untitled

Introduction to Career Advice

for Life Scientists II

T

he Women in Cell Biology Committee traces its

origins to 1971, when a small assembly of Yale

colleagues determined to organize a gathering of

the few women attending the 11th Annual Meeting of

the American Society for Cell Biology in New Orleans

that year. They posted flyers on the back of bathroom

stalls and thirty women showed up.

The first sustained effort of this pick-up group was a

“newsletter”—a bimonthly mimeographed job—fea-

turing entries as diverse and important as sexist adver-

tisements in scientific journals, job opportunities

(though the jobs had not been advertised), and ACLU

rulings that women should not be required to use their

husband’s names and that single women should quali-

fy to receive loans and hold mortgages.

In the subsequent thirty-plus years, The Women in

Cell Biology Committee has, in its way, become the

heart and soul of the cell biology community. Women

in cell biology and The Women in Cell Biology

Committee have achieved sufficient progress as to

make early concerns seem almost quaint. But the chal-

lenges faced by women in science today are, while

more subtle, still real and still attracting the commit-

ment of dedicated cell biologists. We are proud of con-

tributing to that history.

One of the keys to the success of The ASCB Women

in Cell Biology Committee is that its activities and serv-

ices have served the many male members of the ASCB

and the scientific community as well as its women. This

has never been so true as in the past several years,

when the challenge of students and post-docs in estab-

lishing a satisfying career in the life sciences has

become acute. In response, The Women in Cell Biology

Committee has given high priority to programs,

events, publications and awards that support the career

aspirations of scientists. The Career Advice for Life

Scientistsseries is offered in that spirit.

INTRODUCTION 109

Ursula W. Goodenough
Chair, ASCB Women in
Cell Biology Committee

Elizabeth Marincola

Executive Director,

The American Society

for Cell Biology