The roundtable opens with historical context, referencing a 4,700-year-old Egyptian hieroglyph identifying Merit-Ptah as "the Chief Physician." The event examines gender gaps in STEM fields, exploring how disparities widen through undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral, and academic career stages. Key questions addressed include whether scientific abilities differ by gender, the relative influences of nature versus nurture, and the prevalence of sexism in scientific professions. The discussion encompasses challenges faced by successful women scientists and strategies for advancing equal opportunity.
Speakers
Cristina Alberini
Professor in the Center for Neural Science, New York University
Twenty-year researcher studying biological mechanisms of long-term memory, focusing on consolidation and reconsolidation, the processes by which newly learned information become long-lasting memories.
Priyamvada Natarajan
Professor of Astronomy and Physics, Yale University
Research focuses on dark matter, dark energy, and black holes. Known for gravitational lensing contributions addressing two of the most challenging problems in cosmology.
Liz Phelps
Julius Silver Professor of Psychology and Neural Science, New York University
PhD from Princeton (1989), former Yale faculty (until 1999). Laboratory conducts groundbreaking research on how the human brain processes emotion.
Tal Rabin
Research Staff Member and Manager of Cryptographic Research Group, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
Research focuses on secure multiparty computation, threshold cryptography and proactive security.
Anna Ziegler
Playwright
Works produced at major theaters including Seattle Repertory Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, and various regional venues.
Media
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