1

GWIS International Chapter E- BULLETIN

Volume 5,N° 2

December, 2017

Message from GWIS International Chapter President

2017 is nearly behind us. As ladies of science who are spread across 6 continents, we

must do our best to inspire and help each other across the globe while also inspiring and

helping those in our communities. So many instruments of change: The Women’s March,

the March for Science, the #MeToo campaign. Women are getting out and ensuring their

voices are heard and that they will directly impact change. In Dublin, I have joined a

new exciting group at my university called “Women in Research Ireland” (WIRI). Our

mission is to give women and other under-represented groups a platform on which to

share ideas and discuss solutions to existing obstacles. We run a monthly seminar series

called “Women Should Be Both Seen and Heard” and we have created a solid following.

It is inspiring to be a part of such change.

Enjoy this Issue. It covers 8 months, since our last issue in March. Please join our

next Skype meeting scheduled for January 28, 2018, time to be announced soon.

Susan Fetics

Marie Sklowdowska-Curie Actions Fellow

School of Biochemistry and Immunology

Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Message from the International President

Dr. Susan K. Fetics

• - Message from

International

President............................1

• - Quote if the month.......2

• Members in the news........2

• - Chapter news ...............3

• Special report....................7

• This is what a scientist

looks like outside the

lab.................................. 15

C O N T E N T

2

Dr. Francisca Nwaokorie was featured in an article written by Kristin Peterson (Associate Professor, Anthropology

Department , University of California ) and Dr. Morenike O. Folayan (University of Ife Nigeria) on “How Nigeria defeated

Ebola”. The paper is available on this link: http://africasacountry.com/2017/12/how-nigeria-defeated-

ebola/

Quote of the month

Members in the news

http://www.azquotes.com/author/3506-Marie_Curie

3

Treasurer’s Report

Our chapter dues and donations have amounted to $2,027.39 US. Please join us on our skype call to discuss constructive ways to spend some of these funds to advance international women in science – we need your creative ideas.

Robin Woo GWIS International Chapter is pleased to welcome new members from all around the world.

International members in good standing are listed in the GWIS directory that contains their

contact information. We encourage you to reach out and connect with each other!

Maria E. Adonay, Rho Tau

Sharon E. Altmann, Greater

Maryland

Julie M. Anbarchian, National

Capitol

Marie Arnaud, United Kingdom

Judith Artley, Alpha Omega

Kathleen Baird, South Africa

Terran E. Bergdale, E South

Dakota

Danielle Borg, Australia

Sophie Breton, Canada

Laura Busia, Italy

Charlotte M. Cable, Australia

Danielle C. Claar

Hannah Clancy, United

Kingdom

Anna Czupryna, Eta

Julie Ealy, Penn State Lehigh

Valley

Mariela Faykoo-Martinez,

Canada

Guanqiao Feng

Rozzy Finn, E South Dakota

Heather Flowers, Canada

Victoria Inman, Australia

Yumi Iwadate, Japan

Gurjot Kaur, Germany

Anna E. Kensicki, United

Kingdom

Rina D. Koyani, India

Lindsey Marshall, E South

Dakota

Tara Massad, South Africa

Andrea Mastro, State College

Dee McManus, Twin Cities

Minnesota

Kiera Newman, Canada

Francisca Nwaokorie ,Nigeria

Anne K. Nzioki, South Africa

Katrina L. Okerstrom

Maria Ribeiro, Portugal

Oluwakemi Rotimi, Nigeria

Isabella Scheiber, Germany

Kirsty R. Short, Australia

Patricia Silveyra, Kappa Rho

Maria Solyanik, National

Capitol

Gilda Stefanelli, Canada

Diamond Tachera, Hawaii

Negar Talaei Zanjani, Australia

Shyamala Thirunavukkarasu

Ana E. Torres, At Large

Athina Vidaki, Netherlands

Paddy W. Wiesenfeld, National

Capitol

Heather E. Williams, United

Kingdom

Robin W. Woo, National

Capitol

Chapter News

4

WhatsApp, International Members!!!

Contact Susan (international@gwis.org) and tell

her that you want to join our private WhatsApp

group. We now have 19 participants. This is the

best way to connect with your fellow members

around the globe in an instant.

Save the date! Sunday, January 28, 2018

all members welcome. Connect with other members

Discussion agenda will be sent out a week before

Our Facebook page is still a great way to learn about

International GWIS chapter and hear our latest updates on

meetings and networking / funding opportunities.

