Women in the American Scientific Affiliation

Janel M. Curry, Executive Director of the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA)

Dorothy F. Chappel

Roles of women in STEM fields, including social and natural sciences, have changed significantly since WWII. Studying the inclusion of women in the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) provides a distinctive gender-based case study related to Christian mission and the evangelical Christian community. Analysis of fifty years of newsletters, leadership statistics, and membership numbers illuminates the story of women over time. The history of women in the ASA parallels the larger advancement of women, while also illuminating unique challenges within the evangelical Christian context.

Read "Women in the American Scientific Affiliation: Past, Present, and Future" by Janel M. Curry and Dorothy F. Chappel

Dinosaurs on Noah's Ark?

 

Join us at the next CWiS Live! this Sunday, May 21 at 5:30 pm ET / 2:30 pm PT and/or on Tuesday, May 23 at 7:30 pm ET / 4:30 pm PT.

You are invited to attend "Writing as a Christian Woman in Science: personal experience from Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark with Janet Kellogg Ray." We will be listening to Janet talk about her recent book, Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark?: The Bible and Modern Science and the Trouble of Making It All Fit. She will share her personal story as a Christian Woman in Science and discuss the book publishing process as a professional writer in science and faith. This will be an enlightening time for those interested in the science and faith dialogue, as well as those interested in publishing their own work one day.

Janet is the author of Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark? The Bible and Modern Science, and the Trouble of Making It All Fit, A Study Guide for Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark, and releasing in October, The God of Monkey Science: People of Faith in a Modern Scientific World.

Join Zoom Meeting on May 21 or 23:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85174704294


A Study Guide for BABY DINOSAURS ON THE ARK?: https://amzn.to/3mLJ9Fu

Check out this book review by CWiS member, Kristine Johnson.

Related reading: An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 6; An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 7

CWiS Live in June

Loryn Phillips
CWiS Coordinator
The American Scientific Affiliation
218 Boston Street, Suite 208
Topsfield, MA 01983
O: 978.887.8833 


The June CWiS LIVE online meetings are coming up! Please join us and invite a friend. Here are links for the online meetings. These are also on our website.

Join the women of CWiS for a time of fellowship and discussion about being a "good and faithful servant" in the current socio-political environment. Some questions to consider for discussion include:

+ Are the words we use and the actions we take reflecting our own selfish desires or God's plan and heart?

+ Do you believe defending yourself is important?

+ What does science say about group thinking and systemic thinking?

+ What guidance does the bible provide?


Sunday, June 14 at 5:00 pm EDT
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86135433330?pwd=b293NUFzQXRUaGJXNDFvRGZTajJCUT09
Meeting ID: 861 3543 3330
Password: 138240


Tuesday, June 23 at 7:30 pm EDT
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86505656903?pwd=VW5wbUkwdEFuczdPR1VxZGdMNDdVZz09
Meeting ID: 865 0565 6903
Password: 779945

We invite you to join us at one or both of the June meetings.

Blessings,

Loryn

Dinner for Women in Planetary Science

Calling all Christian Planetary Scientists:

Please join us for the first LPSC (Lunar & Planetary Science Conference) Christian Networking Dinner.

Sunday March 20, 5pm at Uni Sushi near the Woodlands Marriott, The Woodlands, Texas

Questions or to RSVP: email Heidi Fuqua (heidi.fuqua@berkeley.edu).

Join CWIS on Facebook

Christian Women in Science has a Facebook page. Please join the conversation!

Related reading: CWIS Connections and Happenings

Scientist and a Christian: One Woman's Perspective

Lynn Billman

What If a Woman Wants to Believe in Both Jesus and Science?

This may seem a strange question to many of you, but it is not strange to a young Christian, “on fire for Christ” as we say, who is also on fire to know the what, how, and when about the natural world.   As Tim Stafford pointed out recently, such a young person from a conservative church background is at high risk to lose her faith in the pursuit of scientific knowledge. In fact, some bloggers or commentators today simply cannot understand how anyone with a rationale mind (i.e., a scientist) could accept the teachings and divinity of Christ or accept the Bible as a sacred and vital book.  

I was once in that quandary – well, sort of, because my path was the other way around.  Science came first.  I loved science in high school, and graduated with highest honors in chemistry at UC Berkeley.   As a chemist, I loved working in the analytical lab of a major oil company, identifying unknown substances, trying to figure out why this engine part failed, and so on.  It was mystery, logical thinking, and discovery. 

But by mid-life, my personal life was in deep difficulty – unhappy marriage, three little kids, no help, nowhere to turn.  Churches were familiar from my young childhood as places of solace, although I never did get the Jesus “thing.”  When I finally tried church again in mid-life, people were indeed friendly, and someone watched the kids for an hour for free. Then, at a women’s retreat I was desperate enough to try, total strangers loved so unconditionally, in all my pain.  I decided then that I wanted to see what this Jesus thing was really about – this Jesus that the women claimed was the source of their love for me.

That was 24 years ago.  I began to read anything I could find on Christ, the Bible, and living as a Christian.  I dug into apologetics and the “5,000 answers to tough passages in Scripture” with the same fervor I dug into analytical problems in the lab.  I asked the tough questions – I still ask the tough questions --  and, yes, fundamental Christianity caused some cognitive dissonance.  I remember asking myself, do I have to give up believing that life evolved in order to have the love of Christ that I so craved?   

Through my journeying, I have found that I can indeed believe in the scientific process with its flaws, in the Christian church (writ large) with its flaws, and most wholeheartedly, in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.  But I no longer hold “religious fundamentalist” views, in the general sense of the term.  My constant seeking of Jesus has taken me to experience many different Christian traditions, and some non-Christian, and my spiritual views have broadened.  But I see myself as a good example of how it is very possible to be a Christian and a scientist, without schizophrenia or other dissociative disorders!

There are others of us, too.  More than ten years ago, I found the American Scientific Affiliation.  It is a great place for people like me. ASA is a fellowship of Christians involved in all areas of science, engineering, and related.  We don’t take positions on issues, but try to provide a place for respectful discussion and scholarly investigation of science and Christian faith.  ASA members include Nobel Laureates and common lab rats, students and theologians – but all Christians, and all doing or involved with respected science.  We even have a new group within ASA called Christian Women in Science (CWIS link), because Christian women have even more issues pursuing a career in science, engineering, and related than do Christian men. ASA has a scholarly journal; as an example, here is an issue devoted to papers on evolution.  We also have an e-zine on God and Nature, with many types of interesting essays and insights for the less scholarly reader.  Lastly, anyone is welcome to join us at our annual conference, held every summer over a weekend, with inspiring speakers from a variety of science disciplines (coming up:  July 25-28, 2014, Hamilton, Ontario  link). 

Also, another great organization for those who pursue serious science and serious Christian faith is BioLogos.  BioLogos differs from ASA in specifically focusing on the issues about evolution, and striving towards a mission “to help the church develop a worldview that embraces both of these complex but complementary ways of understanding the world and our place in it.” 

So if you want to believe in both science and Jesus, you’re not alone.  Come, join us for fellowship and shop talk!

CWIS-ASA: A Place to Connect

Lynn Billman

President CWIS

Do you want to get acquainted with other Christian Women in Science in your area? Would you like to connect with other ASA-CWIS supporters in your state? Would you like to connect with other Christian women chemists, astronomers, or physicists? 

As a professor at a Christian college, would you like to know other Christian women professors near you?  Well, you can do all that and more by searching the ASA Membership Directory at the ASA website. 

The ASA Membership Directory is for members only and only appears when you sign in. It is not public information and this is the membership data the search engine depends on. So, if you are not receiving information from ASA or CWIS it may be that your addresses are not current. Check out the Membership Directory and update your ASA profile.

