Brookhaven Women in Science (BWIS) Activity

BWIS Talk & Networking: ËœWomen in Physics in the U.S., April 20, 2010

Sponsored by Brookhaven Women in Science, the second Brookhaven Networking meeting will feature Elizabeth H. Simmons, dean of Lyman Briggs College and a physics professor at Michigan State University (MSU), who will speak on "Women in Physics in the U.S.: Numbers, Causes, and Solutions." All BNLers are invited to the meeting, which will be held from noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 20, in the Science Education Center auditorium, Bldg. 438.
While progress in the number of women who pursue careers in physics is evident, Simmons says that the percentage of women physicists remains low. Most of her talk will focus on recent research in social sciences that illuminates the variety of causes and suggests actions that individuals, leaders, and institutions can take to provide solutions.
After completing her undergraduate degree at Harvard University in 1985, Simmons earned an M.Phil. in physics at Cambridge University as a Churchill Scholar. She returned to Harvard for her doctoral degree and postdoctoral fellowship, and then spent a decade as a professor at Boston University before joining the MSU faculty in 2003. A Fellow of the American Physical Society, Simmons won the ACE Michigan Network’s Distinguished Woman in Higher Education Leadership Award in 2005. She was selected as a member of the U.S. delegation to the International Conference on Women in Physics in 2008.
For more information about the event, contact Kathy Walker, Ext. 7105 or kwalker@bnl.gov, or Vivian Stojanoff, Ext. 8735, or stojanof@bnl.gov.