Tag: education

WoPhys 2012 Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physical Sciences

WoPhys 2012 Banner Image
Advancing Equity Through Action

I spent the end of last week switching back and forth between my regular job duties as a librarian and our Conference for Undergraduate Women in the Physical Sciences. This is one of my favorite conferences because students always do the most investing research, and it’s nice to attend a conference where I’m just there to learn and build relationships. In many ways I wear a bit more of my scientist hat at this conference than my library one, although, as always they overlap quite a bit.

Although all have been welcome in the past, previous years have focused on Physics not the Physical Sciences in general. Last year theme focused on graphene, but this year the focus of the conference was on nanomaterials. This was especially appropriate with the opening of the new nanoscience center on campus.

Another difference this year was the higher attendance and presentation (at least from my point of view as an attendee) of undergraduate and graduate men in the physical sciences. Attendees came from all over including Ohio, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Peurto Rico, and Virginia to name a few.

Students presented posters on a variety of topics from the atmospheric science, to breast cancer research, lasers, optics, seismology, to how mice communicate and more. My favorite part of the conference is talking with students about their research and career goals, letting them know about opportunities available to them, and encouraging them to forge their own unique career path that will enrich their lives and society. I think presenting students with options and opportunities is especially important because it empowers them to make thoughtful choices instead of pushing them into linear career paths with “no chance of deviation if you want to succeed”.

Sadly I wasn’t able to attend as many sessions as I would have liked but here are a few highlights from a talk titled Not Just for Jewels Only: The Incredible Story of Gold Nanoparticles given by Talat S. Rahman, Department of Physics, University of Central Florida.

*These notes are primarily paraphrases of her talk, any errors or misunderstanding should be attributed to me and not the speaker.
In regards to women in science:

The Bottom up Approach

Over time you can drive the change, sometimes you might be the only woman or one of two or three, keep participating and encouraging other women and you will see it shift over time.
Nanoscience and gold:

Nanoscience is about starting to look at building blocks, you study the interesting properties of these building blocks in order to lead to new technologies. Quantum effects are often revealed at the nano-scale, and melting points vary rapidly as a function of size of nanoparticles. Properties at this scale a expected to control characteristics at a larger scale.
Using the bottom up approach is important. We should start with atoms followed by: clusters, nano particles, powder, and bulk materials.

Gold clusters are very attractive for drug delivery because they are:

Tunable functionality with different enzymes

Water soluble

Bio compatible

Resistant to oxidation

Extremely stable under physiological conditions i.e. high salt concentrations etc.

Potential treatment of cancer

Indicator for the presence of specific bio molecules

How you prepare the samples will determine whether you get a metallic or nonmetallic particle. The spacing between gold atoms determines the plasmon mode (plasmons are electron density waves), and whether the sample acts as a metal or semiconductor in the case of gold.

Does nanoscience live up to the hype?

Reflects hope particularly in developing countries

New paradigm, novel approach

Demands diversity in thinking

Opportunities for broader participation

Novel avenues for developing human resources

Bottom up vs top down approaches

Engages creativity

It’s hard to distill the essence of someone’s talk in a few hastily typed notes but if you ever have the chance to hear Dr. Rahman speak I highly encourage you to do so.

*This conference was sponsored by the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRESC Nebraska), the Center for Nanohybrid Functional Materials (CNFM), Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, Nebraska EPSCoR, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Office of Research and Economic Development.

#scio12 Pt2: Elephant in the Room: Infrastructure and the Digital Divide

SCIO12 spelled out in multicolored Legos on top of a round black table.
SCIO12 Legos

A recurring theme in the sessions I attended at #scio12, and some after hours discussions, was technological infrastructure, and the need to remember that there is a huge digital divide between the haves and the have nots. It’s a problem you expect in developing nations (who we should be communicating with too, not ignoring), but you don’t expect that sort of problem in a country like the United States.

Sadly technological inequality is a huge problem in the United States. In Philadelphia, one of our major metropolitan areas, 40% of the households do not have internet access, in some neighborhoods only about 10% of households have Internet access. That’s at least 230,000 households in without access to the Internet in one city.

As we create activities and resources we need to remember that not all of our students have cell phones, not all students or researchers have Internet access depending on where they are in the US and the world.

A hot button for me is when people assume that all students have laptops and smartphones.? Just because some or even most students have something doesn’t mean that they all do, next time you want to assume something about technology that students have before asking, just don’t. Better yet provide the technology and access if it’s required for a course and not provided more broadly by your educational institution.

The other problem is Infrastructure, while modern cities have tons of infrastructure compared to rural areas in reality our infrastructure is substandard. Don’t believe me? Check out the Report Card for America’s Infrastructure and be prepared to be scared silly by how badly maintained our vital infrastructure has been maintained. Look at those grades, almost all D’s with a few C’s, the nation’s overall grade was a D, let’s think about that, just a little higher than an F for failed infrastructure. (In the 11 years since this blogpost was published the nation’s overall grade has “improved” to a C-). If we can’t even prioritize our water, energy and road safety and maintain them it’s no wonder that we are failing so many people in creating and maintaining our cyberinfrastructure.? The biggest barriers I am seeing to science communication, education, and innovation are a lack of infrastructure and technological inequality.

If you don’t have internet access and electricity it doesn’t matter if someone gives you a computer.

If you don’t have internet access it can be difficult, if not impossible, to apply for a job, to college, for government benefits, file your taxes for free.

Without the tech support, programers, and cutting edge computers many researchers will be limited to what they can do with what they have instead of innovating the future.

Without the ability to easily download, compare, and analyze multiple compounds from the large government databases our ability to find new relationships between these compounds is limited.

I can’t help wondering if our tendency to ignore of basic infrastructure needs is part of why we tend to treat cyberinfrastructure as something we can do later, when things get better, when we have more money, etc.

Disclaimer: I’m biased towards Japan being born there and part Japanese.

I was really impressed by this story about how quickly they repaired a road that was completely destroyed by the tsunami and earthquakes that struck Japan last year. They repaired the road in six days. Road repairs in Lincoln go pretty quickly, especially compared to California but I have to say, I don’t think we have the infrastructure anywhere in the USA to do that much work so quickly after such a huge emergency situation.

So how can we start to address these issues?

The first thing we need to do is admit that they exist and educate ourselves and everyone else that we can about these issues. Infrastructure isn’t just for librarians and scientists and tech geeks, it affects our ability to call for help in an emergency, the safety of our drinking water, and whether the bridges we drive over will bear our weight or collapse.

Once we admit openly and consistently that these problems exist we need to put our money and efforts towards these projects, infrastructure (traditional and cyber) is needed for safety, education, and a connected participatory society. If we don’t fund infrastructure that says that it’s not a necessity it’s a luxury, and that my friends is faulty thinking. Ignoring our infrastructure needs is almost as bad as cutting education funding (I will stay off that soap box for now, no raising the blood pressure before bed).

I don’t have any easy answers but I do know this:

We don’t all need to be on the cutting edge of technology but there is a certain minimal level of access without which it is difficult to fully participate in society. There is a level of IT support & infrastructure without which we will not reach our maximum research potential.

It’s a bit Pollyanna I suppose, but I’d really like to see all of us reach our full potential and we can’t do that without a strong base to stand on.