My (very) personal views

on women scientists, mentoring,

and mentoring women scientists

Clarice D. Aiello

IIE Webinar, March 28 2013

Me, me, me

◮ Poli-USP, Ecole Polytechnique, University of Cambridge

◮ Experimental physicist
◮ 6th (!!!) year doctoral student at MIT

◮ ‘Balzaquiana’ (Balzac’s ‘A Woman of Thirty’)

◮ Married: physicist in related field, post-doctoral scholar, German

◮ Really could use the help of a mentor right now

A mentor is the new prince charming (Sheryl Sandberg)

From an interview:
“...whereas women passively await accolades and long for prince
charming-like mentors to ‘discover them’ - to such an extent that this
behaviour is known as ‘tiara syndrome’, according to Sandberg.”

In her words:
“I realized that searching for a mentor has become the professional
equivalent of waiting for prince charming. Someone’s gonna just notice
how great you are? Not gonna happen. You’re going to have to create
this yourself.”
A mentor is the new prince charming (Sheryl Sandberg)
◮ My 15-year-old self:
‘Why doesn’t anybody want/notice me as a woman?’
◮ My 30-year-old self:
‘Why doesn’t anybody want/notice me as a researcher?’

◮ Get over it! (hard...)

◮ Choose carefully whom to work for (harder...)

◮ Wait for mentorship to happen naturally:

from an existing professional relationship,
in specific areas, for a specific duration
(hardest: sometimes the wait sucks badly...)

◮ Selfless interest is rare;

possible interest from gratitude for a job well done?
What I think about events for women such as this one

They are definitely necessary, but not sufficient:

◮ My husband is pro-active, I am pushy/dominant/aggressive

◮ Scientists (men and women alike!) are biased

towards recruiting and encouraging
men over women into the profession
[PNAS 109(41):16474-16479 (2012)]

◮ ‘Queen bee syndrome’

What I wish I knew when I was an undergrad

◮ Potential role models also give bad advice

◮ Bad advice #1: ‘I love my job so much that...’
◮ Bad advice #2: the ‘Some children left behind’ act

◮ Brace yourself for rejection, failure

◮ Choose to work for someone you admire

◮ My (vast) experience: lack of loyalty always becomes a burden
◮ Talk to (older) students and other group members
◮ Trust your intuition
◮ You learn as much with your heart as with your head
(even STEM subjects!)