Also keep up with news and events by following us on

twitter: @SusanKathleenFe and @GWISci

mailto:international@gwis.org

5

March for Science, April 22, 2017

By Judy Artley

Judy Artley, dual member of the Boston and

International Chapters, participated with about

500 people at the March for Science at

Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. There was a

rally with speeches at Institute Park. US Rep. Jim

McGovern stated, "Science is so important, we

teach it in all the schools." A doctor from the

University of Massachusetts Medical College

said science is to have "Empathy for others [he does research in parasitic diseases]; Economic impact

(the financial benefits to the area from the science grants); and

Explore (the knowledge gained from science)."

About "Science Brain:" this is a 5x8 Soul Collage with images

for the fire of science, the inquisitive brain, the natural spiral

of the Nautilus shell. The graph paper shows mathematics and

data analysis. The brain-woman has evolved four hands: one

pair for conducting research and a second pair to record the

data. The fire also represents the frustration felt when I try to

connect with a less ordered artistic side”.

“After the rally, we walked the perimeter of WPI (Worcester

Polytech Institute), crossed campus and returned to Institute

Park”. Judy carried her "Science Brain" poster, an enlarged

copy of one of her collages.

J. Artley

Chapter News

6

Connecting our members in Toxicology

Thanks to our WhatsApp group, we could connect three International members who had never met

before in Baltimore, Maryland. Despite traffic and the enormity of the Baltimore Convention Center,

Oluwakemi Rotimi (Nigeria), Gurjot Kaur (Germany), Patricia Silveyra (Argentina and US) and her

student (right to left) managed to meet at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Toxicology. Kemi

experienced her very first snowfall.

Chapter News

7

IkalaSTEM - Madagascar

IkalaSTEM (Former Women in Science - Madagascar) is a women-led non-profit association

founded in May 2016 and headquartered in Antananarivo Madagascar. It gathers together

Malagasy women living worldwide who study or work in the field of Science and Engineering.

With a mission to promote education and science in Madagascar, the association mainly targets

young girls and women (although students of any gender also benefit from their action).

IkalaSTEM was created in response to the need of a long-term and continuous support system to

the Malagasy students in STEM. It also champions for women and girls’ economic and social

empowerment through the field of Science.

The objectives of IkalaSTEM are to:

- raise the profile of women in STEM in the Malagasy community,

- serve as a hub of networking and skills transfer for STEM students and

researchers,

- help young pupils and high school students build their future academic careers,

- leverage volunteering and collaboration in the advance of science.

Special report

8

Figure 1 The members who recently attended the 2017 GA held in Antananarivo, Madagascar

The association plans to organize various activities and events to meet its goal. These are not

limited to the mentoring program, workshop & conferences, scholarship offer & awards, career

fair and STEM camp. Since its launch, WiseMada has organized an online photo contest themed

“Women in Science at Work” and a primary school STEM awareness in a district not far from the

capital city of Madagascar.

The teams based in South Africa and Madagascar are currently working together to plan the first

edition of IkalaSTEM Annual Workshop themed “Building science skills through volunteering”.

The event was scheduled in November 2017, with the graduate students in STEM as its

participants. The newly-formed USA Chapter is also planning to launch a mentoring program

soon. Finally, the German team will be in charge of publishing a bi-annual newsletter of the

association.

Figure 2 Zara Randriamanakoto, co-founder of IkalaSTEM, leading STEM education outreach activities

https://wisemada.org/2017/05/17/photo-contest-african-women-in-science/https://wisemada.org/2017/05/17/epp-miandrarivo-mahitsy/https://wisemada.org/2017/05/17/workshop-building-science-skills-through-volunteering/

9

To date, IkalaSTEM has around 40 permanent members scattered in Madagascar, South Africa,

Germany and the USA. The organization is fully run by volunteers and financial resources to fund

the association activities and planned projects are still mainly covered by the contribution from

members. IkalaSTEM, is therefore, open to any form of collaboration and partnership.

IkalaSTEM is pleased to have been invited to contribute to this e-bulletin and wishes GWIS-

International all the best in your future endeavors. We hope that this is just the beginning of any

further collaboration to the advancement of Women in Science.

Do you want to know more about IkalaSTEM and the volunteers behind this initiative? We invite

you to visit our website www.wisemada.org or follow our Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/WiseMada.

