2020 Welcome Back Happy Hour

On Tuesday, February 3rd, WIC hosted a Welcome Back Happy Hour at Vester for first years, their WIC mentors, and general members of WIC. We were happy to catch up with our friends and touch base with our mentees before the spring semester picked up. WIC would like to thank 3rd year Grace Ahlqvist for planning the event.

From left to right, Francesca Vaccaro, Alison Biester, Grace Ahlqvist, and Gisele Andree.
From left to right, Elaine Reichert, Merjema Purak, Mikaila Hoffman, Katherine Walker, and Kristyn Flynn.
From Left to right, Jessica Beard, Kayla Storme, Christine Isabella, Sophia Weng, and Cassandra Zentner.

Cassandra Zentner and Francesca Vaccaro honored with inaugural Department Service Award

WIC was proud to see two of our active members honored with the inaugural Departmental Service Award, which seeks to recognize outstanding contributions to the department. In an effort to recognize often invisible labor and celebrate the students who go above and beyond to make the department a welcoming place for all students, we are sharing the nominations for both Cassie and Francesca.

 

Cassandra Zentner (Swager) currently serves as the WIC Mentorship Chair.

About Cassie, Christine and Katherine write:

Cassie Zentner is a ubiquitous presence during the first two years for many graduate women in the department. Whether you can put a face to her name or not, she has a hand in helping you through your first year at MIT, your second year orals, and helping you become established in the department. Cassie revamped the Women in Chemistry mentorship program beginning two years ago, as a second year. She has implemented better matching criteria and new events to build community, and carried on the tradition of a first year dinner. She is engaged in individual department members’ growth and struggles, and is always willing to volunteer her time or knowledge for new projects. Outside of Women in Chemistry, Cassie has served as an excellent support to TAs, providing them with the tools they need to effectively teach 5.12. She was always happy to meet when I was a first year Head TA for fall and spring 5.12 and gave me helpful notes on what to expect. With all that she does for the department, as both an individual and a member of WIC, Cassie never wants to be singled out for praise, and is exceedingly humble. She does many types of invisible service, where only those who work with her directly might notice. This type of service is invaluable, yet is not often enough recognized, and through this service Cassie has enhanced her lab, WIC, and the department as a whole.

Francesca Vaccaro (Drennan) is a WIC Member as well as a co-president of the Chemistry Alliance for Diversity and Inclusion (CADI).

About Francesca, Mani Mengiste writes:

Simply put, my first year at MIT would not be the same without the constant support and friendship of Francesca. I know that many fellow first years would agree.
 
In addition to constantly taking the time to meet with many of us over a meal (one-on-one), she helped welcome us to WIC and CADI by independently organizing hangouts. In October, she organized a pumpkin carving party at her place of residence and brought together many graduate students and post-docs over a fun activity. That night was particularly important for many of us (first-years) because we got a chance to talk to older graduate students about the groups that we were thinking about joining in a way that did not feel very forced. She introduced us to other members of the MIT Chemistry community who have since become part of our larger support network. She has also constantly worked to build/improve CADI. As a student of color, the events that Francesca helped organize have made me feel welcome and loved.
Thank you both for all of your time and efforts, both in our WIC community and beyond. We are so lucky to have you!

WIC Lunch with Cynthia Parrish from GSK

On Monday August 19th, Cynthia Parrish from GSK hosted a lunch with WIC. Members learned about her experiences in industry, working for a large pharma company, and what life is like after 18 years postgrad. Cynthia discussed her efforts to elevate women at GSK, stressed continual focus on growth throughout your career, and discussed opportunities that GSK provides in both of those areas.

WIC Lunch with Anne-Catherine Bédard from Dow August 14th, 2019

Jamison group alumna Anne-Catherine Bédard visited campus with Dow for recruiting events and took the time to sit down for lunch with Women in Chemistry. Erica Tsai coordinated the lunch and 12 graduate students attended. We had a great conversation about working in industry, and discussed the types of research projects you can lead, opportunities for advancement, and being a woman at Dow. We’re thankful to Anne-Catherine for taking the time to stop by!

WIC Travel Grant Summary – Rebecca Sebastian – GRC on Stress Proteins in Growth, Development

Gordon Research Conference on Stress Proteins in Growth, Development and Disease, Italy

Thanks to the travel grant from WIC, I was able to attend the Gordon Research Conference and Gordon Research Seminar on Stress Proteins in Growth, Development and Disease in Lucca, Italy. This conference was focused on proteostasis and stress response mechanisms, with talks on topics ranging from biochemical mechanisms of chaperones to developing pharmacological inhibitors of HSF1 for clinical applications. Attending these lectures was invaluable in expanding my awareness of the current research within my field, and I enjoyed hearing sneak previews of unpublished work.

