How to Level the Playing Field for Women in Science – Advice – The Chronicle of Higher Education

Our most important finding is that family formation damages the academic careers of women but not of men. Having children is a career advantage for men; for women, it is a career killer. And women who do advance through the faculty ranks do so at a high personal price. They are far less likely to be married with children. We see more women than we used to in visible positions, like presidents of Ivy League colleges, but we also see many more women than men who are married with children working in the adjunct-faculty ranks, the “second tier,” and one of the fastest-growing sectors of academe.

The most vulnerable years of a female scientist’s career are the earliest: the graduate-student and postdoc years. The greatest
leak in the science pipeline occurs before women obtain their first tenure-track job, and the major reason is childbirth. Specifically, according to the NSF survey, married mothers are 35 percent less likely than married fathers to obtain a tenure-track job. Single women without children, on the other hand, are almost as likely as men to get that job.

via How to Level the Playing Field for Women in Science – Advice – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

In summary, academia sucks for married/attached women.

The Awesomest 7-Year Postdoc or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Tenure-Track Faculty Life | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network

Many who consider, or even try, the tenure-track faculty life feel like they don’t fit the stereotype. For some, the stereotype is so far, that one feels like an alien. The two options I hear most are getting burned out (by trying to live up to the rules) or opting-out (because one can’t play the game by the rules). I guess my hope is to add one more option to the list, which is covering your ears and making up your own rules.


Seven things I did during my first seven years at Harvard. Or, how I loved being a tenure-track faculty member, by deliberately trying not to be one.

I decided that this is a 7-year postdoc.
I stopped taking advice.
I created a “feelgood” email folder.
I work fixed hours and in fixed amounts.
I try to be the best “whole” person I can.
I found real friends.
I have fun “now”.

via The Awesomest 7-Year Postdoc or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Tenure-Track Faculty Life | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network.

Reminder: there are no rules. It’s a choose your own adventure!

Also, holy sh**!! Some of her work on swarmbots (Kilobot) is the inspiration of some of my projects.

HT Ankur

Ph.D. students rethink the tenure track, scope out non-academic jobs

A survey by UC Berkeley’s Career Center of students who graduated with Ph.D.s between 2007 and 2009 shows that 56 percent got jobs in academia,  with 34 percent of them in tenure-track positions, 45 percent in post-doctoral appointments and 10 percent in non-tenure track faculty posts.

A study published last year in the journal Science suggests only 20 percent of U.S. graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics will land a tenure-track position within four to six years of completing a Ph.D.

That noted, the percentage of UC Berkeley doctoral students landing a tenured faculty position is much higher (57 percent) than the national average of 41 percent.

via Ph.D. students rethink the tenure track, scope out non-academic jobs.