Anne Harding - Guest Editor Some Real Action After Decades of Talk About Diversity In 1989, the number of PhDs in science and engineering awarded to blacks in the United States was 222, just 1.8% of the total - and a drop from 288 in 1977. More recently the numbers are better. According to the National Science Foundation, 661 blacks received a PhD in science or engineering in 2003
Myth: Diversity is good for business. Reality: It's a bit more complicated than that. Research from MIT's Thomas Kochan showed-controversially-that ethnic and gender diversity can harm team and company performance if they're not managed effectively. (see "Diversity: The New Business Case") Myth: Blacks and Latinos don't consider careers in researc
FROM THE FIELD There are no easy answers when it comes to building a truly diverse workforce in the life science arena. Many feel we've made little progress toward that goal during the last few decades, rightfully pointing to the continued disparity in representation, inc
By Clifton A. Poodry It's time to apply our scientific thinking to designing diversity programs. Here's how. Despite our scientific training, when we think about ways to build a more diverse biomedical research workforce, we may base our ideas on sentiments and preconceptions rather than the best evidence. One way to avoid this is to approa
By Damaris Christensen Losing Ground? Educators fear small gains of affirmative action are under threat from reverse-discrimination lawsuits. In 2003, in its first ruling on affirmative action since 1978, the Supreme Court affirmed in its University of Michigan Law School decision that diversity in the classroom, in and of itself, is a compelling state inter
The Government's Assessment In the current mixed legal climate, where diversity programs have been ruled constitutional and litigation continues over their appropriate boundaries, federal agencies are by and large continuing to fund programs aimed at increasing participation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) by underrepresented minorit
The Government's Assessment In the current mixed legal climate, where diversity programs have been ruled constitutional and litigation continues over their appropriate boundaries, federal agencies are by and large continuing to fund programs aimed at increasing participation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) by underrepresented minorit
By Anne Harding Diversity efforts are unexplored territory for many European nations. The November 2005 riots across France made it clear why efforts to diversify Europe's workforce are important, and why these efforts may pose a particular challenge here. Frustrated at being shut out of the nation's economic and educational
By Ed Silverman Small World Globalization means broader definition of diversity, and broader opportunities. Weiyi Zheng says he loves his career in the New Jersey suburbs, but he wouldn't turn down an opportunity to return to his native China. And thanks to the increasing globalization of the pharma industry workforce, his employer just might give him the ch
By Karen Pallarito The Feminine Touch Women are joining forces to invest in life science ventures, and getting results. "We feel there's a huge opportunity to be able to support the initiatives that these women are going to want to take in terms of entrepreneurship and growing businesses." — Donna
What We Can Learn from the ELITE CONTROLLERS Infected nonprogressors are providing clues to the control, and potentially the eradication, of HIV By Gail Dutton FEATURE ARTICLES 25 Years with HIV ARTICLE EXTRAS Jeff Getty: Lessons in desperate measuresHow a risky experiment led to a new understanding of HIV HIV Shows ItselfA 1981 report in the MMWR marks the beginning The Impact of HIVIts progressions, 1981-2006 and beyond Why Monkeys Block HIVOld world monkeys don't
A Revolutionary Approach to Biomarker Discovery Immunoassays coupled with mass spectrometrycould reveal new dimensions in the blood By Emanuel F. Petricoin and Lance A. Liotta ARTICLE EXTRAS Proteomics: Promise and ProblemsSuch early disease detection doesn't always mean longer life, write JENNIFER MILLER and BARNETT KRAMER. INFOGRAPHIC: The Peptidome Hypothesis:What does a disease signature look like in the blood? Serum Proteomics ScrutinizedSELDI-TOF st
By Kirsten Weir Lyndon Mitnaul Research Fellow, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Merck Research Laboratories COURTESY OF LYNDON MITNAUL Lyndon Mitnaul remembers falling in love. "Around tenth grade I took my first chemistry class," he says, "and I fell in love with science."
By Chandra Shekhar Sebastián Vélez, 33 Third-year graduate student at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University COURTESY OF SEBASTIÁN VÉLEZ HOMETOWN: Bayamon, Puerto Rico WORK/RESEARCH: Vélez's research is centered o
By Juhi Yajnik Maria Thelma Ocampo, 29 Postdoc, London Research Institute COURTESY OF MARIA OCAMPO HOMETOWN: Manila, Philippines, until she was 8 years old, then Arleta, Calif. WORK/RESEARCH: Ocampo works on DNA packaging and the cohesion complex that holds sis
By Kirsten Weir Gwen D. Fewell, 40 Open Biosystems, Huntsville, Alabama; RNAi Product Manager COURTESY OF OPEN BIOSYSTEMS EDUCATION: PhD in neuroscience from Florida State University HOMETOWN: Bombay, India WORK/RESEARCH: Fewell is in charge of developin
By Juhi Yajnik Andrea Stith, 33 Program Officer for educational grant programs, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) COURTESY OF COLELLA PHOTOGRAPHY EDUCATION: PhD in biophysics, University of Virginia HOMETOWN: West Point, NY WORK/RESEARC
Proteomics: Promise and Problems By Jennifer H. Miller and Barnett S. Kramer FEATURE ARTICLE A Revolutionary Approach to Biomarker DiscoveryEMANUEL PETRICOIN and LANCE LIOTTA describe how their methods for discovery could solve the seeming end to the pipeline of disease detection biomarkers ARTICLE EXTRAS INFOGRAPHIC: The Peptidome Hypothesis:What does a disease signature look like in the blood? Serum Proteomics ScrutinizedSELDI-TOF still struggles to prove its worth as a clinic
Do you have the right tools to create or reinvigorate a diversity initiative that's effective? Who is (or should be) responsible for its success and how do you measure that success? This section offers proven approaches to meeting these common challenges - in both business and academic settings - shared by those who've already experienced success. There's also a new business case for diversity that s
