Go WEST, young woman

It began when biochemistry graduate student Cynthia Collins noticed a trend among her colleagues. Quite often when women gathered, the conversation veered toward role models for women—or rather, the lack thereof—at Caltech.

“We would wonder, how are we going to become the scientists we want to be, and still be able to have families as well as lives outside the lab?” Collins said. “Is there anyone who’s doing it all that we can talk to?”

But as she looked around, she realized there were such role models, excellent ones. The problem was the lack of a network to connect those scientists and researchers with undergraduate and graduate students and postdocs who in a few years would be their peers. So to create a venue for dialogue, mentoring, and support, Collins and several friends formed the new Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology group.

“There’s a lot of segmentation among undergraduates, graduates, and faculty, and also among the different academic options,” said Sarah Heilshorn, a graduate student in chemical engineering. “We’re trying to break down walls and increase communication, and make this a more welcoming place for scientists in general.”

Heilshorn and Collins, together with graduate students Karli Watson (biology) and Sarah Monahan (chemistry), form WEST’s steering committee. The group held its first events last fall, a lunch for students and postdocs featuring professors Janet Hering and Marianne Bronner-Fraser, and a forum, “The Status of Women at Caltech: Past, Present, and Future,” open to the wider Caltech community. The committee aims to continue holding small faculty lunches and larger forums and events on a regular basis.

Collins notes that men are also welcome at the open forum discussions. “Men are very important to any discussion of women at Caltech.”

The committee credits the Caltech Women’s Center for providing financial support in WEST’s first few months, before the group recently received funding from the President’s Diversity Initiative Fund. Melany Hunt, professor of mechanical engineering, serves as faculty advisor for WEST, and a number of other faculty, including professors Hering, Bronner-Fraser, Pamela Bjorkman, Frances Arnold, and Jackie Barton, have lent their time and backing.

Feedback to the group has been “very positive, from both women and men,” Heilshorn said. “I’ve been really encouraged by that, and by the faculty response.” Student sign-ups for the first faculty lunch overflowed to fill the next several lunches, and a recent panel discussion, “A Day in the Life of a Caltech Professor,” drew a crowd estimated at more than 100. The audience eagerly listened as faculty members discussed their day-to-day work and how they juggle careers, families, and personal time.

The event shed light on many questions facing students, said Collins. Topics covered everything from a professor’s administrative responsibilities to how to become a good manager, to dealing with the “two-body problem”—referring to the dilemma of couples who meet in graduate school, marry, and then must both find good jobs in the same city. Added Watson, “Dennis Dougherty [Hoag Professor of Chemistry and a panelist] said afterward that ‘there’s obviously a need’ for this kind of information.”

WEST’s next event will be a combined women’s art exhibit and wine and cheese social on Friday, April 26, from 3 to 6 p.m. in Dabney Lounge. The event is open to all women of the Caltech community, and students are especially
encouraged to submit their artwork.

To make a submission, contact westclub @caltech.edu by April 5.

Monahan said, “We wanted a social event to introduce WEST to the campus. And the art aspect fits well with our mission. As graduate students, we often feel defined by that role. We thought this would be a good way to celebrate other areas of life, and get to know people in a different light other than in a lab.”

The steering committee welcomes suggestions for future events and discussion issues. For more information, e-mail westclub@caltech.edu or visit the group’s Web site at www.its.caltech.edu/~westclub.
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