Women in Science Gather for Tea Reception, Female Scientists Discussion
Olivia Drake
About 30 Wesleyan students and faculty gathered for a Wesleyan Women in Science (WesWIS) Tea Reception Feb. 19 at the Wasch Center. Women in Science is a student group composed of undergraduates, post-docs, staff and faculty dedicated to issues affecting women in science. The group is open to all majors and genders.
During the gathering, guest speaker Michelle Francl, professor of chemistry on the Clowes Fund for Science and Public Policy at Bryn Mawr College, spoke to the group about physicist and chemist Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.
Francl handed out copies of her commentary titled “Sex and the Citadel of Science,” which was published in the August 2011 edition of Nature Chemistry, and included a copy of the journal’s cover — a portrait of Marie Curie’s face created from photographs of 200 women scientists (including Francl’s). “I’m actually in here twice. There’s another picture in here of my mother, who also was a chemist, holding me as an infant,” she said.
“I love how energized the room felt at the WesWIS tea,” said Meredith Hughes, assistant professor of astronomy. “It was exciting to have Dr. Francl there, and also to get so many energetic Wesleyan women scientists all in one place!”
WesWIS Steering Committee members Alex Irace ’15 and and Maya Lopez-Ichikawa ’18 spoke about the group and introduced Professor Francl. Francl also delivered two workshops on contemplative pedagogy during her time at Wesleyan.
Photos of the event are below:
Mike Mavredakis
Ziba Kashef
Andrew Chatfield