1 Another stereotype claims that inadequate K-12 education in the United States is to blame for students' lack of interest in pursuing college-level science study. Data from our own and other institutions indicate that students of color and from all educational and income levels enroll in introductory courses in biology and chemistry (the disciplines on which we have focused) at representative levels. Yet they disengage during their earliest experi
By Charles Q. Choi Getting Results You've started a diversity program. But how do you know if it's having any effect? Harvard Medical School has offered a voluntary diversity-training program every year since 2000. Immediately after each session, organizers asked how much volunteers liked learning about the importance of diversity for organizations. People
By Charles Q. Choi Getting Results You've started a diversity program. But how do you know if it's having any effect? Harvard Medical School has offered a voluntary diversity-training program every year since 2000. Immediately after each session, organizers asked how much volunteers liked learning about the importance of diversity for organizations. People
The Life Sciences Salary Survey Compensation soars as demand for highly-skilled professionals heats up. By Karen PallaritoRelated Articles: Salary by Highest Degree Earned Salary by Area of Specialization Salary by Gender Salary by Ethnicity Salary Map: salaries and costs of living in 19 US metropolitan areas Salary Charts Salary by Job Activity, type of research, age, and job title 2006 Salary Survey Methodology Salary Survey ArchiveThe que
Resources More Information The Athena Project www.athenaproject.org.uk Joint government/university effort to promote women's participation in science, engineering and technology in the UK. European Commission Science and Society
The Life Sciences Salary Survey: Methodology By Karen PallaritoRelated Articles: Salary by Highest Degree Earned Salary by Area of Specialization Salary by Gender Salary by Ethnicity Salary Map: salaries and costs of living in 19 US metropolitan areas Salary Charts Salary by Job Activity, type of research, age, and job title 2006 Salary Survey Salary Survey ArchiveThe survey, ?Compensation of Life Scientists in the USA,? was conducted by Abbot
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Lance Liotta (top) and Emanuel Petricoin (bottom) made a splash in 2002 when they used mass spec techniques coupled with pattern matching software to identify proteomic signatures indicative of ovarian cancer. Now co-directors of the Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine at George Mason University, they continue searching for diagnostic signals in blood serum, which they write about on page 32. "In some ways we're even more optimistic as to the potential and
Are we training too many scientists? It's not that we're training too many scientists,1,2 but that we are not training too many scientists well. My institution receives hundreds of applications for faculty position openings, but most of them do not even make the first cut. I believe that this is because many principal investigators (PIs) are irresponsibly allowing people to earn PhDs without really deserving them. In the lab where I got my PhD, of every four students who started a
Shivani Sud (right) with Jan Davidson of the Davidson Institute. Credit: http://www.LEPOLDPHOTOGRAPHY.COM LEPOLDPHOTOGRAPHY.COM _blank" />Shivani Sud (right) with Jan Davidson of the Davidson Institute. Credit: http://www.LEPOLDPHOTOGRAPHY.COM LEPOLDPHOTOGRAPHY.COM _blank When Shivani Sud was six years old, a member of her immediate family had surgery to remove a brain tumor. Desperate to help, Sud dragged a stepstool to the kitchen sink, sprinkled soap on a sponge and began w
Caroline Snyder Credit: COURTESY OF CAROLINE SNYDER" />Caroline Snyder Credit: COURTESY OF CAROLINE SNYDER It was sometime in the late 1990s that Caroline Snyder first read news reports about a couple in Greenland, NH, who were blaming recycled sewage sludge - also known as biosolids - for the death of their son. Although she was an environmental scientist, Snyder didn't really know anything about sludge, but the story piqued her interest because she had recently retired to New Hampshi
On a brisk August morning in southern Australia, 16 recent PhD graduates and postdocs from around the country are sitting in a windowless room, fretting about the way science is portrayed in the media. They're attending a weeklong media-training boot camp, and the fraying of their nerves is palpable as they talk about what worries them most: the superficial way their research might be handled, overhyping, and how to handle difficult questions. "What's the point of science communicati
When the space shuttles Discovery and Atlantis blasted off in the direction of the International Space Station (ISS) this year, passengers of a more botanical variety vastly outnumbered the seven astronauts on board. Secured in small seed cassettes, some 1600 seeds of the cress species, Arabidopsis thaliana, took the flight for a research project designed to help tease out the tropic influences of gravity and light on plant growth, while perhaps helping to find a way to grow crops for lo
The paper: K. Silander et al., "Genetic variation near the hepatocyte nuclear factor-4á gene predicts susceptibility to type 2 diabetes," Diabetes, 53:1141-9, 2004. (Cited in 68 papers) The finding: A team of Finnish and US researchers, led by University of Michigan professor Michael Boehnke, found that several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) around the transcription factor, hepatocyte nuclear factor-4á (HNF4A), were associated with dia
Graduating from a mid-ranked university may put you at even more of a disadvantage than finishing a life sciences doctorate at a lower-ranked school, according to research by Laurel Smith-Doerr, an assistant professor of sociology at Boston University. Smith Doerr sampled 2,062 life scientists who were on average 5 years out of grad school. As she reports in the June issue of the Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, those who had completed their PhDs at elite universities were mu
Russian scientists are testing a proposed system to bring a more merit-based approach to the doling out of funds supplementing basic salaries. The effort by the Russian Ministry of Science is meant to address criticism of the current system, "a crazy combination of uniformly low pay with distribution of extras by the will of the management," says Mikhail Gelfand, a scientist at the Institute for Information Transmission Problems in Moscow. Paychecks for Russian post-docs are about 5,000-
