キャリアニュース2019年11月7～13日

Anila began to work on her poster 1 week before the conference. The quality didn't matter that much, she thought. After all, hers would be one in a sea of other boring posters, each nervously guarded by a grad student. “No one is even going to look at it,” she told herself. Anila—a third-year graduate student at the time—considered presenting a poster an obligation, merely what she had to do to secure entry to the conference. She scanned her computer for last year's template, replaced the old content with some new text and figures, and called it done. She was much more interested in scouring the conference schedule for cool talks by famous scientists, anyway. </br>![][1]</img> ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKER > “Presenting a poster … is a great opportunity—if you put in the time to prepare.” Fast-forward 1 week. The poster session was winding down when two scientists approached. Anila gave them her research synopsis and paused for questions. “Why didn't you cut the electrodes to

</br>![][1]</img> Students in the University of Washington's “DO-IT” Scholars program discuss data with an instructor. PHOTO: THE DO-IT CENTER The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—a landmark piece of legislation for the support of people with disabilities—turns 30 next year ([ 1 ][2]). As the ADA has aged, the culture around disabilities has grown, revealing that much more can be done. Legislation is helpful, but improvements don't have to come from the top. Nearly a quarter of Americans live with a disability, yet individuals with disabilities comprise just 17% of the entire American workforce ([ 2 ][3]), 9% of the scientific workforce, and a mere 7% of PhD-holders employed in science ([ 3 ][4]). Barriers to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers among people with disabilities include the lack of proper instruction, insufficient access to facilities and instruments, and not being accepted by peers ([ 4 ][5]). Students with disabilities report that

</br>![][1]</img> ILLUSTRATION: DAVE CUTLER Women experience substantial, gender-specific barriers that can impede their advancement in research careers. These include unconscious biases that negatively influence the perception of women's abilities, as well as social and cultural factors like those that lead to an unequal distribution of domestic labor ([ 1 ][2], [ 2 ][3]). Additionally, sexual and gender-based harassment is a widespread and pernicious impediment to the retention and advancement of women in many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)–related fields ([ 3 ][4]). Although there is substantial evidence documenting systemic barriers that women face in scientific careers, less is known about how research institutions and funding agencies can best address these problems (see references below and in the supplementary materials). We outline here specific, potentially high-impact policy changes that build upon existing mechanisms for research funding and g