Scientiae

Dear All,

I'll be hosting the September Scientiae Carnival over at My Middle Years. The theme for this month is:

Hello, I'm JaneB and I blog over at 'Now, what was I doing?'. And this month I get to host the Scientiae Carnival!

Summer is a good time for day-dreaming and thinking Big Thoughts, free from (some of) the stream of student enquiries, emails and phone calls that disrupt our time during the semester. So for this carnival, I thought it would be fun to revive an old game we played in my grad-lab, 'Fantasy Institute'. The rules of the game are simple - you have been selected as the Director of a newly endowed research institute. It is your job to decide where the institute will be based, its codes of conduct, its structure, and who you will hire.

Dream away! Tell us what would make your institute a haven for scientists. A 'everyone must leave by 5pm' rule? A woodland setting with squirrel feeders? Daily shipments from your favourite supplier?

Please submit posts on this, or any topic related to women in science (or making the world of science a better place to work), by emailing the permalink URL of your post to scientiaecarnival [a] gmail [dt] com by 11:59 pm GMT on Wednesday, June 30th. The carnival will be posted by July 1st.

Hi, I'm Rocket Scientista, and I'll be hosting your fabulous June Scientiae Carnival. I'm so excited to be a part of such an awesome carnival about women in STEM!

Last month, we all talked about all those humps and bumps on the way to success, and now it's time to celebrate getting through it! The theme for June's Scientiae Carnival is:

It looks like November's carnival was a little on the sparse side, so we're going to try again. Jokerine and myself (Cherish) will instead co-host the December carnival. Because of the holiday weekend, we're going to push off the deadline for the new carnival to December 14th so that we can publish it on the 15th.

I didn't realize how quickly October would come and go, and it's almost time for Scientiae!

Hi everyone,

I'll be hosting the July Scientiae Carnival over at My Middle Years. I've been reading many posts in the blog wide world about self-image, so lets find out how we in STEM see ourselves. The theme for this month is:

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall...

Think about who you see when you look in the mirror. How do you see yourself? How do you think others see you? Who would you rather see? Some days it might be hard to even face the mirror, other days you might stare at your teenage self looking back at you and wonder what happened since. What do you think that person looking at you is thinking? What would happen if you could step through the looking glass?

The images are infinite, and feel free to submit variations on the theme or anything else you view appropriate. Please e-mail a permalink to your submission to scientiaecarnival [at] gmail [dt] com by midnight on June 30th. The carnival will be posted before the fireworks go off on the 4th of July.

I hope to see you soon!

-Patchi

Hi, it's ScienceWoman, your host for the next edition of Scientiae. Alice and I are teaming up to host the June edition of Scientiae, the carnival by, for, and about women in science, engineering, technology, and math. As is the norm for the monthly Scientiae carnival, I get to choose a theme to help inspire and unite you all to write posts, though submissions on any topic related to women in STEM are always welcome.

At this time of year, some of us are just emerging from the end of the semester, while others still have another month to slog through before getting a reprieve. Some people are within spitting distance of finishing their research project or degree, while others feel like they have years more to battle cranky equipment or stare at disappointing data. While some of us maybe carefree and happy-go-lucky, others people may be struggling on the personal front.

We're all at different stages of our journeys, but something we have in common is that we are all MOVING FORWARD, so that's the theme of this Scientiae edition.

How are you moving forward in life? Are you close to your degree, tenure, sabbatical, or summer holiday? Is that paper almost ready to go out the door? Is your baby almost potty trained or are you training for a marathon? What keeps you moving forward in your science, work, and life? Is it the drive to cure a disease, make the world a more sustainable piece, or discover something that no one else knows? Is it the promise of exciting data at the end of a long assay? Is it the thought of people calling you Dr.? Is it your daughter's smile when she wakes up in the morning, or the enthusiastic tail wagging of your dog? When things get tough, how do you motivate yourself to move forward?

Here's a couple of sayings and cliches that might help inspire the creative juices:

• "It's always darkest, just before they turn on the light." (Cole Porter, Anything Goes)


• "When life hands you lemons, turn them into lemonade." (an old saying)


• "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." (Alternatively, the sign in my local donut shop proclaimed "When the going gets tough, the tough get donuts.")


• "Life is just a bowl of cherries." (A saying meaning that life is pleasant, but often used sarcastically to convey the opposite sense).

Hi everyone, Jane here, host of the Scientiae Carnival for November 2008. As the weather cools down and the nights get longer, what better way is there to spend your time than curling up with your trusty computer and contributing a blog post to the next carnival? Ah, autumn.

But I digress. You all want to know what the next theme is, right? Well, I decided that we should do a holiday-type theme this time around, so the theme is:

TRICK OR TREAT!

You can interpret this whatever way you'd like, but here are some suggestions to get your creative juices flowing:

TRICK: What tricks have you learned in your career as a scientist---to be successful, to stay sane, to achieve balance? Have you felt "tricked" at all by something that's happened to you in school or in your career? Did someone trick you into studying science or math or computers in the first place, or into doing something you didn't believe you could do?

