a. fish

Women in Science

The topic of Science Friday at Talk of the Nation is Women in Science. You can listen live here to the archive here.

A while back, the National Science Foundation decided to make a concerted effort to put more deversity into science by recruiting more women. It paid off: half of all science Phds earned today are earned by women. But women in science still face some barriers.

While 50% of science Phds are awarded to women, females make up fewer than 15% of college science professors today. The show interviews female science university professors to explore the reasons behind the phenomenon.

UPDATE 8/27/2005: Archive of this episode is here. All Science Friday podcasts available here (thanks to Steve Rhodes for the link.)

826 Valencia Authors to do Booksigning Tonight

Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers by Dave Eggers, Nineve Clements Calegari, and Maulthrop.

These authors will be at A Clean Well Lighted Place for Books tonight at 7 PM to talk and answer questions about their book. Calegari was a teacher for ten years. (Calegari's husband works with me at jeteye, an Internet search company.)

These folks did their research and found public high schools who are doing it right: there is a waiting list to teach at certain schools scattered across the midwest. The book offers both a diagnosis and a remedy. It lays out the reasons behind high teacher turnover in most of our country's public schools, as well as practical how-tos for public schools who want to recruit the best and brightest to teachers.

Toys for future scientists, engineers

SFGate: Getting more girls to study math, tech  Panel planning to discuss old issue of disparity with boys

We know women have come a long way, but our country's paucity of female engineers and scientists is absolutely puzzling. While we quibble over the cause of this phenomenon, I can get totally behind one perscription to close this gap: Donna Milgram, executive director of the National Institute for Women in Trades, Technology, and Science, a group based in Alameda, CA, says, "it's important for girls to play with Legos and chemistry sets and develop spatial relationships and problem-solving skills."

My brother Ian had a chemistry set. Since I was prohibited from entering his room, I never got to play with it (his door had no lock, but the invisible mental gate cast by one's older brother can be surprisingly impenetrable.) Behind his bedroom door, I always envisioned this fantasy lab filled with smoldering beakers and test tubes overflowing with vibrantly colored liquids. He was about 10 at the time, and I was 4. In the following years, Christmas after Christmas, I begged for a set from Santa. One never materialized, but we had some other toys in our house and neighborhood, both hand-me-downs and garage sale bargains, which were really fun. It was only later in life that I realized they were educational to boot.

Legos, Lincoln Logs, and Tinkertoys. I don't know if I alone had this epiphany, but Legos made some great houseboats for Barbie and Skipper to cruise around the kiddie pool delta on. If you lacked the deluxe Mattel Barbie dream home,  Lincoln Logs could be stacked high enough for Barbie and Ken's door frame height requirements. And Tinkertoys could at least make a Barbie Teepee or Tent, if all else failed. Could this be how I developed understanding of spatial relationships which helped me in math classes later on? I don't know, but I re-discovered a few more favorites last weekend at Noe Valley's The Ark , a "Quality Toy and Crafts" store on 24th Street in San Francisco.

They were:

When is Grad School worth the cost?

It seems like people have an odd fixation with grad school not as a means to a successful career, but an end in itself. Another frequent pattern are people who explore a career by getting the Master's degree first, then changing their mind with piles of student loan debt. Why not just take a night class or two, or learn on the job?

A city college news writing classmate sent out a link to this article If Your J-School Knows What's Best for You, Check it Out with the comment: "This was too interesting to not share with the group. A rather disheartening perspective on J-school especially and the field of journalism in general."