behind why her nanoparticle therapy was not working correctly, leading her to discover important knowledge about how pre-term birth can be treated. This study is the first in the literature that led to the birth of live neurotypical pups, following treatment for pre-term birth. In addition to this, Dr. Ensign is an excellent science communicator and can explain her research in a riveting manner, both in the oral and written form. 

What advice do you have for other women considering or starting a career in STEM?
My advice is to be unapologetically and authentically yourself. Sometimes you may feel the desire to shrink yourself to fit somewhere better or to not step on any toes, but please do not do this. Only by being your true self will you be able to discover your true passions and find your correct path. Your ideas and opinions matter and your life experiences give you a unique perspective that no one else can offer. Never underestimate what you can do. You may have the next idea for a new treatment or technology that will save many lives. Never underestimate what you already have done. Even if you don’t come up with the next life-saving technology, the impact you have on those around you is changing more lives than you may know.

STEM can sometimes be a demanding career path, so my other advice is to always prioritize yourself. Your definition of success and fulfillment may not be the same as someone else’s definition. Prioritize your well-being and health. Take care of your mental and physical health, do not disregard other areas in your life, and nurture connections and activities that contribute to your personal fulfillment.

Tashara M. Leak, PhD, RD

What is your current role/position?
I am an assistant professor in the Division of Nutrition Sciences at Cornell University and in the Division of General Internal Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. As a nutrition scientist and registered dietitian, I design, implement, and evaluate culturally relevant community-based interventions that address the impact of systemic racism and poverty on diet, health, and food access among historically marginalized urban communities. Additionally, in 2022, I co-founded the Cornell Action Research Collaborative, an initiative that fosters infrastructure for researchers, community organizations, and policy makers to collaborate on pressing societal issues (e.g., food insecurity, health inequities). 

What advice do you have for other women considering or starting a career in STEM?
As you navigate your career, you’ll need a network of people to support you both personally and professionally. When you aren't able to navigate your career on your own, it’s important to build a supportive community. You should put time and effort into building your network. Find every mentoring program you can join. Don’t be afraid to reach out to strangers. I have so many mentors who I connected with by sending an email and requesting a short meeting. 

Lynn R. Cominsky, PhD

What is your current role/position?
I am a Professor of Physics & Astronomy at Sonoma State University, where I am also the Director of EdEon STEM Learning. EdEon’s mission is to develop exciting formal and informal educational materials that inspire students in grades 5-14 to pursue STEM careers, to train teachers nation-wide in the classroom use of these materials, and to enhance science literacy for the general public, with a special focus on increasing the numbers of under-represented students.

What is it like to be a woman in STEM? Do you feel that your gender gives you a different perspective from your male counterparts?
When I began doing research in high-energy astrophysics, I was most always alone. I was the first and only female graduate student in my group at MIT, and was also the first female faculty member hired in Physics & Astronomy at Sonoma State University.  At SSU my perspective on how to optimize learning in the classroom differed radically from my departmental colleagues. I began by incorporating hands-on and small group activities into my classes and have now moved on to authoring entire year-long interactive curricula at both the high school and college levels. I am fortunate that SSU has been happy to support me as I moved from a research-oriented track to one that was focused on educational projects and outreach on a national level. This was quite a challenge, as it represented a radical change in the culture of the University, which did not have much experience with grant-funded programs.

What advice do you have for other women considering or starting a career in STEM? 
I have a few main pieces of advice that I often share with women students:

• Take as much math as you possibly can. I was able to switch majors in college from psychology to chemistry to physics because I had the math background needed to keep challenging myself as the classes got harder.
• Learn how to code and also learn basic electronics skills. Being able to do both hardware and software gives you many possible career paths from which to choose. I was a software person until I was a postdoc, but learning enough electronics as a manager on a satellite project who supervised engineers set me up to be hired to teach electronics as a physics professor. 
• When faced with a choice of path, always choose the one that leads to a multitude of future options. Dead ends will quickly kill a promising STEM career – you need options to be able to choose the better path. And in most cases, the path that leads to the most future choices is the hardest path. For example, getting a Ph.D. in physics (instead of astronomy) can widen the faculty job market, as many small Physics & Astronomy Departments are looking for people who can teach across both disciplines.

A. Nayena Blankson, PhD

What is your current role/position?
I am currently a Full Professor in the Psychology Department at Spelman College.

What is one career accomplishment you are most proud of? 
I cannot name just one, because everything that I have achieved has led to where I am today. Each goal that I achieve leads to the next one and the next. So, I would say that I am proud of them all, from attaining my PhD in quantitative psychology, a field where there are very few Black women, to recently obtaining an NIH R01 grant at a small liberal arts institution, the first at my institution in over 40 years.

What advice do you have for other women considering or starting a career in STEM?
Don’t let anyone tell you no. When you hear “no," let it motivate you to try and try again. As the saying goes, "if you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything."