So much to blog about, so little time!

I'm in Boston for a weekend with my girlfriends from undergrad.  We haven't all been together since our trip last year to New York, and before then we hadn't seen each other in years, so it's going to be awesome.  I believe some movie watching, wine drinking and apple picking are on the schedule, along with a bit of sight seeing and general we-aren't-really-girly-girls girliness.

So, the highlights of things I wanted to blog about but didn't have time:

1. It's been a good year for women and science Nobels this year!   Two out of the 3 recipients of the physiology and medicine prize were women: Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol W. Greider.  They did the prize-worthy work while at UC Berkeley, Blackburn, now at UCSF,  as a professor, and Greider as a graduate student.  Blackburn used her platform as Nobelist to speak about the troubles of the UC system:

"Blackburn stressed that she and her colleagues thrive in the academic research environment that the University of California offers. The goals of academic research are very different than those of corporate research enterprises, she explained, because scientists are free to pursue questions that are not necessarily for commercial purposes or for finding an end product.

“This is such a recognition of the UC system that I was able to have the opportunity to do this research,” she said. “The UC system lets research happen in ways that go in all sorts of unexpected directions.”
Blackburn is hoping for more of the same, but acknowledges that budget challenges are taking a toll on the academic and research missions of UCSF and the University of California. She says it is important for the UC system to maintain access and affordability, so students can get a quality university education.
“I think UC is a huge boon to the state of California,” Blackburn said. “It’s a wellspring of ideas, of educated people, of innovation. And it sort of breaks my heart to see it being under attack – I do not mean that literally, but in this sad state. So we really need to do what we can to ameliorate this situation because what UC brings to the state is huge.
“I have been a tremendous beneficiary of it,” Blackburn added. “I was able to do research with really tremendous colleagues, students and trainees who were attracted to the UC system because it has such high standards.”"

She also talked about graduate students and women in science.  I think I like this woman.

 A woman, Ada Yonath, was a co-recipient of the Chemistry prize.  She was the first woman to win one since the 60s!  Physics also hasn't had a female prize winner since the 60s, although there have been some notable absence of prizes where they were deserved.  In fact, there have only been 6 women physics or chemistry Nobelists in its 105 year history and half of the went to Curies (two to Marie Curie, she won for both physics and chemistry, and one to her daughter in chemistry.  what a family!).  Also, I like that the newspapers are reported she found out she received the prize while working and watching her 13 year old grand daughter.

2.  The pro-public education advocates have been hitting the op-ed pages of major news papers.  The New York Times had two columnists write recently about the need to invest in public education.  Paul Krugman (Nobelist, incidentally), talks about public higher education in general and specifically about the California community college system, which is an important feeder, through junior transfers, for the UCs and CSUs.  Bob Herbert went to Berkeley for the September 24th protests and wrote a column on the troubles of Berkeley and what it means for the nation.  Judith Butler, a Berkeley professor, published an Op-Ed in the UK Gaurdian's fantastic Comment Is Free section (some amazing posts by very interesting people, check it out), explaining why the system is in uproar and why its partially about the direction of the UC system.  I'm not sure why it's in the Gaurdian, but they have a Comment Is Free section on the US so maybe it's not too out of place.  Lastly, Berekely's Chancellor, Robert Birgeneau, floated some ideas on the future of public education in the Washington Post.  I don't think they will ever fly, but at least he is thinking about solutions. 

3...I'll write more later.  Expect to hear about the connections between women, science and competitive sports, along with some new outreach that I'm working on.  I also have a backlog of recipes that I hope to get up soon.  Time to have fun!