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my transition state

@ladychemistab-blog / ladychemistab-blog.tumblr.com

Third year Ph.D. candidate in organic chemistry. Working hard doing organic methodology focusing on photoredox catalysis. Dream of being an industry process chemist. Passionate about improving science communication and being a woman in STEM! Working across the lab from @hood32 everyday. We love #feetupfriday and answering any questions you may have!
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hood32

HEY YOU!! JOIN THE JUI GROUP ON TWITTER?!

We joined Twitter!! 

Ok, not THAT exciting but here is a way you can get updates on the group (and me, and Ally, and CAM and Jeff and Dave and Adam and asdealfdjalsdfjasg EVERYONE and EVERYTHING). Guaranteed shitty pictures of cool-ass reactions, links to articles, and general shenanigans (the Boss ok’d us not being 100% professional, it IS a student-run twitter, after all.). 

GO TO THE LINK. 

Yayayayayayayay check us out to get more Jui Lab action!!! Follow @jui_group on twitter!

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hood32
Anonymous asked:

Hi! How do you feel about your PhD program/lab from a gender perspective? I know I lot of female grad students in STEM have issues with sexual harassment/general misogyny. Was that something you were concerned about when you were applying and if so, how did you address that?

Hi! This is a tricky topic, and even tricker when you consider organic chemistry labs. We admittedly do see some general misogyny and sexual harassment. However, this is a problem a lot of fields face right now, not just organic chemistry. 

Sexual harassment: has been a problem with some people in the department. But has been appropriately addressed and (as far as I know) mostly corrected. 

Misogyny: tricky to identify. Are you getting shit because you’re not doing work as well as others? Or because you’re a woman? It’s hard to tell in graduate programs when you don’t have the exact same benchmarks across students. Each student has a different project, different expectations, and different learning and working style and the people around you hold you to different standards. Something that you can do is try to find common benchmarks between your peers and see if you’re performing the same but not getting similar recognition. 

It wasn’t a huge thing I was concerned about when I was applying to schools, but it WAS a concern when I was choosing groups. There are a lot of “old white men” in chemistry that straight up make it harder for women to graduate from them. I avoid those groups. They are not the future of the field and I refuse to contribute to their body of work. 

For sexual harassment/misogyny: I try to be as clear and driven with my motives as possible. If somebody in the lab says something to me I find off-color or inappropriate, I address it immediately. It’s not ok and won’t be tolerated by me. One of the things I’m working on doing this year is being more of an “active bystander” and acting that way in order to champion for other women in the lab. Right now, the two girls in the lab (me and @ladychemistab) are these extremely thick-skinned badass women who take a lot of shit and can put up with it no problem, but she led a movement in the lab to stop taking shit and start telling people off when they’re being inappropriate, and I’m 100% on board, especially with the new rotations starting soon!

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Hooray for realizing that you shouldn’t have to be thick skinned or put up with comments that make you feel bad about yourself/uncomfortable or could potentially make a visiting student feel this way! Just wanted to chime in, if you’re concerned about it, talk to the grad students in a lab to see if this stuff has come up before, if the PI was made aware of it, and how the PI handled it. @hood32 and I are fortunate to work for someone who sees the lack of women in STEM and specifically organic chemistry as an issue and has talked to both of us about why there are so few and seems keen on helping to improve this. When issues have been brought forward they were addressed rapidly and professionally, and I know that hasn’t been the case across the board for all labs. You can always get good information from students, and if you feel like they’re sugar-coating, go talk to them outside of lab and get a drink. 

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So, I haven't posted in a while and my mom calls my blog stale almost every day (hi mom). BUT I've started a new and exciting hobby making Disney park/mouse ears and have been really focused on growing that as a hobby/fake business! I'm still in the lab A LOT and love my chemistry, but this gives me something to do at night while watching TV to de-stress. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE if anyone at all who likes Disney on here would follow my Instagram (@wickedgoodears). Shameless plug. I am really hoping to do some science-themed ears if there's interest (periodic table fabric? Muppet-beaker fabric??) and will be posting some pics from the lab on there too! Having a hobby outside of Lab is really important and I'm enjoying a new adventure!

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@ladychemistab, @hood32 things yall might want to be aware of? to join me in railing against the system?

Really interesting! Do you think any of it has to do with that in the lab we can't wear typically feminine articles of clothing (skirts, dresses, heels)? A number of times when I've told people I'm a chemist, strangers (people on planes, uber drivers, etc.) will respond "oh, you don't look like a chemist". Is this possibly because we have preconceived notions of what every profession should look like, or is it because I'm a small, young, blonde female...maybe both? Cool and relevant research for sure.

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This article poses a great question. We all know Bill, Neil, etc. but where are the female celebrity scientists?

