Nisogaabokwe Melonee Montano,a graduate student at University of Minnesota, who works as a TEK Outreach Specialist and for the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, spoke at ESF about collaborating the natural and technical world's resources in order to save the land.
Montano discussed the connections between knowledge, cultures, climate change, and fire which can result in revitalization and healing. Montano illustrated the importance of and approach taken to weaving together Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Western Science for Climate Change focused work at Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission. This work led to a similar approach being used when analyzing fire research on cultural lands of the Ojibwe people, and the unexpected outcomes.
Montano believes it is important to balance all aspects of life, and her work symbolizes the importance of being open minded when problem solving and looking for solutions.
About the speaker: Nisogaabokwe – Melonee Montano, is a mother, grandmother, and an enrolled member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Outreach Specialist for Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) where she helps assess climate change impacts on treaty resources and potential threats to Ojibwe culture and lifeways. She is also a Grad Student at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities in the Natural Resources Science & Management Program under the Forestry Department. Prior to GLIFWC she was Red Cliff’s Environmental Programs Manager where she has also served on various committees including EPA’s Regional Tribal Operations Committee, Alliance for Sustainability, Treaty Natural Resources, the Integrated Resources Management Plan, and is currently serving on the Great Lakes Compact Commission. She holds a B.S. degree in Healthcare Administration with a Native American and Environmental Studies emphasis. Lastly and most importantly, she is a lifelong student of her cultural ways.
The presentation was jointly presented by the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, the Adaptive Peaks Seminar Series (sponsored by the Department of Forest Biology), and the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series (sponsored by the ESF Women's Caucus).
As part of the requirements for FOR 797, Perspective on Career and Gender students share responsibility of reporting on a subset of class discussions, including those that are part of the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series (WiSE Professions).The preceding was prepared by Liv Grogan, Ph.D. student in
environmental chemistry.
After a two year hiatus, Take our Kids to Work Day returned to ESF on April 28. Kids 8-11 years old with an adult that works or studies at ESF explored ESF fostered-careers through their own class day:
ESF Sustainability: Which uses the least energy? A laptop, fan, or LED desk lamp? ESF’s new Energy Manager (and alum) Michael Amadori measured the electricity required to use all these household items. Kids also played Wasketball, sorting common household waste into trash and recycling and used (with supervision!) solar power as a campfire starter. They also had a sneek peak at our in-house power station.
Color changing chemistry! Chemistry’s Kate Bailie (and graduate student assistants) helped students with simple acid-base reactions; use salt water, aluminum foil, and a complete circuit to create a temporary “ink”, and assembled teeny temperature sensitive LCDs
All about Maple. Which maples for syrup? (Any, but sugar has the best yield) What do the buds look like? The inside of a tree? With alumna Jill Rahn of ESF Forest Properties.
Something's Fishy: tracing mercury. Details are important in science! What can we measure? Kids received instructions, and then helped Environmental Biology faculty member, Environmental Toxicologist Dr. Roxanne Razavi and grad students Abby Webster and Mike Ackland with record keeping, measured length and weight of whole yellow perch and (with careful supervision) retrieved otoliths (tiny ear bones that can be used to age the fish, much like rings in a tree), eye lenses, and a piece of dorsal fin. These fish are part of an ongoing study, Project Breathless. The samples, along with many others, will be assessed by grad students and faculty to help trace mercury through the sample population’s habitat. Kids and volunteers thought yellow wasn’t an apt description, and that they should be called apricot perch. A few Kids thought this the grossest of the activities, but others really enjoyed being part of active research!
In the Lego® Bridge Challenge, Kids were tasked with planning (on paper) and then building (with Lego®) wide enough for Thomas the Tank Engine™ (or friend) to use, and allow 2 matchbox™ car wide lanes beneath. How much weight can it support? How few bricks can you use? (More bricks=higher materials and labor cost). With ESF Environmental Resources Engineering’s Karen Karker (planning support by Lindi Quackenbush).
Building an Urban Ecosystem. What are the components of a park (or community garden)? Kids working on the park explain their choices to ESF grad student and Open Academy staff members Dan Collins and Maura Harling Stefl. Through this, they realized park spaces will be hot. So they added a snack shack, water stations and shade. These introduce a new challenge: how to deal with the trash?
Chemistry students David Spector and John Pezzulo ended the day with a Super Cool “Cooking” Demo, emphasizing safe handling of liquid nitrogen. While Kids (and volunteers) enjoyed some of the best strawberry and vanilla ice cream (served in low-waste waffle cone bowls) ever, John shared a secret: that if really like what you are learning, and work hard, colleges might pay them to continue learning about that field through graduate school stipends and tuition waivers, and work in support of teaching and/or research.
Acknowledgments: A huge Thank you to presentation teams for their time and supplies, and the many others who set up spaces, background checked and provided training to volunteers; Allison Oakes, John Turbeville, Brad Fierke, Linda McGuigan, Kathy Lang and Kelly Berger who got everyone where they needed to be; Diane Jaramillo for hep at registration; Danielle Gerhart, Nichole Doherty and Steve Waldron who helped serve lunch and chaperoned restroom trips; and Doherty for checking kids back to their adults. Thanks are also due to James Zappola, Gentry Battaglia and Ilsa Dohner of the Trailhead Café for their lunch preparations, and to the Provost’s Office and the Women’s Caucus for covering these expenses and snacks. Gratitude to the Bookstore and Centennial Hall for day end gifts to Kids.
Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson, professor in the Department of Earth Ocean and the Environment, University of South Carolina, presented Nutrient Cycling, Storm water runoff, and Communicating Science to the Public on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 via Zoom as part of SUNY ESF’s Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Spring Seminar Series. This seminar was sponsored by ESF Women’s Caucus.
