Friday and Saturday marked ASU’s second Jumpstarting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Careers workshop, which was geared primarily toward women and minorities planning STEM careers.
The workshop brought speakers from STEM careers and provided hands-on activities for graduate students and postdoctoral attendees preparing for a career in academia.
Page Baluch, research scientist and manager of the W. M. Keck Bioimaging Laboratory facility in the School of Life Sciences and president of the Arizona Central Chapter of the Association for Women in Science is the workshop’s primary planner.
The purpose of the workshop is to “shine a light on what students have to expect” in the future when they’re applying for a job in their specific field of expertise, Baluch said.
Though the workshop was open to all graduate students, its goal was to provide extra education for women and minorities specifically, she said. This is largely because women and minorities are underrepresented in STEM careers.
The workshop was funded by The National Science Foundation ADVANCE/PAID grant. The grant provides seed money to keep the workshop going for two years.
"This particular (grant) was to have workshops to tutor people and help them," Baluch said. "It will also help (attendees) establish a network and get their foot in the door to get some skills that they can use to be successful."
The workshop has gained investment and attention from other ASU departments involved in STEM majors to ensure that it can continue to educate graduate students, she said.
"We're going to try to get other departments to support it as well, because we think it's worth investing and helping the students,” Baluch said.
The two-day workshop featured speakers such as Liz Pennisi, a writer for Science magazine, and Zena Werb, an anatomy professor from the University of California San Francisco.
The speakers represented various fields of research in both academia and industry-based careers, Baluch said.
"You want to communicate with people outside of ASU," she said. "That's what gets your name out there and your work out there."
Graduate student Bekah Brubaker has attended the workshop both years.
"It was interesting to see a lot of people from AWIS national and network with them because we're one of the newest chapters," she said.
The workshop also included activities in which attendees worked together on skills such as interviewing and lab management.
"One thing I really enjoyed about the conference was the discussion about teaching tools and resources," predoctoral student Elizabeth Engler-Chiurazzi said. "I really liked that they had us not only learning about the tools that are available but actually using them."
Though the workshop has occurred annually thus far, it may start to become something that only happens every two or three years, Baluch said.
The decline in the number of women as they advance in disciplines leading to STEM careers has become drastic, Baluch said.
"(Women) have different perspectives and they have different things they can give to the sciences that is missing if they're not represented,” she said.
Reach the reporter at dgrobmei@asu.edu
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