Was anyone else slightly bothered that he brought on a Victoria’s Secret model to “sex up” science? Don’t get me wrong, I love Karlie Kloss as much as the next person….but it’s just been floating in my head and I can’t decide why I feel “off” about it. I think she was extremely well spoken and did a great job, I just feel as though he could’ve found female scientists for the job. Obviously the wouldn’t have the pop culture appeal and the beautiful long legs, but would that have been so bad? I mean, he obviously could have hired me and/or @hood32. Stressing here: I have nothing against Kloss and think she did great, I just think this would’ve been a great opportunity to give women scientists the exposure. And they went with a supermodel.

So give me your ideas/opinions. Why no female celebrity scientists? Why supermodels instead?

 Was she not on there partly to promote her Kode with Klossy scholarship for young female computer scientists?

Jane Goodall, Mayim Bialik, Lisa Kudrow, Natalie Portman, there’s plenty of female science presenters on the BBC, like Dr Alice Roberts and Maggie Aderin-Pocock (co-presenter of the Sky at Night) and Liz Bonnin, but I don’t know about the US. Tennis legend Virginia Wade has a maths degree, as do Golden Globe winner Teri Hatcher.

Also, the leader of the free world, Angela Merkel, was a quantum chemist before she was a politician. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) appears to be the only woman in Congress with a scientific background.

He should get Jennifer Doudna on. She’s one of the Time 100 Most Influential People in 2015 and a runner-up for Time Person of the Year 2016 for leading the research on CRISPR.

Sure, a lot of these are celebrities who have science/math degrees but I'm talking about people who are celebrity scientists (famous/public figure because they are a scientist). Most of the ladies you listed (while fantastic and brilliant) are not famous because they are scientists/educating the public on science and research aren't their profession (like Neil and Nye). Definitely great input though, there are some great female news presenters I just feel like they're always "consultants" not the stars.

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This article poses a great question. We all know Bill, Neil, etc. but where are the female celebrity scientists? Was anyone else slightly bothered that he brought on a Victoria's Secret model to "sex up" science? Don't get me wrong, I love Karlie Kloss as much as the next person....but it's just been floating in my head and I can't decide why I feel "off" about it. I think she was extremely well spoken and did a great job, I just feel as though he could've found female scientists for the job. Obviously the wouldn't have the pop culture appeal and the beautiful long legs, but would that have been so bad? I mean, he obviously could have hired me and/or @hood32. Stressing here: I have nothing against Kloss and think she did great, I just think this would've been a great opportunity to give women scientists the exposure. And they went with a supermodel. So give me your ideas/opinions. Why no female celebrity scientists? Why supermodels instead?

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hood32

My reaction is very dark so instead of writing its label with a sharpie I grabbed a large label sticker. Ally thought it looked like a name tag and made some adjustments..

Such a large label was asking for an adjustment. It just wanted to introduce itself!

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hi i was wondering what foreign language would be best for a chemistry major? i'm considering russian just because i find it intereting but i feel like german may be more useful but i honestly have no idea.

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Hi! Honestly I don’t think foreign languages are useful for chemistry. The best journals publish in English and others can be automatically translated. If you’re planning on studying in the US, chinese might be helpful to communicate with other students/postdocs.

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sodiumlamps

no, foreign languages are very useful for chemistry, and machine translation is not that good yet.  many people publish in english now, but a lot of the older literature’s in german or french.  in my own work, i’ve cited literature in both these languages.  (i had to get my advisor to translate the german paper for me because she speaks it and i don’t.)  russian would probably also serve you well.

It can depend on experience (as with everything) but if you're in college now and are just starting a new language, I think it would be hard to get to the level where you could read/translate a scientific paper in that language while fitting in all of your chem classes...unless you did an immersion study abroad (also difficult with sciences). I took 12 years of Spanish and while I enjoyed it, I can't say where it's really been useful. If you like Russian and have room to take it, I say go for it!

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hi i was wondering what foreign language would be best for a chemistry major? i'm considering russian just because i find it intereting but i feel like german may be more useful but i honestly have no idea.

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Hi! Honestly I don’t think foreign languages are useful for chemistry. The best journals publish in English and others can be automatically translated. If you’re planning on studying in the US, chinese might be helpful to communicate with other students/postdocs.

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Hi, I was wondering where you went to do do your undergrad and masters? Was it also Emory?

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Hi! I went to Dickinson College in PA for my B.S. and I didn't get a masters. I just went straight into a PhD program instead.

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hood32

Showcasing Dave’s custom designed and 3D printed reaction tube holder with reactions holding both fluorescein (yellow) and rhodamine (pink) organic dyes as photocatalysts. 

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