Dr. Benitez-Nelson research focuses on the biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus and carbon, largely in marine environments, and how these elements are influenced by natural and anthropogenic processes. During the seminar she discussed her most recent research on inland and coastal nutrient cycling in relation to planning for stormwater surges.
Benitez-Nelson's team sought to establish the rate of sediment accumulation in stormwater ponds, determine the role these ponds play in the regional cycling of carbon and nutrients, and to identify the sources of organic matter to pond sediments in different growing urban areas in the Waccamaw watershed. “This was for us a real opportunity to truly connect more closely with the communities that we were working in” said Benitez-Nelson when explaining how their findings would benefit the homeowners close to the ponds. Her findings suggest that Particulate Organic Matter (POM) is a better proxy for liability than Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) and may control Biological Organic Matter (BOD) loads. Her lab continues research on different topics related to aquatic organic matter.
Benitez-Nelson is often asked how she “starts to have these conversations about not just pollution, urbanization, sustainability, but talking about climate and how climate change is influencing where people are living their lives.” She shared that she is part of Science Moms, a non-partisan group of climate scientists, who also happen to be mothers, that “really talk about climate, the need collective action” as well as mitigation efforts, particularly in conversation with other mothers, for the benefit of all their children.
Dr. Benitez-Nelson received B.S. in chemistry and oceanography from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in oceanography from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute/Massachusetts Institute of Technology Joint Program. She has an extensive publication record which includes lead authored pieces in both Science and Nature. Dr. Benitez-Nelson also serves as Associate Dean, for Instruction, Community Engagement and Research.
For more information about the WiSE Professions Series, please visit http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus. For upcoming lectures, please visit ESF’s College Calendar at http://www.esf.edu/calendar.
As part of the course requirements for FOR797 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share responsibility of reporting on speakers in the campus-wide Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series. The preceding was prepared by Natasha M. Torres Ríos, MSc student, Sustainable Resources Management Department.
As Director of Transportation and Drainage Operations for the City of Houston, Veronica O. Davis is responsible for maintaining and improving infrastructure across 671 square miles. She chatted with ESF on Earth Day about challenges in designing roadways for equitable transit through her lens as a civil engineer passionate about transportation and community development.
Houston is the 4th largest city. Its physically large, but is not contiguous because of its growth through annexation. Houston's road system and bike lane are used to channel rainwater to prevent property drainage. Both are swept to prevent debris blocking drains.
Houston is seeking not just infrastructure, but "really good infrastructure" through better public transit and measures "to live with water. Houston's highest point is only 100' above sea level. So, biking is easy, but drainage is difficult." The city has a big goal of 25 miles/yr of "High Comfort Bike Lanes" plus 50 miles of sidewalk. These lanes are also called "protective bike lanes", which are bide, protected from traffic by a buffer, and have dedicated travel lanes. Her office benefits from an "enterprise fund" from a drainage fee on water bills, sales tax on Metro, rather than on the general budget. She also notes that they benefit from dedicated crews, working to expand their capacity. Botanists are consulted to choose plants suitable for the ebbs and flows along drainage paths.
Half of roadways are concreate, rather than asphalt, which is cooler. The city also uses cool pavements, which are gray and permeable, which helps with both heat retention and drainage. Other ways to make biking safer include reducing instances of speeding through better designed roads. Coupling bike lanes with better public transit also improves bikability, as it helps address "what happens if I need to go far?"
For students nearing graduation, Davis notes that there are lots of opportunities in Houston.
Ms Davis has 20 years of experience in engineering and transportation planning. She co-founded Nspiregreen in Washington DC, which manages Community, Multimodal Transportation, and Environmental planning and consulting. While at Nspiregreen, she led the Vision Zero Action Plans for Washington, DC and the City of Alexandria. She also co-founded Black Women Bike, an organization and movement that builds community and interest in biking among black women. She was named a Champion of Change by the White House (2012) for these accomplishments and advocacy. Davis earned a Bachelor of Science from University of Maryland College Park and a Master of Engineering and a Master of Regional and Urban Planning, Land Use and Environmental Planning from Cornell University.
“You saved my life: Restroom Stories of
Safety and Survival - Messaging, Hygiene Products & Prophylactics” was
recorded during the 3rd annual SUNY SPECTRUM Conference, August 26,
2020. Staff at ESF (Sue Fassler, Jules Findlay, and Heather Engelman), SUNY Upstate
(Cristina Pope and Mattie Cerio), or both (Dr. Malika Carter) discussed
menstrual product distribution, signage in bathrooms, and single stall and
ADA accessible restrooms, as well as the
lactation rooms on both campus—and normalizing the conversations about all
these things. Upstate staff shared information about wudu stations, their distribution of complimentary prophylactic products, and how all of these impact their clinical
Health Equity Index rating while ESF folks spoke about the unique challenges of field work. The presentation shares some data and photos compiled by members of the ESFWomen listserv, as well as work that moved forward because they kept asking
questions.
One of the most important commitments we can make in supporting a culture of belonging on our campuses is to provide safe restrooms. Join us as we share our successes and failures with leadership buy-in, messaging, restroom renovations, signage, and complimentary hygiene and prophylactic products.
Learning Objectives:
Practical knowledge of project planning steps in creating ALL Gender restrooms
Practical knowledge on communicating and celebrating successes
Learn how to implement a complimentary hygiene product service
Learn how to implement a complimentary prophylactic service
Convener:
Karren Bee-Donohoe(She, Her, Hers), Associate Vice Chancellor, SUNY Office for Capital Facilities
Speakers:
Malika Carter(She, Her, Hers), Chief Diversity Officer, Environmental Science and Forestry and Interim Chief Diversity Officer, Upstate Medical University
Mattie Cerio(She, Her, Hers), Medical Social Worker & LGBT Program Manager, Upstate Medical University
Heather Engelman (She, Her, Hers), Instructional Support Technician, Environmental Science and Forestry
Sue Fassler(She, Her, Hers), Sustainable Facilities Manager, SUNY ESF
Jules Findlay, Coordinator of Education Abroad, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Rebecca Hoda-Kearse(She, Her, Hers), Title IX / Affirmative Action Officer, College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Cristina Pope(She, Her, Hers), Director, Health Sciences Library Upstate Medical University
Carl A. Thomas Jr (He, Him, His), Interim Affirmative Action Officer & Supplier Diversity Coordinator, SUNY Upstate Medical University
ESF has received a $5,000 award to further look holistically at the campus'
materials ecosystem and to build a zero-waste campus infrastructure that
effectively addresses accessibility, equity, and systemic oppressionfrom the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling (NYSAR3) and the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP21).
