Great news for the Caesar lab--we've received our first grant! The American Society of Pharmacognosy is international in scope and brings together all aspects of natural products science. I've been lucky to be part of this organization since ~2017 and have learned so much and made many great connections with other natural products chemists who are part of this organization.
In addition to doing awesome science, the ASP also supports women in science with the Audrey S. Bingel Fellowship, which is intended to help a female scientist in the midst of a career transition. Women can face obstacles that do not appear to impact men to the same extent (motherhood in academia is hard, but beautiful!), and the ASP is taking strides to bridge that gap.
This grant will not only help me pay for daycare for my beautiful Ophelia, but it will help me fund a research student this summer, travel for fieldwork as we build up our microbial culture collection, and even bring some students to the ASP conference in Bethesda this summer!
Thank you very much to the ASP for supporting me. I hope we can continue to model support for underrepresented groups in academia, and show that academic careers do not have to come at the cost of raising a family and making time for friendship and self care.
Here's a beautiful article written by my PhD mentor, Nadja Cech, on the subject of motherhood and academia: https://motherwellmag.com/2022/11/17/how-to-be-a-scientist-and-a-mother-at-the-same-time/
As always, thanks for reading!
Cheers to badass lady chemists, and breaking the mold!
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