Welcome to 2014 with AWIS DC! This year, we are taking the opportunity afforded by social media to give you a brief “introduction” to all of the AWIS DC officers. We are here to help you, and if you spot us at an AWIS DC gathering, please say hi!
For our second installment in this series, please welcome our outgoing President Melissa McCartney.
Melissa McCartney has a B.S. in Biochemistry from Binghamton University and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from The George Washington University. She is an Associate Editor at Science Magazine where she works on science education initiatives. Specifically, she manages “Science in the Classroom,” a resource designed to make primary literature more accessible to students. Prior to joining Science, Melissa was a policy fellow at the Committee on Women in Science, Engineering and Medicine at The National Academies and a postdoctoral fellow at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
What do you do?
I’m a member of the editorial staff at Science, with a somewhat unique position. Along traditional editorial lines, I handle a small number of neuroscience papers. I also handle the prize essays we publish, including the Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology and The Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists. I also work with the AAAS President on the yearly Presidential Essay. Most of my time is spent promoting science education through Science, specifically through managing and writing content for “Science in the Classroom,” a resource designed to make primary literature more accessible to students.
What is your science “story?”
I grew up in a suburb of Buffalo as a girl with blonde hair who did well in math and science and my guidance counselors didn’t really know what to do with me. I was told in high school that I shouldn’t get a degree in Chemistry because, and I quote, “what are you going to do with a Chemistry degree?” Although Chemistry was really what I enjoyed most, I majored in biochemistry in college, because adding the “bio” seemed safer. In hindsight, I was working off absolutely terrible advice and was in a program designed to send everyone to medical school, but everything managed to work out OK in the end. I went on to graduate school, found an amazing advisor (for the first time), and went on to do a postdoc. About a year into my postdoc I finally confirmed and accepted what I had been thinking about for a while, that maybe the lab bench wasn’t the right place for me. I saw my boss and how he spent his days and I just had no desire to ever rise to his position, and what is the point of being somewhere if you don’t want to advance? I started going to career fairs and workshops and looked around for other opportunities. On my CV this part of my career looks nice and neat, as if it was all planned out, but I assure you there were a lot of doubts, disappointments, panics, and hesitations during this phase. Eventually, I was offered the policy fellowship at The National Academies, came back to DC, networked like crazy, and found my way to Science.
Why did you decide to get involved with AWIS DC?
I actually joined AWIS when I was a postdoc in Philadelphia. I knew I wanted to leave the lab and had no idea how to go about it. AWIS Philadelphia was an invaluable resource in this regard. When I moved to DC to do the policy fellowship at The National Academies I joined AWIS DC right away and volunteered for the Board soon after. I was so grateful for the support that AWIS had given me in Philadelphia that I wanted to pay it back somehow.
What is one of your favorite things about AWIS DC?
The energy. Our Board is energized to provide events and programs and our members are energized to participate.
What new program or event at AWIS DC do you like the most? Why?
Well, I am biased here but definitely the Mentoring Circles. Soo Kim and I worked on this program for over a year before we finally got it up and running. Our goal for the first year was to have 25 people participate and we doubled that. In 2014 participation, and enthusiasm, increased even more. I’m excited to see how the rest of 2014 plays out and to see how the program grows in 2015 and beyond!
In your new position, what do you hope you will help AWIS DC accomplish?
As past president I’ve been on the Board for 2 years already. It is amazing the changes that have happened in our Chapter in that short of a time, and the momentum for making AWIS DC even better is only increasing. My dream has always been to have every seat filled at our events, and while that does not happen 100% of the time it happens more often than not, which makes me really proud to be a part of our Board and I will continue to do my best to keep raising the bar for what AWIS DC can provide its members.
Tell us something personal about yourself: when did you fall in love with science?
To be honest, I don’t remember. But, I can tell you what keeps me in love with science, and that is images of hippocampal neurons. Specifically when some molecular biologist genius has been able to stain them to look like this: https://blog.neuinfo.org/index.php/news-events/cildesktop (Figure 2). I spent so much time studying these neurons during my time in the lab and I am just still in awe of how amazing they are, and how little we know about them, every time I see these images.