Hosting the President


GWISE members get woman-to-woman advice

Love affairs with their work are just budding for the Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (GWISE).

At their spring luncheon, GWISE hosted University President Shirley Tilghman, who spoke about her own long, fulfilling career in science and provided some words of wisdom for these young women scientists dreaming of the same.

Members of GWISE listen intently to President Shirley Tilghman.

GWISE is an organization of female graduate students whose aim is to increase the numbers of women in the sciences and engineering and to make their experience more fulfilling.

Activities include social events, service work, outreach projects, a graduation reception, seminars, and lectures by women scientists.

“What better example to give than a woman president of an Ivy League university?” asked Elizabeth Fetter of GWISE. “I was surprised and impressed by how friendly, approachable, and down-to-earth she was. I felt like I could identify with her.”

“It’s important for underrepresented groups to have role models,” said Assistant Dean of Graduate Affairs, David Mendez, adding that GWISE helps serve this end.

The School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) Office of Graduate Affairs sponsors GWISE in its efforts to increase the representation and success of women in engineering and science.

Photos by Phil McAuliffe
GWISE member Cecilia Petit presents President Shirley Tilghman with chocolate letters.

President Tilghman had five main pieces of advice for the GWISE audience.

“Find what it is that you love to do,” she began, “because there are too few tangible rewards in a life in science for you to do something that you don’t feel completely passionate about.”

For President Tilghman this search took some time. Her first crush was mathematics, then chemistry. During her university career, however, she realized that no matter how hard she worked, she and chemistry would never be a good match. That intrinsic bond between them was missing, she said.

Then, the Fates dropped a copy of Nature magazine in her hands, and flipped the pages to an article by the young genetic biologists Matthew Meselson and Franklin Stahl. President Tilghman fell in love.

“I think at the end of the day what I love about science is not the answers, but the way you get the answers. And Meselson–Stahl was just mouthwatering,” she said. “I had never taken a biology course in my life, but I knew I wanted to be a biologist at that point.”

After finding true love with a science the next step, President Tilghman said, is to find a group of equally lovable colleagues.

“Find people to work with who will bring out your strengths and help you with your weaknesses,” she said. “I was very lucky in choosing mentors, both men, who—from day one to the day I left their labs—were telling me that I was going to be a successful scientist.

“It absolutely eliminated any likelihood that I would ever see myself as a victim. I couldn’t see myself as a victim—the beleaguered woman in science in a field that is male-dominated and therefore inherently at a disadvantage.”

Thirdly, President Tilghman asserted that scientists may settle down in a wide variety of places, and still serve the world and their field. The right place for an individual scientist could be behind the doors of academia, industry, government, or a nonprofit organization.

“There are so many things that are appropriate for a Princeton Ph.D. to be doing, and you shouldn’t let anybody close those doors for you,” she said.

President Tilghman’s fourth tip was to be honest that the success of all relationships requires some trade-offs—and that rule applies to one’s relationship to a career. The balancing act between private life and professional life becomes especially challenging if one has children.

“What goes out the window is the sense that the work day never ends,” she said. “Your life gets rigid, and within those work hours you have to be incredibly productive.”

Of course, it’s not easy to get all of these things right all the time, so the last bit of counsel was to manage one’s guilt wisely.

“I just think that young women spend way too much time feeling guilty,” President Tilghman said. “When they’re at work, they’re guilty because they’re not at home; and when they’re home, they’re guilty because they’re not at work. My feeling is: Cut yourself a break.”

She pointed out that guilt negatively affects both one’s private and personal lives, and that this, ultimately, leads to a negative effect on the field.

“I think this last issue is the key issue for bringing more women into academia, and into science and engineering,” she said, adding that the structure of academia is not considerate to people with families.

The tenure process occurs when people are most likely to be starting families, so women are choosing whether or not to go on maternity leave at the same time they’re being asked to do their most intense research.

She ended by stating her intent to adjust the system to be fairer to a diverse group of potential scientists.

“I think we have to get this right. We have to get to the heart of this,” she said. “If we don’t, we won’t be able to see all the talent participating in the field. And that has to be bad for the country.”

Photo by Phil McAuliffe
GWISE members Upma Sharma and Li-Bong Lee listen to President Shirley Tilghman.