With the grant, ESF will
purchase menstrual cups and materials for reusable pads. This effort will build
upon the College's zero-waste and inclusivity goals and move closer to becoming
a zero-waste campus by 2025. ESF launched its campus-wide composting program in
August 2019 and has seen a 27 percent decrease in trash (by weight) since that
time.
Lack of access to menstrual products (AKA "Period Poverty") also negatively impacts quality of life for far too many individuals. Such supplies are in constant demand at food pantries and other social support structures. This can prevent full participation in school and field work; menstrual cups in particular can Thus the Office of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity has also pledged funds, and the Baobab Society has pledged their supplies of menstrual cups that the had purchased for a tabling event for Womyn's Herstory Month, as well as assistance in tabling. As a cost saving measure, PIs budgeted funds for fabric, rather than cloth pads, and hope to recruit student groups and volunteers to make pads, and to teach others to do the same.
Read the press release from The Office of Communications & Marketing here.
Sue Fassler, the
Sustainable Facilities Manager at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and
Forestry, discussed her experiences in the sustainability field on Thursday,
April 16, 2020 in a webinar coordinated by ESF Open Academy.
Ms. Fassler’s first job
in the field of sustainability took her down to Hallandale Beach in south
Florida, where she became the Green Initiatives Coordinator for the city. She
was the first sustainability coordinator ever hired by the city. Her role was
to create sustainability policies for the city, essentially from scratch,
culminating in the creation of the Hallandale Beach Sustainability Action Plan.
Ms. Fassler mentions several strategies that became key takeaways from her time
spent in southern Florida.
She talked about taking
the tedious and hard work for herself in order to give more enjoyable and
engaging tasks to the rest of the team. She mentioned allowing the team members
the freedom to create their own sustainability projects which in turn gave them
a sense of project ownership. She also encouraged the inclusion of skeptics on
the team and talked about how those who were, at first, most skeptical often
became the loudest advocates. Each of these strategies were successfully
implemented to increase engagement with and passion for the projects by every
member of the team.
Ms. Fassler went on to
discuss her work in Onondaga county as the Save the Rain Project Coordinator.
The goal of this project was to reduce combined sewer overflow during large
rain events through the use of green infrastructure, such as gardens and
plantings. With this example, Ms. Fassler discussed the importance of
simplifying sustainability data into visual and compelling stories in order to
draw more people in and make sustainability concepts and results more
accessible to the general public. Telling stories and giving examples of
success stories also makes the project goals feel more achievable.
After working with the
Save the Rain Project, Ms.Fassler applied to become the Sustainable Facilities
Manager at SUNY-ESF. When she first saw the job posting for her current
position at SUNY-ESF she didn’t think she was ready for the job. Ms. Fassler
pushed past her initial hesitation to put together the application, regardless
of whether she would actually apply or not, and found, in doing so, that she
was in fact highly qualified for the position and the more she thought about it
the more she wanted the job. Throughout the webinar, but especially when
discussing her job at ESF, Ms. Fassler encouraged us to challenge our perceived
limits. She encouraged us to approach all aspects of a position with equal
enthusiasm, even aspects which might not align with our strengths or passions.
By pushing ourselves past our perceived strengths, we allow ourselves to grow
and succeed -- not only in a singular position but in our careers as a
whole.
Sue Fassler received her
B.S. in Environmental Studies from SUNY-ESF. She went on to complete a dual
degree masters program where she received an M.S. in Environmental Science from
SUNY-ESF and an M.S. in Public Administration from Syracuse University. She is
currently the Sustainable Facilities Manager at SUNY-ESF, where she is working
to improve campus wide recycling and composting efforts among other projects.
While currently
postponed, keep an eye out for a presentation by Sharon F. Owens, Deputy Major
for the City of Syracuse, on local lead paint remediation, and speakers in the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series.
As part of the requirements in FOR797 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share the responsibility of reporting on speakers that visit ESF. The preceding was prepared by Megan Hazlett, a MS student studying Fish and Wildlife Biology and Management in the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, and Arianna Wills, a MS student studying Ecology and Ecosystems, in the Department of Sustainable Management.
As an herbalist, academic, activist, and indigenous ethnobotanist, Stephanie Morningstar has learned to see the world through multiple lenses. She visited SUNY-ESF on March 4th, 2020 to discuss how these different worldviews have helped her in her work addressing socio-ecological problems of today. The talk was sponsored by the ESF Women’s Caucus and the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.
The lecture, titled “Co-creating Indigenous Futures: Finding My Place as a Haudenosaunee Woman in Academia, Land Sovereignty and Healing Justice”, began with the Haudenosaunee thanksgiving address, an expression of gratitude for all that supports life – from the sun to the plants to the animals to the soils. Morningstar encouraged the audience to envision where we find peace in nature, and center ourselves on that image. She then guided us into recognizing the ways that our relationships with land have been damaged over the years, and how we can learn to heal those broken relationships. Morningstar’s life work has focused on this mission, and she approaches it from both a social and a biological perspective. In her many different roles, she says she is always grounded in service to community.
