Brookhaven Women in Science Announces New Mentorship Award

Funding available for STEM programming to inspire the next generation

October 14, 2024

Brookhaven Women in Science (BWIS), a nonprofit organization and employee resource group at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, is pleased to announce the new Brookhaven Women in Science Mentorship Award. This award program is designed to promote science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education for girls in elementary through high school, encourage more girls to pursue further studies in STEM, and, ultimately, increase representation of women in STEM professions.   

Representation matters 

Inspired by the BWIS founders’ mission, Senior Scientist Emeritus David Schlyer conceived of the award and established an endowment to sustain the BWIS Mentorship Award. 

“BWIS was founded in the late ‘70s with this idea to send the Lab’s working women to the local schools as role models for the students,” said Schlyer.  “And so, these women could speak about their careers in science and the technical fields with the hope of informing and inspiring girls to join more actively in the science fields. 

“The best people to communicate that idea is women who are already in STEM. They can speak more lucidly and with much more enthusiasm about the joy that they feel studying the sciences and being involved in scientific research,” said Schlyer. 

Studies have shown that female role models in STEM mitigate the harmful effects of stereotypes for girls, both internally — how girls see themselves and what is possible — and externally, by debunking societal myths regarding girls’ and women’s abilities in STEM. Girls who are exposed to female role models in STEM are also more likely to pursue STEM careers themselves.  

For Schlyer, STEM is also a natural way to ignite eager young minds and provide an avenue to exercise their inborne curiosity. Their passionate pursuits will strengthen teams and yield innovations, some leading to societal benefits. 

“It’s a shame to waste 50% of the talent, not only in the United States but also in the world, by not having women involved in science,” said Schlyer. 

“This award provides an exciting new opportunity for outreach, while reminding us of BWIS' founding principles,” said Jennefer Maldonado, BWIS president and software engineer at the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a DOE Office of Science user facility at Brookhaven Lab. “David’s generosity and passion for promoting young women entering STEM paths are inspiring. We greatly appreciate his compassion and dedication to advancing underrepresented groups.” 

A lifetime of contributions 

Currently an officer for BWIS’ Renate Chasman Award, Schlyer joined BWIS over 20 years ago, and he first came to the Lab as a postdoc in 1976. Schlyer has worked alongside such scientific luminaries—and female pioneers—as Joanna Fowler and Nora Volkow. 

“In our group, we were about 50/50 [men and women]. We felt like a family whose goal was to improve human health,” said Schlyer. “The two brightest people in that group were Joanna and Nora. They made huge contributions to the field of addiction.” The group in Chemistry, under the direction of Al Wolf and Joanna Fowler, developed fluorodeoxyglucose, a radiotracer now used about eight million times around the world for the detection and treatment of cancer. 

Schlyer later became interim chair of the Medical Department and then chair of Biosciences before he officially retired in 2015, but he stays active in his emeritus position. More recently, he has been helping the Lab’s isotope program “bring the cyclotron back up.” A cyclotron produces radioisotopes that can be incorporated into organic molecules. 

He also remains active in mentoring and working with early career scientists. 

“This is what the whole thing’s about, right? It’s to get these young people enthusiastic about what they’re doing,” said Schlyer, “then to see them develop on their own without interference and let them develop their own way of investigating. Let them come up with ideas to pursue and see if they come to fruition.”  

About the Mentorship Award 

The aim of the award, which consists of monetary awards of up to $10,000 per year, is to enable recipients to establish or support educational initiatives in their communities, for example a school, local library, or student-based group, and to educate and inspire girls or young women to pursue STEM fields. 

These programs might include educational materials to be used in schools, after-school activities such as science clubs or field trips, hands-on experiments at schools or other venues, and science communication and outreach activities such as presentations or lectures.  

Applicants, who must submit for a Long Island-based activity, will submit a description of the program they intend to start or continue and show how it would encourage girls or young women to participate in STEM. The application must include a budget estimate for the program.  

To apply for the BWIS Mentorship Award, please visit the BWIS website.  

Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov. 

Follow @BrookhavenLab on social media. Find us on Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and Facebook. 

2024-22123  |  INT/EXT  |  Newsroom