The search fields I find most useful are:

Name – to find one person

Location (i.e., State) – to find who is in my state

Profession – to find someone in the clergy, medical, government research,  and other professions.

Discipline – to find people in biology, astronomy, engineering, or other areas

After you decide how these search elements may be helpful to you, you have a choice of searching the entire ASA membership list, or you may search “Affiliate:  Christian Women in Science.”  Checking CWIS will help you find others who have signed up as members of our ASA group, thereby demonstrating their interest and commitment to the challenges faced by Christian women in STEM. 

While you’re at it, check out the ASA website in general. You’ll find a lot of interesting information – major science headlines, God and Nature magazine, information on the upcoming ASA annual conference (July 2014 in Ontario), and loads of great articles, blog posts, news feeds, etc., on science and Christianity. Check it out today!  And use the ASA Membership Directory to find other CWIS members in your area.

Related reading:  CWIS Charter, CWIS Board, CWIS is Here for You!

CWIS Connections and Happenings

Workshop on Public Speaking

The Southern California ASA chapter is hosting an all-day workshop on science and faith topics at the January 25 Winter Conference at Azusa Pacific University.  At the request of CWIS , Dr. Monica Ganas of APU's Film, Theater and Television has offered to do a workshop on public speaking!  We know most of you can’t get there, so we plan to record this and make it available to CWIS members.

The CWIS Blog

We are up to 22 blog posts now, with inspiring information on CWIS topics, and now all indexed by Alice Linsley, our blog mistress. Check out the INDEX here. Perhaps reading the INDEX will give you ideas for articles you might like to write. Write what’s on your heart about being a Christian woman in science. You can be published where other women who share many of the same concerns can read your work. Send your articles to Alice at aproeditor@gmail.com. 

CWIS on Facebook

We now have a CWIS Facebook page, courtesy of Kristen Tolson on our Board!  Check us out and like us today!

The CWIS Website

We continue to add content and refine the CWIS website, which is a part of the ASA website.  Since we are changing it often, we put “under construction” on everything.  Be patient with us; we are all volunteers and not professional website designers, and have no money for hiring help.  Nonetheless, we are making progress. Check it out, and send any comments or suggestions to Lynn at lynn.l.billman@gmail.com 

CWIS Call for Abstracts

The 2014 annual meeting (July 25-28, near Toronto, ON) has a special symposium for Christian Women in Science.  This is our “coming out,” so to speak, in the broader ASA community, and we need you to help make this a strong session.  Our intention is to raise awareness of gender issues and their intersection with Christian faith and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through high quality research that contributes to our understanding and actions.  Some ideas to stimulate your interest:

·        What issues impact the retention of female students in STEM fields and their persistence in professional work?

·        What are the barriers to success faced by females in STEM fields and how do they differ from those faced by males?

·        What is the Biblical and/or theological rationale for the appropriateness of female participation in STEM careers?

·        What does psychological research say about gender differences and their impact on Christian female participation in STEM disciplines?

The deadline for abstract submission is Feb. 14, 2014 through the ASA website. Details provided here.

Contact Gayle Ermer (germer@calvin.edu) with questions. She is the Christian Women in Engineering and Science Symposium Chair and serves on the CWIS Board.

Also, we are planning a social event and/or fellowship time for members during the conference. If you have any ideas for the format or timing of this event, contact Gayle at the email above.

Goals of CWIS

What are the goals set for Christian Women in Science (CWIS)?