As an herbalist at Sky World Apothecary + Farm, Morningstar develops relationships with plants and uses their gifts to help people heal. As an academic, Morningstar works with Global Water Futures, bridging western and traditional ecological knowledge in water research projects. And as an activist, Morningstar works with the North East Farmer’s of Color Land Trust to help return land to people who have been denied it for generations - specifically black, indigenous, and people of color (BI-POC). She noted that in the United States, BI-POC farmers and stewards own less than 1% of farm land. Morningtar encouraged us to recognize how historical injustices are continued today, and that we must actively work to correct them.
Throughout her talk, Morningstar helped the audience diagnose the ecogrief we may be feeling about the state of the world today. As environmentally-minded citizens, many of us feel the heavy weight of climate change upon us and the loss of beloved ecosystems. In addition to ecogrief, she also described the psychological toll of ethnostress - losing one’s sense of place in the world. These harms weigh especially heavy on indigenous people who have been cut off from their land and culture due to colonization, boarding schools, and land theft. Morningstar’s work to heal these wounds has led her to working for both ecological restoration as well as restorative social justice.
Morningstar’s lecture ended by asking us to envision once again our wild place of peace, centering us on a vision of a healthy future. Despite the many environmental and social wounds we carry today, she showed us that there are also many paths for healing. To learn more about her work, you can visit her personal website and blog (www.skyworldapothecary.com), her research at Global Water Futures (https://gwf.usask.ca/projects-facilities/indigenous-projects.php), and the work of the North East Farmers of Color Land Trust (https://nefoclandtrust.org/)
As part of the requirements for FOR797 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share responsibility for reporting on presentations in the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series. The preceding was prepared by By Lauren Tarr (Environmental Science, PhD).
ESF's Environmental & Social Justice Lecture Series continues Tuesday, Mar 3, at 11am in ESF's Gateway Center, with "The Environmental Implications of Interstate 81."
Lanessa Chaplin, Project Counsel for the NY Civil Liberties Union will catch us up on "Past, Present and Future Plans for I-81" and facilitate the discussion.
Lunch provided
Co-sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs, the President’s Office, the Undergraduate Student Association and the Department of Environmental Studies
For years, ESF has celebrated Earth
Week, a long-standing tradition where instead of only celebrating Earth day on
April 22nd, the school plans an entire week of events in order to
celebrate what defines our campus community: a shared love of the environment.
Now a tradition for staff, faculty,
and students alike, this year’s Earth Week had a variety of community clean-ups,
sustainability-themed events, and guest speakers.Amongst these speakers was Dr. Denise
Breitburg, a Senior Scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
in Edgewater, Maryland. As a part of the semester long Adaptive Peaks seminar
series, Dr. Brietburg’s lecture, “The Ocean is Losing its Breath,” presented an
overview of ocean deoxygenation, its effects, and its solutions.
As the leader of the Global Ocean
Oxygen Network, Dr. Breitburg has now invested years into researching various
anthropogenic impacts on the marine environment. In the beginning of her talk,
Breitburg was very quick to clarify, “I’m also talking about coastal waters
like estuaries, and also semi-enclosed seas like the Baltic sea, and not just the open ocean.”
Following her introduction, Dr. Breitburg
immediately jumped into her presentation. First, she acknowledged that low
oxygen levels do occur naturally in the ocean, however, the current concern
amongst marine scientists is that oxygen is now declining beyond areas where
these naturally low levels have been traditionally observed.
According to her presentation,
ocean oxygen levels globally have dropped 2%. While to many, a 2% decline in
oxygen does not sound substantial, declining oxygen levels affect organism of
all sizes. Specifically, a lack of oxygen affects an organism’s ability to
respirate, photosynthesize, and reproduce. While marine deoxygenation has many
causes, Dr. Breitburg stated that the primary sources of this global phenomenon
are agriculture, human waste, and the burning of fossil fuels.
When discussing any environmental
problem many people are often left wondering what they can do to make a
difference, especially communities that are inland and like Syracuse, NY,
thousands of miles from the nearest ocean. But, Dr. Brietburg pointed out that
“it is not all gloom and doom” and that there are actions that we can take.
Dr. Brietburg presented many
different pathways for one to make a difference. She pointed out that while we
have developed an incredible understanding of the impact of ocean deoxygenation
on the marine environment, there is currently no thorough research on the
impact of ocean deoxygenation on us. She then explained that, by extending
research on this issue to its impact on human health, we can raise awareness of
the severity of this ocean deoxygenation, and gain the attention of politicians
and other global forces who have the power to influence this problem. Aside
from further research, she recommended changes in various agricultural and
aquaculture systems. Furthermore, she said with a serious tone, “carbon capture
and sequestration need to be added to the equation.”
During her conclusion, Dr Breitburg
stated, “The big challenge is to increase engagement, both with civil society,
and policy makers. And to do that, we need to increase and improve our
communication on these issues.” While ESF offers a few courses, and
a minor in marine science, it is not often that a marine scientist visits
campus. While ocean deoxygenation is like all environmental issues-
complicated, Dr. Breitburg instilled hope within her audience, and showed that
with further research, communication, and engagement with policy-makers, solutions
to this issue are not as far-fetched as they might seem.
Dr. Breitburg directs SERC’s Marine & Estaurine Ecology Lab and thinks
up new ways to investigate the impacts of dead zones and acidification on
Chesapeake Bay’s fish and invertebrates. Breitburg has also served as
Participating Faculty, Graduate Program in Marine-Estuarine-Environmental
Sciences, University of Maryland System. She was previously Curator,
Marine/Estuarine Ecology, Ichthyology, at The Academy of Natural Sciences,
Estuarine Research Center and Adjunct Professor, and Graduate Faculty member
within other departments at the University of Maryland. She earned
a BS and MA in Biology from Arizona State University, and a Ph.D. from the University
of California, Santa Barbara, where she looked at Marine and estuarine
ecology; relationship between behavior and community ecology; and the behavior
and ecology of fishes.
