Recently, educators and policymakers have shifted more attention and funding to students' education in science, technology, engineering, and math, known as STEM. Last month, for example, President Obama that his Educate to Innovate initiative raised $28 million to train 100,000 STEM teachers by 2021, augmenting the budget of $53 million already awarded for teacher recruitment.
Even people who have haven't had STEM on their radar have probably that reflect the challenges and discrimination faced by some people interested in pursuing these fields. Women in science have gotten a fair amount of , and it's warranted; even though women made up about 45 percent of the overall workforce in 2010, they only accounted for 28 percent of scientists, according to the National Academy of Sciences .
Although there are more women in the workforce now than ever before , women who aim high professionally know that they will likely encounter a tough road. Many encounter discrimination or dissuasion (in STEM and otherwise) and almost all are forced to make hard choices between their jobs and other aspects of life. Since women entered the workforce, they have been subjected to an impossibly high standard of of 'having it all'-professional success, well-behaved children, sated spouse, spotless oven. And living up to that expectation can be daunting. Trailblazers like Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, have offered tips for how women can better navigate a male-dominated professional world, yet somehow true equality in the workplace seems to seem only incremental.
STEM Education in the 21st CenturyRead More
This past June, 41-year-old Ana Luz Porzecanski became the director for the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Originally from Uruguay, she has been working at the center for over a decade, having earned her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Columbia University in 2003. In late October, she gave a presentation at a conference called STEMinism: Inspiring Women Scientists for current and future women in STEM. I caught up with her shortly after in her corner office to learn about her career and get a few tips on finding balance as a woman in science. Our conversation has been condensed and lightly edited.
Alexandra Ossola: When did you know that you wanted to go into science?
Ana Luz Porzecanski: It wasn't an easy decision for me because I had a lot of interests. My father is a scientist-he's an agronomist-and my mother is an architect, but also an amateur paleontologist. So we spent a lot of time outside in nature; my parents were very curious and eager to show me the natural world. I had a lot of concerns about society and societal issues so for a while I thought I might go into sociology rather than biology. But I decided to try biology. And it was very rewarding so I stuck with it. I would say there was a tipping point and a tipping person, as happens many times. I started college in Uruguay and took an evolution course with a researcher professor there named Enrique Lessa. He led the evolution lab at the school of sciences and he was incredibly inspiring and dynamic and fun. He invited me to a field trip with his lab and-I'll never forget this-I arrived late on a freezing night and all they had available to eat was cold rice. The field conditions were tough, but the next day the work was so interesting, the team was so much fun to work with, and they had so many interesting thoughts and questions that I got hooked.
Ossola: So you've been working in this field for 23 years. If you could go back in time and tell your early career self one thing, what would you tell yourself?
Porzecanski: I would have wanted to be more aware early on that there are a broad diversity of career paths related to science. In the beginning I thought that there was really just research, but now I know that there are a lot of different paths, and I think it's important for people to know that. Not that I would have done anything different; I think a Ph.D. served me well on many levels.
Ossola: What has been the hardest part of getting here to this point?
Porzecanski: I always say the two hardest things I've done in life are: getting my Ph.D. and giving birth to my first daughter-in that order, because the latter was shorter. I think getting a Ph.D. is challenging because you're really trying to figure out who you are intellectually, what you can do, where your limits are, how not to be too ambitious with what you're trying to do. And you also have to negotiate a lot of relationships-with your committee members and their expectations, and with your advisors. It's just a challenging time for everybody who's in that process because you are consumed by your project, you think about it all the time. It's not a job-it's your mission. It's all consuming.
'You don't have to be this martyr to be successful.'
Ossola: Is there a point at which you were almost dissuaded from completing your Ph.D.?
Porzecanski: Yes, I think that happens for many people. The Ph.D. is a journey and almost all of it rests on you, so it's a lot of responsibility. Halfway through my Ph.D. I spent a month and a half in the field with a team of researchers from the American Museum of Natural History in the Central African Republic. We were doing demanding fieldwork, and even though it wasn't completely related to my Ph.D., it was a great opportunity. I remember one day riding in the back of a van with the wind in my face, thinking, 'Here I am, halfway through it; this is really challenging for a number of reasons. I'm either going to stick with it or maybe I should stop.' And I remember thinking I will stick with it. That's how you do it. I also had a very supportive partner; we got married while I was doing my Ph.D.. They say that's very helpful and I really do think it is, to have someone there who can support you. And my family was supportive-it makes a big difference when you have a supportive network.
Entities 0 Name: Porzecanski Count: 3 1 Name: Uruguay Count: 2 2 Name: American Museum of Natural History Count: 2 3 Name: Ana Luz Porzecanski Count: 2 4 Name: Ossola Count: 2 5 Name: Center for Biodiversity and Conservation Count: 1 6 Name: New York City Count: 1 7 Name: Sheryl Sandberg Count: 1 8 Name: Central African Republic Count: 1 9 Name: Alexandra Ossola Count: 1 10 Name: Enrique Lessa Count: 1 11 Name: Obama Count: 1 12 Name: National Academy of Sciences Count: 1 13 Name: Columbia University Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/14FITtX Title: Rethink What You "Know" About High-Achieving Women Description: Idea in Brief The Research A comprehensive survey of Harvard Business School graduates-men and women-suggests that the conventional wisdom about women and leadership needs to be rethought. Some Findings Men and women start out with similar goals, which are adjusted over time-but men are likelier to achieve them.
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