Figure 3 Some members of the advisory board who live in Madagascar

http://www.wisemada.org/http://www.facebook.com/WiseMada

10

From Stella Akiteng: Wednesday, 8th March 2017 found us on the road to meet women living in the

oil region of Northern Uganda

News from the desk of Susan Fetics:

Special report

11

News from the Desk of Susan Fetics

On 21 May 2017, we held a Skype meeting. Six of us attended: Susan from Trinity College Dublin, Ana

from Texas A & M, Heather from University of Ottawa, Lea in Athens GA, Gurjot in Germany, and

Emelda in Nigeria. Once we introduced ourselves, we discussed the issues of traveling for work: visas,

family considerations, etc. We talked about building our program called “Common Ground” in which

we plan to pair our members according to subject matter and location. We also discussed different

ways to participate in public outreach events in which a general audience can be educated about

important aspects of science.

On 23 July 2017, I attended the online National Leadership meeting. It was hosted by Michelle Booze,

GWIS National president. In 2021, just three years away, it will be the 100-year anniversary of GWIS.

How cool! There is already a committee in place to begin events scheduling. The International

chapter is up to 150 members! All members are encouraged to follow the national chapter on

Facebook, Linked In, Twitter and Instagram.

On 22 June, 2017, I gave a lunchtime seminar at Trinity College Dublin Entitled “Get the word out!

How to educate the public about your research” as part of the “Women should be both seen and

heard” seminar series. It was attended by over 70 people. I spoke about the various public outreach

events I have participated in and I shared the lessons I learned over the years.

Special report

12

March 8, 2017 was International Women’s day. This year we put out a call for our

members to send us pictures on the day. We were thrilled to have so many responses.

Below are all the members who participated. Some of us who worked wore red to show

support for women who stayed home from work in order

to display the important role they play.

Emelda Chuckwu

Robin Woo

Nastaran Shakeri

13

Sherly Diana da Costa

Toochi Ogbulie

Julie Ealy

Judy Artley

Mariel Bazzalo

Patricia Silveyra Hershey

PA

14

Yitong Liu

Watch for our announcement as we will be doing this again March 8,

2018.

But for now, we are calling for you to send your holiday picture with a

sentence description to international@gwis.org

Please share your pictures with us!

Susan Fetics and her dog Sweet tea

Paddy Weisenfeld

mailto:international@gwis.org

15

Anja Rakotoarisoa - Madagascar: Besides my studies in entomology, I am engaged in two different Gospel groups because I love singing. During the weekend, I mostly spend my time on rehearsal.

Dina Ratsimandresy - South Africa: Beside being a student, I am part of a Youth Christian group in my parish in Madagascar. The picture has been taken

during our outreach to Nosy-Be Hell Ville three years ago. The youth group enables me to help

people and share the gospel but it also gives me an opportunity to explore different places I have

never been or have never thought of going before.

This is what a Scientist looks like outside the lab!

16

Mireille Razafindranaivo - Madagascar: I am engaged in environmental education having as

objective “Green world”. I did reforestation with people in a little village last

year.

Miangola Ramanantoanina Madagascar: In this picture, I did animations during the YEM (Youth Eucharistic Movement) day two years ago in my

church.

17

Mialy Razanajatovo - Germany: Besides being a scientist, I enjoy doing different outdoor activities such as hiking and swimming. Here I swam across Lake Como in Italy from Tremezzo Parco Meier to La Cappelletta (c. 2km) on July 10th 2014 at 19:00.

My coach is another woman scientist, Eva Malecore, who is now preparing for a 10km swim.

Photo credit: Claudio Malecore.

Tinah Martin - USA: I am a General Bathymetry Chart of the Ocean (GEBCO) scholar, I follow a

Postgraduate Certificate in Ocean Bathymetry at the University of New Hampshire. Outside of my

training, I enjoy discovering the world around me. American Football is one of the first things that

comes to my mind when you say the United States of America. And having the opportunity to have

some kicks and throws with the UNH Wildcats was a huge discovery for me.

18

“GWIS International Chapter member of

the Month” and “This is what a Scientist

looks like outside the lab”are two sections

designed especially to enhance the visibility of all

members.

If you are willing to be featured in the next Iota

Nu bimonthly bulletin, send your information to

the corresponding secretary at

tsioryandrianavalona@gmail.com.

Don’t hesitate, we would love to hear

from you!

19

Subscribe to the FREE bimonthly electronic newsletter, GWIS

International chapter E-Bulletin!

Send an email request to: Tsiory Andrianavalona

tsioryandrianavalona@gmail.com Corresponding Secretary

Volume 5: No 2. , December, 2017

mailto:tsioryandrianavalona@gmail.com