Illustration by Laurène Boglio
Hello, and welcome to the August issue of The spectrum Launch, the newsletter that provides resources and guidance for early career autism researchers.
This month, we interviewed Nancy Padilla-Coreano, assistant professor of neuroscience at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and co-founder of a project called Women’s Stories in Neuroscience (WiN).
When Padilla-Coreano was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she and a colleague compiled a list of about 50 scientists, based on a Google survey of other postdocs, to invite to give departmental seminars. But after reviewing the collected names, her colleague said, “Nancy, we can’t use this list,” Padilla-Coreano recalled. She was confused as to what he meant. It was a list of great scientists – what could be the problem?
All on the list were men, he pointed out.
“It was really eye-opening about my bias,” Padilla-Coreano says. “It gave me the feeling that the scientific contributions of women in neuroscience have been more invisible to me.”
So she decided to change that. In 2018, she and her collaborators began interviewing women neuroscientists about their lives and work and writing profile articles to post on the Stories of Win website. In June, they reflected on their work in an article published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Padilla-Coreano spoke to The spectrum about her goals for the project and what she learned from all those conversations.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
The spectrum: What was the purpose? for the project when did you start
Nancy Padilla-Correano: We had two goals: to increase the visibility of women neuroscientists and highlight their scientific discoveries, but also to highlight their trajectories and how they got to where they are. In this way, they can serve as role models for graduate students or younger trainees.
S: How is your experience with the has the project changed over the past three years?
Npc: I originally expected this to be a community service. I didn’t expect to gain anything from interviewing women in neuroscience. But interviewing these women and connecting with them has helped me feel like I’m part of the field and part of the neuroscience community.
I also sometimes see myself in what they say, and it has helped me with my impostor syndrome, for example. I used to worry a lot about imposter syndrome, but in many interviews it turns out that even people who are full professors feel this way. And that was so empowering for me to know that it’s normal and that you can keep moving forward, even if those feelings come and go. She kind of normalized it for me in a way that allowed me to ignore it.
S: Have any surprising themes emerged from the interviews over the past three years?
NPCs: I was surprised how important the first research experience is. In my own life, participating in undergraduate research was incredibly important in setting me up for a career in science. But it was interesting to see how important it was to other people too. This first experience is often a turning point for people who become scientists.
S: is there any others recurring themes that have come out since you HAVE found interesting?
NPCs: One thing that stands out is the idea of ’knowing women’. As I was reviewing the literature, it was frustrating to me how long it has been quite clear that women are under-cited, under-represented and under-represented in research. It felt like we were saying what other people have been saying for a while. This was disappointing, to see how many other papers have already pointed this out. But I think we should say it one more time.
S: What are you thinking about as you move forward? with Stories of WofN?
NPCs: We’re all really passionate about increasing access to research and we’re very aware of how first-hand experience is so important. So a few months ago we wrote a grant to see if we could get funding to sponsor the first research experience for young women who want to go into neuroscience, preferably women from underrepresented backgrounds who have no prior experience.
Our team is spread across different institutions, and we’ve interviewed so many different lab heads, so we have a network of labs that we know would be a good environment for mentoring. And this grant, if we get it, would enable us to make that first research experience a paid research experience. There are many people who cannot afford to volunteer for their first research experience.
And then the other thing is that Stories of Win is growing. We are trying to recruit team members from other parts of the world so we can diversify the voices we represent.
S: Is there anything else you want people to know about women in neuroscience?
NPCs: The academy was founded by white men. And this has many implications. The way the system is configured isn’t compatible with how it works for everyone. And that’s something we have to think about every day when we make choices.
I think about this a lot when I’m on an admissions committee or when people are discussing important decisions that will affect how others are judged.
There is one mold of a scientist that we must change—that we must break, in essence—if we are to make science accessible to anyone.
Jobs and funds:
- Michael Breen, assistant professor of psychiatry, genetics and genomic sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, is hiring a senior fellow/scientist to work on transcriptomics, RNA therapeutics and neurological development. “Come closer to learn more,” wrote Breen a tweet regarding the list of jobs.
- The Autism Research Center at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom is hiring an assistant professor, tweeted Simon Baron-Cohen, who is a professor of psychology there. The application deadline is August 29.
Are you a consultant child psychologist with a PhD and interested in a 5-year Assistant Professorship at the Autism Research Center at the University of Cambridge? This post also includes part-time clinical responsibility on the NHS autism pathway. Please apply https://t.co/SvyiOLjgFo
— Simon Baron-Cohen (@sbaroncohen) July 23, 2022
Recommended reading:
- The Society for Neuroscience announced its 2022-2024 cohort of Neuroscience Scholars earlier this week.
- One last one Nature The Careers column details how to find and organize academic papers. The author, Maya Gosztyla, a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, previously tweeted about the topic, as described in a past issue of The spectrum Launch, In the new article she also shares a link to her handy letter forwarding spreadsheet!
- When searching for papers on a specific topic, it can be helpful to create a map of relevant studies on the topic or to see how a paper fits into the broader research context. Vrinda Nair, a graduate student at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, tweeted about the tools she uses to delve deep into literature.
- A good seminar presentation is essential when you’re looking for postdoctoral work, writes researcher Allison McClure. She described her experience – from applications to decisions – in an article for Nature.
- Is this lab toxic? Before you join, look these tips for identifying red flags, including a violation of institutional rules and the lead investigator not cooperating with others in the department, tweeted ecologist Mark Anthony.
Are former members of the lab listed on the website? If so, is there a demographic pattern to who left the lab and how quickly? Contact former lab members, not just current ones. 9/20
— Mark Anthony (@MANthony02) July 14, 2022
- Thinking about switching labs partway through graduate school? A student and his former advisor offer some advice on breaking up amicably Nature.
- How can a clinical psychology graduate student get the most out of an internship in this field? Cassandra Brandes asked and Twitter gave up. Many people recommended making friends with others in your group. “They will be your life raft when the going gets tough,” wrote Fallon Goodman, assistant professor of psychology at George Washington University in Washington, DC, and Brenden Tervo-Clemmens, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School, recommended to take some time off, tweeting. , “Give yourself a break and have fun!”
Give yourself a break and have fun! Academia is always filled with the feeling of “I should be doing more”, but this feels especially heightened during practice. Internship assignments, applying for post-docs/jobs, trying to finish grad school papers/co-ops – all at the same time…
— Brenden Tervo-Clemmens (@tervoclemmensb) July 8, 2022
- Having a baby when you’re a postdoc is hard, but it’s not impossible. Erica Colicino, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of South Florida, asked her and other academics for advice on how to make it happen. share their experiences.
I left for 6 months unpaid this last round. My husband is not an academic, so he actually earns money. And because I wasn’t driving, paying tolls. Eating out for lunch. It was enough to cut costs that we asked for.
– K. Taylor, Ph.D., MS – Vaccinate U5 (@KYT_ThatsME) July 15, 2022
- Mary O’Reilly didn’t get the academic job she wanted, so she turned to something new – scientific illustration. She wrote about that transition in an article for Science.
Any suggestions on how to make this newsletter as useful as possible, or recommendations on what topic to cover next? Send them to [email protected].
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Cite this article: https://doi.org/10.53053/MJZJ4488