TREAT: Why do you find it a treat to be a scientist/mathematician/technologist/geek/nerd? What are the biggest treats in your job or in your studies? How do you hand out treats to others (i.e., mentoring, random acts of professional kindness)? Have you ever received, or given, a particularly special professional treat?

If there is not an October carnival, I will roll all of last month's submissions into this carnival. So those of you who submitted---thanks, and your efforts will be rewarded!

Posts should be submitted like so no later than 11:59pm EST on Thursday, October 30. The carnival will be posted sometime on November 1st or 2nd.

Happy posting!

Yes, believe it or not, I am in fact hosting a slightly belated October Scientae carnival, and I want to apologize to everyone for running so behind on this! Let me take the opportunity to ask you all to find your best general women in STEM blog posts and send 'em on in!

If you'd like some last-minute inspiration, here's a theme to get you going: being a good example even in a misstep. Personally, I discovered that I piled on way too much work to do this month, and was only partially successful in balancing it with other social and family responsibilities. I love to hold up examples of inspirational, successful STEM women, but do you have a good story about recovering gracefully from a mistake, or teaching yourself or others about how to make even a failure a success?

Please send in posts in the usual way by the end of this week, October 3, and I will post the carnival on the weekend.

The theme for September's carnival is that favorite of all school teachers:

"My Summer Vacation".

Even for those not in education or with children, September means the end of summer so this Scientiae gives one more chance to look back over the summer to relive some enjoyable experiences, or assess how well we achieved our goals. Did we get everything done we had hoped? Did we have fun? Did any one go some where exotic or exciting?

You can write about anything to do with summer - for example, pick your best experience this year or talk about what summers and vacations mean to you in general. Feel free to use a post you have already posted; this year I have read some great summer vacation posts. As always, you are free to ignore the theme and write about anything to do with women in science and your posts will still be considered for Scientiae.

Please submit posts in the traditional manner by 8 am (EST) August 30th 2008. I am going to laboring over Scientiae over Labor Weekend [sorry couldn't resist] and I want it up by Sept 1 as I start teaching again Sept 2 [yah] and will not have any time after Labor Day.

I cannot wait to read your posts.

Note: Cross posted at Lab Cat.

I can't believe August is almost here. When I signed up to host the next Scientiae Carnival, it seemed like August was so far away.

I'd like everyone to start thinking about contributions for the August Scientiae, which will be at Faraday's Cage is Where You Put Schroedinger's Cat. Right now, I'm thinking about transitions (since I finished my MS and will "sort of" be moving next month).

I thought this might be a good theme. I'd like to hear about other people's transitions. Some things to consider are

• What big (or small) transitions have happened in your life? Or are you anticipating a big transition?
• How did it affect you? (Physically, emotionally, psychologically, locationally..)
• What was the outcome?
• Did you handle it well? If so, how did it help? If not, what could you have done differently?
• What fears or hopes did you have? Did they come to be?

Feel free to elaborate or go beyond these points. Of course, if you don't like this topic, you're welcome to discuss anything else.

Please email submissions to by July 29th. The instructions are here. Hopefully, I can have it finished up by the 1st of August.

Hi folks, Zuska here. I suppose I should start with an apology for getting the next Scientiae topic out so late. But hey, the good news is you don't have to turn in your submission until June 6!

The new topic is: Added Weight. "Huh?" I hear you saying. I've been thinking lately about how our culture encourages women to be excessively preoccupied with their weight. Taking up space in the world is a Bad Thing for women to do. We waste a lot of energy and time worrying about whether or not we are taking up too much space. A friend of mine sometimes lectures on this subject. She asks her students to consider the way women usually sit (legs together or crossed) and then the way that men usually sit (legs sprawled out and spread). She demonstrates each pose. Typically the students laugh, nervously or otherwise, when they see her demonstrate the male pose. She then asks them to consider that response: why are we made uncomfortable or nervous by a woman sitting that way? What is it about women taking up space?

How tired am I of that lady on the Nutrisystem commercial cooing "Look at me! I'm a size two!" just as proud as if she'd gotten a first-author Science paper? Tired beyond belief, I will tell you. In lieu of throwing something at the tv screen, I want to encourage us all to think about taking up space and having added weight in our lives in a positive way. Have you taken on a project in the past year that seemed like too much added weight to your life - but you made great progress on it, you got it done, you enjoyed the work and/or the results? In what ways have you taken up space in the past year - you gave your first paper at a major conference, got a grant funded, gave birth? Maybe you just gained a little weight and didn't torture yourself about it!

How did you let the world know "I am HERE!" Or, if you feel the past year has not been so fruitful in your quest to take up positive space in the world - what added weight would you like to take on in the coming year? How do you want to take up space? How do you want to let yourself sprawl, in your professional or personal life? What, if anything, holds you back from a full-on sprawl? If you are a guy - what's something you've done or want to do that supports women who've taken on added weight, that supports women's right to sprawl in the world? How do you fight the nefarious Nutrisystem universe that tells women they should be small, small creatures of little physical or mental substance? Interpret liberally as seems fit to you.

