Women in Science

As an optimistic alien just visiting this planet, every Friday I feature a site, blog and/or person who impresses me with their optimism, entertainment, and contribution to society and the blogging community, generally. Today I feature an excellent blog by Peggy Kolm called "Women in Science", a topic dear to my heart. In Peggy's words it's a blog "dedicated to the women in science and engineering, past and present." Peggy's done a superlative job at making science palatable and interesting to women by focussing on successes and opportunities alike. It's a pursuit worth pursuing, particularly when one considers that young women still only make up a small portion of the science/math/engineering workforce (and not for lack of intelligence or creativity!)

Her site is worth visiting for her blogroll alone, which literally swells (three columns worth!) with a rich cornucopia of listings including:

• sites for Girls interested in Math, Science and Engineering
• women who blog about science and engineering
• sites about women in science
• professional organizations

Peggy's posts are informative yet succinct and vary from science book reviews to the latest news. Here are a few examples:

• a feature on Associate Professor of Interactive Biology at the University of Texas, Camille Parmesan, who is conducting research on the effect of climate change on wildlife
• an opinion piece on how scientists are portrayed in comics
• Glamour magazine's top ten women scientists

Peggy even posted a feature on one of my personal heroes, Dr. Lynn Margulis, who revolutionized the way we think about life on earth by revealing connections that link the planet and all living things into one organic system. Margulis helped develop the Gaia Theory with Dr. James Lovelock and posited the endosymbiotic basis of cellular evolution. More on her in my next post!

Peggy manages another blog called "Biology in Science Fiction", another subject dear to my heart. But I'll leave that one for another Friday...

Nina Munteanu is an ecologist and internationally published author of novels, short stories and essays. She coaches writers and teaches writing at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. For more about Nina’s coaching & workshops visit www.ninamunteanu.me. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for more about her writing.