During the conference, I presented a poster on the intersection of SUMOylation and HSF1 regulated chaperone networks during heat shock. My poster was also selected for a short presentation during a poster preview session, which challenged me to summarize critical findings within a 90 second talk. This was my first time presenting a poster and speaking to such a large audience, and I was glad for the opportunity to improve my communication skills. While presenting my poster I received valuable feedback from other professors and other graduate students, including several ideas for new experimental directions that I look forward to implementing.

Attending this conference also gave me a chance to network with graduate students and postdocs at a similar position along their research careers. In particular, the associated Gordon Research Seminar provided graduate students an informal setting to present their research and engage in scientific discussions, which prompted more engagement from early career scientists. Overall, this conference has given me perspective not only on the current research opportunities within my field, but also the diversity of academic life. As I enter my fourth year of graduate school, these conversations and experiences will be helpful in shaping my own career decisions. I would like to take this opportunity to thank WIC once again for their generous support.

WIC Travel Grant – Olivie Fiebig – GRS/GRC on Photosynthesis

Through the support of WIC, I was able to attend the Gordon Research Seminar and Conference on Photosynthesis in Newry, Maine. Gordon Research Conferences (GRCs) are week-long conferences focused on a highly specific topic. The GRC is the main conference that includes professors, while the Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) is a day and a half conference specifically for graduate students and postdocs, allowing them to share their work with their peers.

 

I was selected to give a talk at the GRS and a poster at the GRC. This was my first time attending a conference in graduate school, let alone giving a talk, and it was a great experience. I received excellent feedback on my presentation and my work that will help me determine future directions of my project. Additionally, I met many professors, postdocs, and students from the photosynthesis community and learned about the fascinating research they are doing. Even in a supposedly narrow field like photosynthesis, there is a wide variety of research going on, and I heard talks on topics I previously had known little about. I also made professional connections and potential collaborations that will be beneficial to me as I enter the last few years of my PhD.

 

Thank you to WIC for generously supporting my attendance at the GRS and GRC!

WIC Travel Grant – Stephanie Hart – International Conference on Photochemistry

I’m thankful for support from the WIC Professional Development Grant which allowed me to attend the 2019 International Conference on Photochemistry in Boulder, CO. The content of this conference spanned a broad range of photophysical and photochemical communities, with several sessions devoted to both ultrafast photophysical phenomena and photoredox catalysis, thus aligning well with my research interests. I presented a poster titled, “Enhancing transition metal photocatalytic efficiency with natural light-harvesting systems”, detailing my work on generation and photophysical characterization of biohybrid photocatalysts comprised of ruthenium polypyridyl complexes bound to red algae derived light-harvesting proteins. Given the breadth of this conference, I was able to disseminate these results within the context of both the spectroscopy and photoredox catalysis communities, which was critical to receiving useful feedback from other attendees and gleaning insight into potential new directions for this project.

In addition to an extensive number of talks within my area of research, this conference also afforded me the opportunity meet other PIs, post-docs, and graduate students in my field. This not only allowed for excellent scientific discussion, but also served to bring to my attention other scientific directions and career options I could pursue following graduate school. This conference also served as the all hands meeting for a large collaboration with Princeton and other universities associated with my photocatalysis work, and was thus an excellent opportunity to meet with collaborators and furtherdiscuss the scope of our research goals. While in Colorado I also spent a day climbing Mt. Massive, the second tallest mountain in the central Rockies.

Overall the International Conference on Photochemistry was an excellent first conference as a graduate student owing to its scope and size, and I am very grateful for WIC’s support of my attendance.

WIC Plant Potting Night

On July 24th, 2019, WIC hosted a summer plant potting social. Members of the department donated cuttings from their personal collections, and we all met outside the Koch center for an evening of plant potting, snacks, and music. Members picked their favorite plants and were given care instructions. It was a great mid-summer break from lab, and everyone got to take home a new desk plant!

Women in Chemistry Merck Symposium May 23rd, 2019

The MIT-Merck Women in Chemistry Symposium was held on May 23rd 2019. This event welcomed more than 100 scientists from MIT and Merck to share their research and discuss their experiences. The day kicked off with of rapid fire talks by students, followed by a panel of women at all stages in their Merck careers, and closed with a poster session. Cassandra Zentner from the Swager group, Cassie Jarvis from the Kiessling group, Hye Won “Hanna” Moon from the Radosevich group, and Yunjung Zhou from the Buchwald group presented research and the poster session featured over 15 posters from Merck and MIT.  Thanks to Victoria Marando for, and to Merck for sponsoring this event!

Photo courtesy of Rebecca Ruck (Merck).