Schmidt-Nielsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist Award
This award, first given in 2004, honors an APS member who has made outstanding contributions to physiological research and demonstrated dedication and commitment to excellence in training of young physiologists whether by mentoring, guiding and nurturing their professional and personal development, developing novel education methods/materials, promoting scientific outreach efforts, attracting individuals to the field of physiology, or by otherwise fostering an environment exceptionally conducive to education in physiology. The award was established to recognize Bodil M. Schmidt-Nielsen, distinguished physiologist and the first woman President of the Society.
Fourteen nominations were received for the fifth Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist award. Members of the Women in Physiology Committee reviewed the nominations and selected Joey P. Granger, Univ. of Mississippi Medical Center as the 2008 awardee. Granger gave a talk on mentoring entitled: "Mentoring: A Lifelong Process," and an article based on the lecture will be published in The Physiologist. The lecture was followed by a buffet luncheon to which were invited APS Council members, the former Schmidt Nielsen Awardees, Granger's nominators and mentees, awardees of the various APS award programs (tum Suden, Minority Travel, Porter Fellows, etc.), other trainees, and guests specified by the awardee. More than 100 physiologists attended the award presentation.
Caroline tum Suden/Frances Hellebrandt Professional Opportunity Awards
These awards provide monetary ($500) prizes and complimentary registration for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows of either gender who give presentations at the EB meeting. To be considered for the award, the candidate must be the first author of an abstract submitted to APS and must be a student or regular member of APS at the time of application; the membership requirement was implemented in 2008. This is one of a limited number of student awards that allow international applicants.
The Women in Physiology Committee received 110 applications for the 2008 Caroline tum Suden/Frances Hellebrandt Professional Opportunity Awards. The number of applications has been steadily increasing over the past few years. At its EB meeting, the Committee discussed whether previous tum Suden awardees should be allowed to apply for the award a second time. As shown in the table below, more than a quarter of the awards each year on average go to students or postdocs who have already received a tum Suden award in a previous year. Two students have won the award three times. The Committee voted that students should not win the award a second time; the Committee feels it is important to provide opportunities for more students and postdocs to win this prestigious award than to allow students to win it multiple times.
Career Mentoring Website
The APS Career Mentoring Website provides resources for both women and men trainees who are looking for information and assistance in developing and maintaining a good mentoring relationship with more senior and junior scientists. The website includes not only links to mentoring articles and resources, but access to EB workshop materials, discussion forums, and guidelines for successful mentoring. The Committee stimulates discussion at the website through the development and publication of topic papers in The Physiologist with continuing discussions at the website.
MentorNet Mentoring Program
MentorNet (www.mentornet.org) is an award-winning (2001 Presidentia Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring) nonprofit e-mentoring network that addresses the retention and success of those in engineering, science, and mathematics. It especially, but not exclusively, focuses on women and other underrepresented groups. All APS trainee members are eligible to participate as proteges. All APS members and all physiologists are eligible to participate as mentors. The Committee launched the APS MentorNet collaboration in October 2007. To date, 16 students and 32 mentors have signed up for the program. The Committee will continue to recruit students and mentors in the coming year and anticipates additional program growth as students become aware of the program.
EB Mentoring Workshop
Each year the Women in Physiology Committee co-sponsors an EB workshop with the ASPET Committee on Women in Pharmacology. APS and ASPET alternate roles in taking the lead on the content and scheduling of the session.
For EB 2008, APS was the lead organization. The Committee selected "Gainfully Employed: From Launching a Job Search to Navigating Negotiations," as the topic. This was chosen to complement the Trainee Symposium topic of "Marketing Yourself on Paper for Academic Positions." The organizers were Sinya Benyajati and Colleen Hegg (APS) and Jelveh Lameh (ASPET).
The 2009 workshop will be coordinated by ASPET. The topic will be "Pathways to Leadership: Developing Critical Skills." The ASPET organizers are Holly Brevig and Andrea del Tredici, and the APS organizer is Barbara Alexander.
Women Serving on Committees/Sections
The Women in Physiology Committee annually reviews the number of women serving on APS Committees and Section Steering Committees. Women members currently comprise about 25% of the APS membership (22% of the regular membership and 45% of the student membership). The Committee will continue to monitor these numbers.
FASEB Excellence in Science Award
The Excellence in Science Award was established by FASEB in 1989 to recognize outstanding achievement by women in biological sciences. All women who are members of one or more of the FASEB societies are eligible for nomination. Nominations recognize a woman whose career achievements have contributed significantly to further our understanding of a particular discipline by excellence in research. The award includes a $10,000 unrestricted research grant, funded by Eli Lilly and Company. The Chair of the Women in Physiology Committee serves as the APS representative to the FASEB selection committee for the award.
For the 2008 award, 56 applications were received, of which eight were primary APS members. Mina J. Bissell, University of Berkeley, Berkeley, CA (member of ASBMB and SDB) was selected as the 2008 award recipient. The Committee will continue to work with APS members to enhance their nomination packets. In addition, the Committee is discussing strategies to increase the number of APS women who are National Academy of Science members, as that is a critical element for successful candidates for this prestigious award.