This chapter in the Adaptive Peaks Speaker Series is cross-listed
with Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions and is sponsored by
Department of Environmental and Forest Biology and ESF Women's Caucus. As part of the requirements for FOR496/497 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share responsibility for reporting on presentations in the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series. The preceding was prepared by Lydia Torres, BS 2019, Environmental
Studies, with a concentration in Environment, Communication, and Society and a Minor
in Environmental Writing & Rhetoric.
In Adventures
at the Science-Policy Interface, Dr. Brooke Hemming, Sr. Physical
Scientist, United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), gave the “lecture
I wished I’d heard as a graduate student.” Dr. Hemming discussed the role scientists play in public
policy, developed through her exemplary work with the interdisciplinary team
charged with establishing the scientific foundation for “criteria”
air pollutant limits via synthesis of data with emergent understanding of atmospheric
science and the acute and long-term impacts of exposure to human health and
ecosystems. But she also used the Thursday, March 28, 2019 Women in Scientific and Environmental
Professions lecture to outline different science career paths and
preparatory opportunities.
Dr. Hemming first discussed four main
career areas for a professional in the sciences: 1) academic research, 2)
non-profit research, assessment, and advocacy, 3) government research and/or
assessment, and 4) government policy analysis and/or development. On the
subject of her career area (government research and/or assessment), she
acknowledged that her projects and deadlines are pre-determined for her, and
that her work is subject to considerable public scrutiny because she is a
public servant.
Dr. Hemming offered the advice that
when choosing a career path, ask yourself three things:
1)What are your talents and skills?
2)What do you want to be doing on most
days of your week?
3)Own who you are, what you have to
offer, and what you need to be happy before you start making major career
decisions.
Dr. Hemming advised those interested
in environmental policy is to learn the issues of most concern to science
advocates, and to take advantage of education-oriented opportunities to work
directly with policymakers.
Dr. Hemming went on to talk about an
organization she has previously worked, the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS), and her time as an Environmental Science and
Policy Fellow at the organization. Over the course of her time at the AAAS, she
visited countries like Mexico and Russia to meet with members of government and
local scientists to discuss the state of the climate in those countries.
The next part of Dr. Hemming’s lecture
was on the role of the EPA in policy formulation, which includes: 1) responding
to Congress and 2) assessing & reporting on the state of the science
relevant to environmental policy. She described the role of Congress as having
the power to confirm the EPA leadership, set budgets for the EPA, and create
new offices within the agency. She gave an example of a report to Congress she
had worked on, regarding assessment of black carbon particulate matter.
The National Center for Environmental
Assessment (NCEA) is the division of the EPA that primarily handles assessment
of the science relevant to environmental policy. As a member of the NCEA staff,
Dr. Hemming works to provide the interface between 3 groups employed in the
fields of policy and science: 1) researchers in other parts of the EPA’s Office
of Research and Development, 2) the larger scientific community who generate
new findings and data that inform policy, and 3) the regulators in the EPA’s
regional offices (e.g. the Office of Air and Radiation) who use that data to
make decisions to protect public health and the environment. She went on to
describe the Clean Air Act of 1970, which called for upper limits on ambient
concentrations of 6 criteria air pollutants (ozone, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides,
particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and lead), and its influence on her work.
Dr. Hemming’s office publishes its work as Integrated Science Assessments
(ISAs) that summarize the most policy-relevant science, particularly regarding
assessment of risk to human health, and the ISAs are made available to the
public online.
Dr. Hemming concluded her lecture by
providing a list of important skills that she believes are not usually
developed in graduate school, but that are essential for entering the workforce:
1)humility (being willing to learn from your co-workers)
2)collaborative
problem-solving (as collaboration is required for all
“fully-effective solutions”)
3)self-awareness (knowing your own shortcomings, and how they affect your
interactions with co-workers and shareholders)
4)listening to
your shareholders and partners
(“listen dynamically”, be engaged, sympathetic)
5)work-life
balancing (realizing that although graduate
school doesn’t encourage a balanced life, you need to find a way to set aside
time to take care of yourself)
Since 2002, Dr. Brooke Hemming has
worked in Air Quality assessment at the Research Triangle Park campus of the US
EPA. Her training began at a community college, continued at UC Berkeley and
work at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her doctoral research at
Stanford University was conducted at the NASA-Ames Research Center and the
Molecular Physics Laboratory at SRI International. Her post-doc in atmospheric
aerosol thermodynamics was completed at the CA Institute of Technology, and was
followed by a fellowship at AAAS.Since
joining the EPA, she has received multiple awards for her work on NAAQS
reviews, and a gold medal for her leadership and co-authorship of the assessments
that formed the basis of the Carbon Dioxide Endangerment finding that CO2
is a harmful pollutant. She is the editor of a new book series, Climate and Policy, under the Anthem
Press Environmental and Sustainability Initiative, and has served for several
years as a technical advisor on the Department of Defense Strategic
Environmental Research Program Resource Conservation and Resiliency Technical Committee,
and as an advisor on the North Carolina State Climate Change and Society
Program Advisory Board. She has also served as a science advisor to Paperhand
Puppet Intervention.
Dr. Hemming’s lecture was co-sponsored
by ESF’s Department of Chemistry and the ESF Women’s Caucus. For more
information about the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Lecture
Series, the upcoming (4/25) presentation by Denise Breitberg, Smithsonian
Ecological Research Center, please visit: https://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/speakers.htm.
As part of the
requirements for FOR496/497 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share
responsibility for reporting on presentations in the Women in Scientific
and Environmental Professions Speaker Series.
The preceding was prepared by Anuli Onwumelu, a MS student in the Forest and
Natural Resources Management’s Ecology and Ecosystems program of study.
…[M]ore rapid and sustained progress … is jeopardized by the persistence of sexual harassment and its adverse impact on women’s careers in … colleges and universities.