• Encourage more Christian women to go into science, technology, engineering, or math and to remain active in their careers

• Encourage more women in the sciences to be bolder in sharing their faith or to seek Christ for the first time

• Help more Christian women move into leadership or management positions in science

• Grow ASA by outreach to Christian women in science, increasing gender diversity of ASA membership and leadership

• Provide connections, encouragement, information, and role models for pre-career and early-career women in science

• Support mid-career women with work/life problems related to being a Christian, a woman, and a scientist

• Provide opportunities for our established leaders to make a difference in the lives and careers of other Christian women in science, to share their wisdom and experience, and to be recognized for their service

The Board of Christian Women in Science (CWIS)

Lynn Billman, CWIS Board Chair
23 October 2013


The first CWIS Board was assembled during our opening months of operation. Given that this is a brand new organization, we relied on the Holy Spirit for guidance, and the ASA Executive Council for feedback, and came up with several criteria. We wanted women who have demonstrated support for the ASA overall, who had shown a strong interest in the mission of CWIS, and who thought they would have enough time to participate on the Board. As to the best number, we were finally led to try the biblical number of seven. Diversity on the Board seemed an important criteria for us to be able to successfully serve our desired audience, and we managed to put together a good group for our initial Board:

· Some Board members are professionally associated with secular institutions, some from Christian institutions, and some with professional experience in both.

· We are university professors, government research managers, one person with consulting experience, and one student.

· We include a chemist, mechanical engineer, plant scientist, energy analyst, integrative biologist, science educator, and aerospace engineer.

· We range in age from graduate student to retiree.

· Our Board calls are convened across all four time zones in the United States.

As we agreed in our Charter, the duties of the Board are to:

· Set policy and direction of Christian Women in Science.

· Determine the proposed activities for the next year that Christian Women in Science will initiate and sustain to achieve its mission and goals for its stakeholder communities.

· Recruit, select, train, motivate, and guide volunteers to implement these activities as needed.

· Respond to suggestions for new or additional activities as they are offered by the membership or others.

· As necessary, review official communications (blogs, newsletters, website material, etc) of Christian Women in Science before publication or dissemination.

· Report periodically on activities to the membership and to the ASA leadership.


Please feel free to contact any of the Board members with questions or ideas. We need your active participation to let us know what you need, what you want, and how we are doing! Thanks for your support.”

Christian Women in Science

Board of Directors, 2013

Ms. Lynn Billman grew up in Chicago, and earned a BS in Chemistry and a Phi Beta Kappa key from University of California Berkeley in 1975. After several years at Chevron as an analytical chemist and operations analyst, she began a 26-year-career at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, where she served as a senior energy analyst, institutional planner, science writer, and manager, for many different energy-related projects, until her retirement in Sept 2013. Her husband of 34 years passed away in late 2012, but she has four grown children, three spouses, and three grandchildren in the Denver area. She became involved in ASA in 2003, and was blessed with being elected to the ASA National Council to serve 2013-2017. Lynn is excited to able to help encourage more women to become involved in ASA, and to help other women scientists realize that Christians are not the enemy. Lynn was elected an ASA Fellow in 2009.

Contact Lynn at lynn.l.billman@gmail.com

Dr. Gayle Ermer serves as a professor of engineering at Calvin College, where she has taught mechanical engineering courses since 1994. Her educational experience includes degrees from Calvin College (B.S. Engineering – Mechanical Concentration), the University of Wisconsin – Madison (M.S. Manufacturing Systems Engineering) and Michigan State University (Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering). Her technical specialties include machine/system dynamics and manufacturing system quality. She has also written papers on engineering ethics, women in engineering, and Christian perspectives on technology, many of which have been contributions to the Christian Engineering Education Conference (CEEC) and to ASA, where she was recently elected a fellow. She is an active member of Jamestown Christian Reformed Church in Hudsonville, MI, where she regularly leads worship and sings on a praise team. Gayle was elected an ASA Fellow in 2013.

