Women in Science and Engineering on The Carpentries

Bank of America Merrill Lynch to sponsor the first Workshop for Women in Science and Engineering in the UK

Tue, 08 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We are very happy to announce that the first UK Software Carpentry Workshop for Women in Science and Engineering received generous support from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The event will take place on 14 and 15th December at the University of Manchester.

Intel to sponsor the first Workshop for Women in Science and Engineering in the UK

Thu, 03 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We are very happy to announce that the first UK Software Carpentry Workshop for Women in Science and Engineering received generous support from Intel. The event will take place on 14 and 15th December at the University of Manchester.

Software Carpentry for Women in Science and Engineering UK

Wed, 28 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The Software Sustainability Institute in collaboration with ARCHER and Women in HPC is organising the first Software Carpentry workshop for Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) in the UK. The event will take place at the University of Manchester on 14-15 December 2015.

WiSE Workshop at UC Davis Aug 17-18

Thu, 23 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We are pleased to announce that the latest in our series of workshops for women in science and engineering will be held at UC Davis on August 17-18, 2015. This workshop is aimed at those in science, engineering, medicine, or related fields who identify as women, female, or on the non-binary spectrum. Our instructors are experienced with creating safe spaces for those on the trans* spectrum, and one openly identifies as a trans woman; ensuring that we maintain an inclusive environment is a top priority for this workshop. For more information, or to register, please see the workshop website.

Reflections Following a Women in Science Workshop

Sun, 12 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The number of women pursuing careers in STEM fields has increased over the last few decades, yet, there are still major gender gaps in the areas of mathematics, computer science, engineering and physics (Hill, Corbettt and St Rose, 2010). In the US, women make up close to 50% of the work force yet the percentage of STEM jobs occupied by women is only 25% (Beede, Julian, Langdon, McKittrick, Khan, and Doms, 2011). Part of this gap may be linked to biases and stereotypes that suggest "boys are better than girls" at math. These stereotypes can affect a girl's performance on tests and her perceived skill at math, ultimately influencing her decision to pursue a career and education in fields that require a foundation in mathematics and computing (Shapiro and Williams, 2011; Gunderson, Ramirez, Levine, and Beilock, 2012).

How does this relate to Software Carpentry? Software Carpentry's mission is "to teach researchers basic lab skills for scientific computing." Given that female participants may experience an added anxiety related to gender biases when learning computing skills, Software Carpentry instructors should be aware of these stereotypes and how they might affect their learners. Further, workshops with at least one female instructor can counteract these stereotypes by showing that women are skillful in computing tasks.

But how much intervention is necessary and could extra support for women actually be a detriment? Following a Data and Software Carpentry workshop for Women in Science at the University of British Columbia, we have thought about the advantages and disadvantages of holding a workshop for women only. We have posed the following question:

"Is a women-only Software Carpentry workshop helpful or harmful for increasing the number of women in STEM?" A few points in each category are given below.

Feedback from WiSE in Krakow

Sat, 13 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

A week ago Krakow in Poland hosted the Software Carpentry workshop for Women in Science and Engineering. The registration filled up within 72 hours which clearly shows the need for such events.

Google to Support WiSE Poland

Fri, 05 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We are happy to announce that Google will support the Software Carpentry workshop for Women in Science and Engineering which will take place this weekend in Krakow! We are grateful for their support, and look forward to the event; to which registration filled up within 72 hours!

Announcing WiSE Krakow!

Sun, 23 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

After running several Software Carpentry workshops for women in science and engineering in North America, we are moving east: on 6th and 7th December we will run a WiSE workshop in Krakow, Poland.

Like previous WiSE workshops, this one is open to women at all stages of their research careers, from graduate students, post-docs, and faculty to staff scientists at hospitals and in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. The instructors at the workshop will be Paulina Lach of Krakow's University of Science and Technology AGH and Aleksandra Pawlik, the Software Sustainability Institute's Training Leader. The helpers are Agnieszka Celińska (Pedagogical University of Krakow), Iwona Grelowska (University of Science and Technology AGH), Patrycja Radaczyńska (Creativestyle), and Anna Ślimak (Lunar Logic).

Announcing Two More WiSE Bootcamps

Mon, 26 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Thanks to generous support from Waterfront International and Stevens Capital Management, we are pleased to announce that we are running two bootcamps for women in science and engineering this summer: one in Philadelphia on June 24-25, and the other in Toronto on July 8-9. Both bootcamps are open to female graduate students, post-docs, and faculty in science, engineering, and medicine, particularly those interested in analyzing large data, and build on previous WiSE bootcamps in Boston in 2013 and Berkeley earlier this year.

Wise as Athena...

Thu, 01 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Katy Huff has written an article for the Berkeley Science Review about our recent bootcamp for women in science and engineering in California. It's a good summary of what Software Carpentry is all about as well—please check it out.

Workshop for Women in Science and Engineering: April 14-15 at LBL

Tue, 28 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We're very pleased to announce that registration is now open for our second workshop for Women In Science and Engineering, which will be held at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on April 14-15, 2014. We have a stellar roster of instructors and room for over 100 learners, so please sign up early and pass the word on to your friends and colleagues.

WiSE Bootcamp at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Fri, 29 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We are very pleased to announce that our second bootcamp for women in science and engineering will be held at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on April 14-15, 2014. This event is a sequel to our first WiSE bootcamp in Boston this past June, and we hope to once again fill three rooms with over 120 learners. If you are interested, please mark the dates in your calendar—registration will open in January.

WiSE Bootcamp Roundup

Fri, 05 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

It's been over a week since our first bootcamp for women in science and engineering wrapped up in Boston, and feedback has been coming in pretty steadily. In no particular order:

After WISE

Thu, 27 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Our first bootcamp for women in science and engineering is just wrapping up in Boston. It's gone very well—we'll be posting a summary soon, but in the meanwhile, here are a few things attendees can do as follow-up:

Announcing a Bootcamp for Women in Science and Engineering

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

On June 24-25, 2013, Software Carpentry will run a computing skills bootcamp in Boston for women in science, engineering, and medicine. With three rooms and six instructors, it will be one of the biggest events we've ever done.

bootcamps alternate short tutorials with hands-on practical exercises. Learners are taught tools and concepts they can use immediately to increase their productivity and improve confidence in their results. Topics covered include the Unix shell, version control, basic Python programming, testing, and debugging—the core skills needed to write, test and manage research software.