ALC Undergraduate Fellows Host First “Womxn in Soil Science” Panel

ALC Undergraduate Fellows, Allie Pankoff ‘19, Elise Schumacher ‘19, and Alanna McLaughlin ‘ 20 recently put together a Womxn in Soil Science panel inspired by a #SoilScienceSocietyofAmerica presentation on the state of Gender Parity in Soil Science.

Allie on the panel:

Our motivation for the Womxn in Soil Science panel was to build community across the University by creating space for more experienced womxn soil scientists to share their experiences in the field. The event was initially inspired by The State of Gender Parity in Soil Science, a poster presented at the 2017 Soil Science of America conference, which highlights some eye-opening statistics on gender in the soil science fields. Our discussion centered on the experiences of womxn pursing professions in science; our panelists touched on persevering in the face of obstacles, the value of mentorship, and networking strategies.

Over 20 people attended our first panel, indicating the need for these types of events and a stronger sense of community among womxn scientists at UVM. Attendees expressed excitement at the opportunity to learn about the lives of womxn in academia today, and were reassured that not all career paths are linear in nature. Looking into the future, there is a lot of room for growth! We hope to continue what we started, and to have more events that are geared towards other underrepresented identities in the sciences.