 Contact Gayle at germer@calvin.edu

Dr. Beth Kroa is a native of northwest Ohio. Beth majored in chemistry at Bowling Green State University for her bachelor’s degree and studied at The University of Toledo for a doctorate in organic and biochemistry. Inthe fall of 1983, her freshman year of college, she became a follower of Christ after reading the book of Romans in a New Testament she received from the Gideons. She worked in the chemistry field as a high school chemistry teacher, a research scientist, and university faculty member. She and her husband David have been married since 1986 and have one son, James, who has lived in his room in heaven since 2010. Beth is currently an assistant professor of chemistry at Bethel College in Mishawaka, IN, and she and David reside on a small farm in nearby Niles, MI with two dogs, a cat, and several chickens. She is involved in mentoring, discipleship groups, and music ministry at her college and home church and is often found at Gideon conventions and banquets as a testimony speaker.   

Contact Beth at beth.kroa@bethelcollege.edu

Dr. Ann Marie Thro has served since 2001 as a National Program Leader in the areas of plant breeding and genetic resources, in USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture. During 2011/12, “on loan” to USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, she worked with counterparts in the Ministry of Agriculture in Afghanistan. Her previous positions include service as Commissioner of the USDA Plant Variety Protection Office (1999-2001); Coordinator, Cassava Biotechnology Network, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Cali, Colombia; Technical Advisor, National Grain Legume Program, Gandajika, Zaire (now D.R. Congo) (1991-92), and Associate Professor of Agronomy, Louisiana State University (1982-1992). Ann Marie earned a PhD and MS in Plant Breeding and Genetics from Iowa State University; a BS in Agronomy from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and a BS in History from Bryn Mawr College.

Contact Ann Marie at amthro@gmail.com

Dr. Kristen Tolson is a postdoctoral research fellow at UC San Diego, studying the regulation of pubertal development and the interface of reproduction and metabolism. She earned her Bachelor’s degrees in Biological Sciences (BS) and World Cultures and Religions (BA) from California Lutheran University in 2004, and her Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 2009. Kristen is dedicated to both research and education, using her research experience to inform her teaching and bring relevance to abstract concepts. She works to remain active in the larger community through volunteer opportunities, especially in programs designed to increase scientific interest in disadvantaged and minority populations, and also recently began teaching Microbiology of Infectious Diseases at Point Loma Nazarene University.

Contact Kristen at kristen.utsw@gmail.com

Ms. Faith Tucker is the youngest member of the board and an educator by training. She brings her passion for students and early career scientists to the CWIS board. Her interest in the intersection between faith and science was sparked while double majoring in Astronomy and Religion at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. Since graduating, she has spent time working in astronomy education at NASA, teaching high school astronomy and physics, and managing communications for the Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is currently pursuing a Master's degree in science education from Stanford University.

Contact Faith at fcmtucker@gmail.com

Dr. Leslie Wickman directs the Center for Research in Science at Azusa Pacific University (APU), where she stimulates the dialog on science and theology by bringing in renowned speakers, and a full professor at APU, teaching Astronomy and related classes. Leslie has a PhD from Stanford University in Human Factors and Biomechanics, and an MS in Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering from Stanford, and a BS in political science from Willamette University, Oregon. She worked for Lockheed Martin and NASA Ames Research Center before coming to APU, and continues to consult for NASA, the Air Force, and other clients Her current projects include research on global climate change and national security issues, assessment of current and future space mission technologies and applications, human factors issues in extreme environments, and sustainable water reclamation systems. Leslie was elected an ASA Fellow in 2013.

Contact Leslie at lwickman@apu.edu

Charter: Christian Women in Science

CWiS Charter

Revised August 12, 2013

Christian Women in Science is a fellowship of women in science and related disciplines who share a common fidelity to the Christian faith and a commitment to integrity in the practice of science. Christian Women in Science was founded in July, 2013.

Mission

The mission of Christian Women in Science [1] is two-fold:

· To encourage Christian women of all ages to pursue, sustain, and grow in a career in science, technology, engineering or math, and

· To encourage women in these endeavors to pursue, sustain, and grow in the Christian faith.

 

Stakeholder Communities

Our community of stakeholders includes:

· We strive to serve those women involved or interested in science [2] in high school or college or just starting their careers, those in the middle of their careers, and those who are established leaders in their careers.