To submit, send an e-mail with the permalink for your post to scientiaecarnival [at] gmail [dot] com by midnight June 6th. You can also tag your post with scientiae-carnival, but please make sure to email your link; there have been some issues with Technorati not picking up every tagged post. The complete submission instructions are here.

The March 1 edition of the Scientiae Carnival at Rants of a Feminist Engineer celebrated the carnival's first birthday and the onset of spring with the theme of "Renewal".

Since the next edition will be posted at Women in Science on April 1, it seemed appropriate for the theme to be "Fools and Foolishness". You can use the theme to take an introspective look at something foolish in your own past or write about the foolishness of others. And, as always, off-theme posts are also welcome.

If you'd like to contribute, send a link to your post to scientiaecarnival [a] gmail [dt] com, and add a scientiae-carnival Technorati tag, as explained in the information for contributors.

I look forward to reading your entries.

Wow, can you believe that Scientiae has been going for almost a year??! It was back on Feb 13 that I proposed a carnival on women in STEM, and there was tremendous and immediate enthusiasm. The first carnival was posted on March 1, and it hasn't stopped since (although it has slowed a little - now compiled once a month rather than twice).

So what should we do to mark this occasion? Jokerine has already hosted a reflective party, and very nice it was too.

Instead, let me reflect on the fact that March is the beginning of spring (yes, really!), a season for new beginnings. Let me solicit in particular posts that focus on "renewal." In particular, I'm thinking about discussions about what you find compelling about the science/work that you do, or what will get you through this next year, and what you hope for yourself (or for your profession, or for your discipline, or...) this time next year.

As always, general posts or posts that otherwise don't follow the theme are also welcome.

Send in your posts via the normal methods by Feb 29 5 pm EST (that's a freebie day!). And, if you'd like to be a host for Scientiae in Year 2, let me know also.

Hooray, hooray, Scientiae! Now entering its Terrible Twos!

2/23/08: Edited to add: I have just been alerted to the fact that I forgot to say WHERE the March Scientiae was being hosted. Oops. It will be at my blog, Rants of a Feminist Engineer. Thanks for the heads-up!

Jokerine threw a great party for last month's carnival which means we all should have some really good stories to tell. That's the theme for this month's edition of the carnival—telling stories. The stories might be from your life or about your life. They could be about people who have inspired you (or depressed you). The stories might even be about telling stories, about the role stories have had in your life or about your favorite storytellers.

If you are telling a story, please send it, by January 30th to me at scientiaecarnival [a] gmail [dot] com. And please remember to tag your posts with the technorati tag "scientiae-carnival" (it's all there on Contributing to the Carnival).

We over at FairerScience are looking forward to reading your stories.

You are invited!

What? New Years Scientiea Carnival Party
When? New Years Day
Where? at hdreioplus.de

Please bring a post and maybe some munchies. Sufficient drinks will be supplied.

If you are bringing a post, please send it by the 31st of December at 1 pm (MET) to scientiaecarnival [a] gmail [dt] com, anything latter will be served at the hosts discretion. Please also tag your posts with the technorati tags "scientiae-carnival".

Just some ideas:

A post about the last year in review
A post with new years resolutions
A post with (woman in science) party trivia
A post about how everything will be different next year (for women in science)
A post...

Hi there. My name is Yami; I live over at Green Gabbro. And now that the October edition of Scientiae is up, it's my turn to play host! Eek!

Stay calm. If the theme sucks, people can just ignore it and submit a post about whatever they've been thinking about lately. They won't throw tomatoes at you, it would ruin their computers. It will be awesome no matter what. Scientiae is always awesome. Also, the Internet loves you, because you're very witty and clever. Smoochies!

Your theme, should you choose to accept it, is talking to yourself. If you need a prompt, consider any or all of the following questions: What does your internal monologue sound like? Is it helpful, or harmful, or a mix of both? Does it feel gendered? Does it take gender into account? Does it feel gender-neutral but resonate suspiciously with the stories society tells us about gender? Do you have a little script you recite to yourself when you'd really rather be puking on someone's shoes? What about a script for when you write a recommendation letter, select nominees for an award, or other situations where your unconscious biases might come into play?

Wow, that's a lot of question marks. Fuck it, though, they're all fine pieces of punctuation.

Funny stories about the time your internal monologue accidentally became an external monologue are also welcome.

Finally... the past few Scientiae carnivals have been composed entirely of women's voices. While I think it's appropriate that women's voices should dominate the conversation about women's experiences, the job of thinking about gender in science belongs to everyone! I'd like to invite all you equality-minded men scientists to join the fun this time around - how do you talk to yourself about gender, and about your female colleagues?

Hey, look how well I resisted the temptation to make sarcastic remarks about the amount of time these ostensibly equality-minded men spend actually thinking about gender! Go me, I am totally fostering productive dialogue. strike-out jokes are a cheap trick, but cheap tricks built Dave Barry a career.

To submit a post to the carnival, please email the URL by October 29, 17:00 Pacific Time to scientiaecarnival [aaaaat] gmail.com. OR comment on this post with your post's URL, or leave a comment or trackback on the call for posts on Green Gabbro.

Do I want to fuck around with the Technorati tag method of gathering posts? No. No I don't. Email should be good enough.