On November 9, 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine offered a convocation on developing and implementing policies, procedures, and practices to prevent sexual harassment in academia. Building on the recommendations in the recent report Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Science, Engineering, and Medicine, this event brough together academic leaders, Title IX and diversity officers, ombudsmen, researchers in sexual harassment, and leaders from professional societies, foundations, and federal agencies to discuss strategies and share promising practices. Summary of, and images from, the webcast sessions follow.
Opening
Remarks from National Academies Leadership
Frazier Benya, Senior Program
Officer
NSF
was lead sponsor, joined by NASA, NIH, NIST and others, representatives from
many here today as funders also have role to play.Encourage to strive to create a culture where
it stopped before it starts.
Victor Dzau, President, NAM
Academies
bring together experts to evidence-based advice. Report has already spurred
action among a number of organizations.Each of the Academies is now examining its own policies and procedures
and defining codes of conduct.Report
found that issues aren’t limited, absolutlely must change to prevent women from
continued to be bullied out of carreer paths, and to protect integretity of institutions.IF take a public health approach, need to
address culture and climate that allow SH to continue.Medical encourages that some discomfort is to
be expected, therefore reluctance to come forward.
Dan Mote, NAE.Engineering has long struggled to find
talented people to study.To this end,
working to increase recruitment of women, but progress has been too slow. SH is
a serious impediment, plus morally reprehensible in the first place.Cannot reach full potentional in engineerring
or are pushed out all together.Must
implement system wide change.Firmness
on this matter is mandatory for future of engineering.IEEE Spectrum Op-Ed, enthusiatic endorsed by
editorial team.“Will and need to make
substational changes are here, so lets do it. “
Myth Busting: responding to
the most common misperception[s] about sexual harassment
Kathryn Clancy, Associate Prof. of Anthropology, U Illinois; Lilia
Cortina, Prof. of Psychology & Women’s Studies, UMich; Vicki Magley, Professor
of Psychology, UConn
Myth:misplaced romantic feeling,
physical SH is worst type
Sexual harassment (SH) omes
in three forms:
sexual coercion (SC), e.g., quid pro quo, stereotypical “sleep with
me or fired”
unwanted sexual attention (USA), i.e., touching, hugging, repeated
requests for dates or kisses, sometimes assault
gender harassment (GH), “a
broad range of verbal and nonverbal behaviors not aimed at sexual cooperation
but that convey insulting, hostile, and degrading attitudes” that convey that women don’t belong or
aren’t smart enough to succeed, also sabotage.
Not about romance or conquest. About contempt.
Only 37% of women faculty
hadn’t experienced any SH in the two years prior to survey.Most experienced some type of GH.GH is the most common form of SH encountered
by women students.GH rates vary by discipline,
and medicine encourters most.Engineering experinces more sexist GH.Think of it like an iceberg (see image).Put
downs (and out), not come ons. SH because based on sex or gender.Is it true that verbal harassment is not
nearly as “bad” as physical?None of
assumptions held up to scientific scrutiny (See Figure 2).
While SC and USA lead to
more lawsuits and bad publicity, they are low frequency.GH is pervasive.
Myth:SH is no big deal, but
false accusations are a big deal (see next paragraph for this part).
Can’t you just suck it
up?No.Rude behaviors of malicious intent are directed more at women
of
color.Low level, unchallenged behaviors
have a massive cumulative effect.Looked at impact of being the “only.”We have to hire more…., but have to keep up our standards?Implies the Other person there is not =>
internal gaslighting. Uncertainty permeates.When not the Only, develop meta awareness and cognition that it’s not
them.Students ARE standing up for faculty
and checking in on them, but what does that say about the institution that they
are the only ones that do?
Fig 2. Impact of gender harassment on health and satisfaction.
Myth: False accusations are a really big deal.They do happen, but do so in every type of
crime.Why do we care so much more about
false accusations here?How much effort
is put into questioning credibility of robbery victims?2-8% of reports are false, while 14-40% of
men are sexually harassed in the workplace, so men are far more likely to be a victim of harassment themselves than to be
falsely accused!!!
False reporting red
flags:know accuser, have prior
relationships, no severe, young victim, inconsistent details.What science tells us is that these are
normative!
When over worry about false
reports, results in poorer mentoring—leads to closed door meetings, failure to
engage students, one on one conversations, treating women differently.Can also make you a bad administrator, as
bad risk management to avoid perpetrator lawsuits rather than future victim
lawsuits.
Myths:there are Magic bullets
to try to fix the situations
Harassment Reporting:If institution gets it right, investigates
perfectly, then will end SH affliction!So, if really happened, will report, and no negative ramifications-not
scary, or hard.Research doesn’t
support.In reality, SH reporting is a
LAST resort.Most likely to Avoid, seek
social support, relabel, appease harassers, self-blame, endure, deny.Across 20 years:formal reporting remains about 6%.Hasn’t increased with empowerment of women,
so should we focus here?Research on
labeling of SH experiences.Assume people
are naming behavior as SH, but most are not.Does labeling matter?Yes (see Fig 3), but focusing
on the experiences is more important that reporting or the label.Relevant facts:both professional and social
retaliation (see Table).Fear of retaliation is the #1
reason not to report.
Fig. 3
Relevant
Fact:Reporting can breed retaliation
Professional
Retaliation
Social Retaliation
Given less favorable job duties
Shunned or excluded by others at work
Unfairly demoted
Slighted or ignored by others at work
Denied a promotion I deserved
Gossiped about in an unkind way
Denied an opportunity for training I deserved
Threatened
Given unfair poor job performance appraisals
Criticized for complaining about the situation
Transferred to a less desirable job
Blamed for the situation
Considered a troublemaker
Cortina &Magley (2003, Jn Occupational Health Psy)
(Note: table
text has been transcribed from a photo)
Myth:training is the other
silver bullet. Because WE care, our training works. Because
we have low reports, must be working. One and done! Lots of
support for training, Very little
published on training efficacy. Training
increases certainty, but not percentage of correct responses to knowledge
questions. Only one question that
trained people did do better: on
legality. Untrained people are more
likely to say “I don’t know.” Trained
were more certain that they answered right, even though they scored the same. They are slightly more likely to response
that SH is trivial and expect false/exaggerated reports. What we want is for behaviors to cease.