· We strive to benefit and support the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA [3]), of which we are an affiliate.

· We strive to bring special benefits to women who formally join our fellowship.

· We strive to serve the public with information and insight.

Goals

We have many specific goals related to our mission. The highest priority goals at any point in time will depend on the individuals that are available to help pursue those goals.

· Encourage more Christian women to get into science and engineering

· Encourage more women in science to be bolder in sharing their faith or to seek Christ for the first time

· Encourage Christian women in science to remain active in their careers and in their faith

· Help more Christian women move into leadership or management positions in science and engineering

· Grow ASA membership by reaching out to Christian women in science

· Bring more gender diversity to ASA membership and leadership

· Provide connections, encouragement, information, and role models for pre-career and early-career women in science

· Support mid-career women with work/life problems related to being a Christian, a woman, and a scientist

· Provide opportunities for our established leaders to make a difference in the lives and careers of other Christian women in science, to share their wisdom and experience, and to be recognized for their service

Beliefs

As an affiliate of the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA), we support the ASA’s statement of faith and policies: [4]

· We accept the divine inspiration, trustworthiness and authority of the Bible in matters of faith and conduct.

· We confess the Triune God affirmed in the Nicene and Apostles' creeds, which we accept as brief, faithful statements of Christian doctrine based upon Scripture.

· We believe that in creating and preserving the universe God has endowed it with contingent order and intelligibility, the basis of scientific investigation.

· We recognize our responsibility, as stewards of God's creation, to use science and technology for the good of humanity and the whole world.

Membership

The general public will benefit from the work of CWIS through information provided on its public website, and specific activities that the Board makes available to the general public.

· CWIS members will become members by first joining ASA and then joining the CWIS affiliate. The ASA has several categories of membership, including Regular, Associate, Student, Friend, and Fellow.[5] ASA/CWIS members in any of these categories (except Friend, by definition) will sign the ASA statement of faith as given above under “Beliefs.” ASA/CWIS members will receive special incentives, such as being able to access the CWIS affiliate membership directory, participating in special activities open only to CWIS members, or other member-only privileges.

· People interested in CWIS but not interested in ASA membership can become ASA/CWIS Followers. A follower will provide email and other information about himself/herself, and does not need to sign the statement of faith, but will not have access to the CWIS member directory or other member privileges.

Organization and Management

Christian Women in Science will operate under the rules and requirements for affiliates of the ASA listed in the ASA By-Laws.

The affairs of Christian Women in Science will be led and managed by the Board. The duties of the Board are to:

· Set policy and direction of Christian Women in Science.

· Determine the proposed activities for the next year that Christian Women in Science will initiate and sustain to achieve its mission and goals for its stakeholder communities.

· Recruit, select, train, motivate, and guide volunteers to implement these activities as needed.

· Respond to suggestions for new or additional activities as they are offered by the membership or others.

· As necessary, review official communications (blogs, newsletters, website material, etc) of Christian Women in Science before publication or dissemination.

· Report periodically on activities to the membership and to the ASA leadership.

The Board will consist of at least three and no more than ten CWIS members, who are also officially members of ASA. The perpetuation of the Board will be decided at a later date. Also, any other structure of the Board (such as President, Vice President, Secretary, etc) will be decided at a later date.

The Board will conduct its business through email, teleconferences, and other electronic means as needed, and will meet in person at the ASA national meeting each summer to the extent possible.

Directors receive no compensation for their services. Decisions about CWIS requiring dues of members, or some other type of financial transactions or funding, will be decided at a later date.

---

[1] http://network.asa3.org/members/group.aspx?id=117829

[2] References in this document to science, or to science and engineering, should be assumed to refer to all four areas of science, technology, engineering, and math.

[3] www.asa3.org

[4] http://network.asa3.org/?ASAbeliefs

[5] https://asa3.site-ym.com/general/register_member_type.asp