The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) was founded in 1971 at the annual Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) meeting. The organization aims to combat job discrimination, lower pay, and professional isolation. The main issue areas that the modern Association addresses are fair compensation, work-life integration, attrition, and professional development.

History

AWIS was founded in 1971 at the annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), after a series of champagne brunches organized by an informal women's caucus. After establishing an executive director and an office in Washington, DC, chapters were organized across the country for individual members. Its founding co-presidents were

Neena Schwartz Neena Betty Schwartz (December 10, 1926 – April 15, 2018) was an American endocrinologist and William Deering Professor of Endocrinology Emerita in the Department of Neurobiology at Northwestern University. She was best known for her work on ...

and

Judith Pool Judith Ethel Graham Pool (June 1, 1919 — July 13, 1975) was an American scientist. She is best known for the discovery of cryoprecipitation, a process for creating concentrated blood clotting factors which significantly improved the quality of ...

. Along with other women in science associations, an early AWIS action involved initiating a class action lawsuit against the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

(NIH) in response to poor representation on NIH grant review committees. The lawsuit was dropped after representatives of the groups, including Schwartz, met with Robert Marsten, then head of the NIH, who solicited recommendations and committed to appointing more women. Early projects include the creation of the AWIS Educational Foundation (now known as the Educational Awards) to receive donations and award fellowships. In 1997, AWIS won the Presidents Mentoring Award.

Organization

As of 2015, the AWIS executive director was Janet Bandows Koster and the president of the board was Ann Lee-Karlon.

Activities and publications

AWIS activities include public advocacy, news and media distribution, and educational programs such as mentorship programs and scholarship awards. AWIS publishes a variety of materials to inform women about science programs and women's issues, including the quarterly AWIS Magazine and the AWIS in Action! Advocacy and Public Policy Newsletter.

Charter

Representing the 7.4 million women working in STEM, AWIS members are professionals and students in a variety of

STEM fields Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of ...

. Over 50% of AWIS members have doctorates in their respective fields. AWIS has 49 chapters in the United States, which support local networking and mentorship, as well as outreach to young women considering careers in STEM.

Coalitions and Partner Organizations

STEM Education Coalition

National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education
(NCWGE) * American Association of University Women (AAUW) * Society of Women Engineers (SWE) * Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)

Notable members

* Carol Greider (Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology or Medicine, 2009 "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by

telomeres A telomere (; ) is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences associated with specialized proteins at the ends of linear chromosomes. Although there are different architectures, telomeres, in a broad sense, are a widespread genetic feature mos ...

and the enzyme telomerase") *

Phoebe Leboy Phoebe Starfield Leboy (July 29, 1936 – June 16, 2012) was an American biochemist and advocate for women in science. Education Leboy earned a bachelor's degree in zoology from Swarthmore College in 1957 and a doctorate in biochemistry from Br ...

(President 2008–2009) *

Lydia Villa-Komaroff Lydia Villa-Komaroff (born August 7, 1947) is a molecular and cellular biologist who has been an academic laboratory scientist, a university administrator, and a business woman. She was the third Mexican-American woman in the United States to r ...

(Molecular and cellular biologist who has been an academic laboratory scientist, a university administrator, and a business woman. She was the third Mexican American woman in the United States to receive a doctorate degree in the sciences (1975) and is a co-founding member of The Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (

SACNAS The 'Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)'' is a society that aims to further the success of Chicano/Hispanic and Native American students in obtaining advanced degrees, careers, leadership positi ...

) and an AWIS Fellow, Class of 1998) *

Marion Webster Marion Elizabeth Webster-Bukovsky (née Webster; April 9, 1921 − July 6, 1985) was a Canadian-American biochemist who was the first to isolate the Vi antigen of typhoid and to determine its structure. She published extensively on the kinin– ...

, biochemist who served as president of AWIS

References

External links

AWIS National
{{Authority control Organizations for women in science and technology Scientific organizations established in 1971