Employee cynicism
matters.
Employees are good at
sniffing out when only directed at compliance, which affects perceptions of
tolerance.Need to work on best
approaches, assessing impact, reducing cynicism.
Questions:As long as institutions aren’t paying women
as much as men, how are men expected to respect us as much?Uncertain how to respond, because Amen.Pay inequity is an example of GH.Data based on the people still there, but
doesn’t capture those lost (lost willingly or fired in retaliation).
Reporting is necessary, but
insufficient, puts excessive burden on victims, and ignores their
(justifiable!) fears.Need to dispel
belief that it is only appropriate for most egregious acts, set appropriate
sanctions and enforce.
Labelling of behavior—“I
would never grope, etc.” without recognizing that they engage in “put down”
behaviors.Absolutely don’t want SC and
unwanted sexual attention, but also need to deal with rest of the iceberg.Remediation doesn’t need to be limited to those
things above the bar of legal definition of SH.
Trainings that allow for
more perspective taking, theater based, are more impactful than online
knowledge based.
Glad we did this first
today, as first thing need to deal with!
Need to consider retaliation aspect more—who happens to, and when. Happening as a deterrent, before and during
reporting as well as after. Institutions
haven’t figured out best practices to intervene. Much of the time its social retaliation-shut
out, shunned. And institutions don’t
know what to do about those. Example of
a successful practice: At moment of
report, management team should set up a non-retaliation plan. Not much on best practices: hope afternoon sessions (not webcast) will address.
When universities respond, there is a large swell of volunteers. And perpetrators situate themselves in on
those committees. Make look like good
apples when not. Shift framework. Workforce and pipeline development: anecdotally, hear that women can be harder
than men on bringing certain subjects forward.
Is there a real difference? Anyone is capable of harm; women also soak
up the lessons of patriarchy and culture norms.
May push women to complete studies faster and get out situation, rather
than fixing the situation. For women, 98%
of perpetrators are men. For men,
~50%. Which doesn’t bear out that women
are harder on women than men are.
Title IX coordinators are
working within a troubled construct to begin with-recommendations are
ignored.Livelihoods and careers of the
victims are on the line.Google last two
cases at Univ of Illinois, didn’t rise to legal threshold but sanctions
recommended, but were not levied.Think of Title IX—think legal, investigation,adjudication, not the
counseling concerns and mental health ramifications.PhD student—if I go forward with complaint
against renowned scientist, my own future screwed.Training slides were disheartening!If more and more training, will you still see?Look at what is significant difference.When focusing on prevention and leadership
responses, will see.Right now, going
through traumatizing experience that often doesn’t help the victim.Diffusing the power network for the student also
improves outcomes.
Moving Beyond Legal
Compliance and Toward Prevention
Lynn
Pasquerella, President, Association of American Colleges and Universities;
Lorelle Espinosa, Assistant VP, Center for Policy Research and Strategy; Lorelle
Espinosa, Vice President for Research, American Council on Education; Kimberlee
Eberle-Sudre, Director of Policy Research, Association of American Universities;
Kacy Redd, Assistant Vice President of STEM Education Policy, Association of
Public and Land-grant Universities
At
doctoral granting institutions, 20% have women presidents, considerably less
than percentage at all US colleges and universities. When you look at all
institutions, only 5% of presidents are women of color.Looking for parity by 2030, to move on action
rather than just talking about it.Do we
actually have data that women presidents do better?NSF INCLUDES research.Diversifying faculty remains a concern.
AACU.Results of undergraduate student surveys were
sobering, showing much higher rates of assault than had official reporting
mechanisms.“I don’t report because I
don’t know where to go.”
How
do organizations support change makers?APLU has been action oriented, bringing institutions together to
work.Bringing in more diverse faculty.Look at institutional culture to be more
welcoming and supportive. Hiring faculty that support that.Looking at intervention.Looking at bias training in search
committees, how are you using exit interviews.Each institution has a plan to work through.How are you connecting these?Some institutions looking at departmental
climates.Regional summits and moving
to online formats to deliver content to people wherever they are.Bring disparate leaders together to do
situational and table top discussions.Campuses are more comfortable with diversity conversations than equity,
as they don’t understand what that means. Have been looking at things as if
they don’t permeate classroom environment.Don’t want to “unnecessarily lengthen the syllabus.”People don’t see themselves as fundamentally
part of the picture.Its other people.
But It is part of the learning environment.Microaggressions—address in the moment or after class?Need strategies.LGBT+ students experienced the most
harassment.80% of schools said they “changed
it” for a specific populations.Not all
inclusive.Leadership on campus can do a
lot through rhetoric, accountability and monetarily.More we can equip graduate students with the
skills to be compassionate faculty members, those are game changers.Networks, need to be top down.Reaching into disciplinary societies.Need to include all levels in the
conversation.
Questions: Structures to address are institution
based. But experience and research show
that local institutions are not equipped to deal across all interactions. Are there opportunities among your
organizations to develop a collaborative system to investigate, something that
institutions could buy into? You are talking to many different layers. An independent entity that could adjudicate? Sounds really smart. EEOC.
Grants and agencies also hold people accountable. Think critically
important not to impose hetero/cis paradigm.
What do we do with larger community issues? Leaked memo from NYT that defines biological
sex. All of the panel organizations have
an advocacy role. Campuses can set the
tone and ensure it permeates through campus.
Modeling dialog, empowering student voices. What is the role of the Offices of General
Counsel? They can be
conservatizing. They provide info on the
law, but can also provide us with info of what we see in our job. Former General Counsel in audience shared
personal story: asked who is the client? Was fired for asking for an GC
investigation. What role has GCs played
to make sure past crimes were not shared with the public?
Try
to find institutions that are ahead of the pack, and nucleate others around
them. Are we putting as much energy into proactive measures?SH is about power.What are other places doing about relating to
SH intervention?Compounded by social
media—stalking takes multiple forms.Looking at using technology as safe forms of reportings.Calisto for example.Chat Box.Transphobia can take the form of SH, and SH is not a women’s issue but a
gender affected issue.NSF INCLUDES,
IGEN,Onus needs not to be put on people
of color or LGBT because tend to me more junior.
Thoughts
and guidance for postdocs, fellows, medical residents who aren’t easily tracked
because so many different possible titles and capacities, but not captured
under student, faculty or staff umbrellas. Many are concentrated in medical
centers.Also subject to all of
retaliation.
The Role of Federal Agencies
Kelley Bonner,
Workplace Violence Prevention & Response Program Manager, NOAA; David
Chambers, Equal Opportunity Program Manager, NASA; Rhonda Davis, Head, Office
of Diversity and Inclusion, NSF; Lawrence Tabak, Principal Deputy Director,
NIH; Rachel Gettler, General Attorney, Office of Civil Rights, Department of
Education
University
Title IX perception “Fox guarding the chicken coop.” Can go directly to any grant reporting
agency—they all have their own title IX coordinator, and can report there
within 180 days of incident and have adjudicated more fairly. But limited resources, so smart action is
“shotgun approach” to multiple agencies.
Pay equity, EEOC is the best bet instead. How to ensure harassers don’t have access? NSF director sent out to 3000+ institutions that SH would not be tolerated. Put
together a task force, and met every two weeks as launching, now
bimonthly. Went into effect in October
if there is a SH violation, and they are
unable to carry out terms of grant, working on that process now.
NIH
has Indirect and direct approaches.Indirect—extensive anti-harassment program that they hope is a model,
with option for anonymous reporting, central investigations, will issue a
survey of all NIH staff in 2019 about workplace environment. Issued a federal register note to indicate
to institution that speaks to what employees and grantees can do to
pursue. Support much needed
research. In December, will launch a
working group/advisory council on this topic.
Frazier Benya spoke to packed audience not that long ago. External
funding: always had policy that if an
individual’s status policy changes, the institution is obligated to notify the
NIH. Typically by VP of research. Reflex is to take away the grant, which has
collateral damage, particularly taking away support of the individual that reported. Work with university. Truthfully, agencies don’t make a big deal
where a PI has been removed because of legal framework issues—speaking about
someone else’s employee.
NASA
has a robust anti-harassment process.Pre-award, there is a civil rights assurance form, compliance
reviews.Indirectly, try to focus on the
environment that allows harassment to breed.Do you show gender diversity on your website?Do you also recruit at Society of Women
Engineers and Association of Women in Science? Promote promising practices as well as compliance? Title IX requires self-evaluation. Are you using GRE math score as
gateway criteria which shuts out those with tremendous experience and references, reducing diversity)?Mediation with wronged party rather than
invoking title ix "broken" investigation process could empower them while educating the aggressor. (this could work IN SOME CASES, but without also fixing other aspects of system, how to reduce retaliation?)
NIGMS
has announced that there must be an anti-harassment training and dual mentoring
to distribute power and achieve results that are more favorable.Series of initiatives to diversify the work
place in terms of gender, race and ethnicity.Improved early investigative stage.Diversifying panels—not just old white guys, but post docs, young
professionals.
What
is one thing you will invite colleges and universities to do to help efforts?
·Have Research Office communicate with Title IX office.Be intentional about culture change
efforts.Be honest and forthright.
Questions?
Do
you have policies to prevent supervisors from have sexual relationships with
supervisees? NIH does, and has a
mandatory reporting requirement. Adjudicate each situation, and if truly
consensual, readjust the reporting relationship. How do you define consensual? Getting ready to get married (really?!) Nat.
Academy staff has new training on the way.
Recommend providing flexible funding for grad students to diffuse power
structure. But not generally allowed to
pool funding. Parental leave concern: Usually can extend for a year
for family issues. Having child as a
woman, negative impact, for man, positive impact (how was he unaware of this
prior to this study). Some societies are
redefining scientific misconduct to include sexual harassment.
Reporting
has to be the silver bullet for the agencies, as otherwise they cannot act. How
do respond?Still report, but bypass the
institution.Title IX didn’t anticipate
influence of today’s social media.Tremendous strength in numbers.What if a PI or co-PI came and said we had to remove an individual
because of harassment?Not stopping at
those levels. If we hear of something through another form would follow up to
confirm safety of parties and determine if institution can still fulfil terms
of grant. Could be delayed by loss of lower levels as well, but don’t have to
notify. Accommodations could be made.
How
does anonymous reporting actually work?Hire a contract organization so there are none of our employees are involved,
and use a system of checks and balances for web forms or phone call.With an anonymous report, may not get enough
info to proceed.Reporter may come back
later, but cannot seek.With regard to
Title IX structure and review—if there are issues, does that trigger a review of
what the office should be?
Don’t
think the report highlights an “emerging threat.”Problematic behavior has been present a long
time and limiting performance.Need to
increase inclusive practices across the board to tamp down bullying,
Compliance
isn’t enough, but it has to be part of it.What can institutions be doing beyond reporting?Can be diversifying senior leadership and
throughout organizations.Ensure equity,
review every department for equity measures and tie institutional reward system
to it.
Recordings are now available at: https://vimeo.com/album/5561695 Afternoon Concurrent
sessions and closing plenary were not webcast.
