This award provides funds for a COACh Workshop for Women in Combustion to be held on July 31, 2010, the day before the International Symposium on Combustion in Beijing China. The COACh Workshop was developed by Prof. Geri Richmond at the University of Oregon and is designed to provide networking opportunities and teach leadership skills to women in chemistry. Combustion researchers work in chemistry but also in various other disciplines, and the workshop will be adapted to these needs.
The project is modeled on the successful organization and highly effective activities of COACh. COACh was formed in 1998 by a group of senior women faculty in the chemical sciences from across the U.S. who are concerned about the slow progress that is being made in reaching gender equity in academia in the sciences. Since 1999 COACh has developed workshops for women faculty that teach skills in negotiation, communication and leadership that empower them to advance their careers. These workshops have been designed to 1) enhance communication and negotiation skills necessary to achieve the professional goals of participants, 2) teach leadership techniques that are effective for women scientists in an academic setting, 3) provide a forum for networking with other academic women scientists, and 4) develop effective strategies for making institutional and departmental change that improves the climate, recruiting and retention of women faculty, students and postdoctoral associates.
The award has both intellectual merit and the potential for broader impacts. Scientific and technological advances will be aided by the interaction among participants and the skills they acquire for research and career development. The workshop will aid women already in the field, but it will further aid the next generation of researchers and educators and alleviate the long under-representation of women in the field of combustion.
1. Description and purpose of workshop Women have long been under-represented in the field of combustion. The Combustion Institute, the primary professional organization for researchers in this field, has about 6000 members worldwide but only ~5% are women. The Committee on the Advancement of Women Chemists (COACh) presented two workshops to Women in Combustion at the 33rd International Symposium on Combustion in Beijing, China on July 31 2010. COACh was formed in 1998 by a group of senior U.S women faculty in the chemical sciences who are concerned about the slow progress of gender equity in academia in the sciences. Since 1999 COACh has developed workshops for women faculty and scientists that teach skills in negotiation, communication and leadership that empower them to advance their careers. 2. Description of workshops "COAChing Strong Women in the Art of Strategic Persuasion" presented by Drs. Barbara Butterfield and Jane Tucker: Workshop for Faculty women In this workshop participants assimilated fundamentals of responsible negotiations and conflict resolution; they examined different points of view and aspirations of all parties involved. They used self-examination to discover personal negotiating styles and prepared case studies covering current challenges. Cases were taken directly from the group and participants had the opportunity to role play a case to a successful outcome. This session had 8 participants. "Career Advancement Tips & Techniques: What They Left out of the Lab Manual" Presented by Prof. Geraldine Richmond: Workshop for graduate students This workshop focused on skills necessary for graduate students to advance their careers and included discussions on specific techniques such as tips on negotiating a salary, searching for the right postdoc, and balancing personal and professional commitments. This session had 11 participants. 3. Evaluations from participants The response from the participants was overwhelmingly positive to the workshop. Both students and faculty stated that they learned useful skills from the presentations and valued the opportunities for networking with other women in the field of combustion. When asked what they like most about the session, the participants found that they particularly liked the interactive nature of the sessions and felt that using role-plays and working case examples gave them the best experience. In the graduate student session they were encouraged to negotiate for salary and suggestions of how to be an effective negotiator. The responses to these skills were very positive and we were pleasantly surprised to receive this from a predominately international group of students who generally do not negotiate. The evaluation also asked the participants to list what they liked least about the session and in the graduate student group, even those responses were positive. Comments such as session ‘too short’ to ‘everything was amazing.’ We did get some suggestions that more information about confidence should be included and materials should be handed out in advance. Even though one participant did not like introducing herself at the beginning, she noted that it was good practice and she learned to think about what to emphasize in an introduction. Some of the specific skills and knowledge the participants reported learning that day were the kind of resources that can be used in a negotiation and what is negotiable. This was the number one response. Some of the skills that are taught in the workshops are BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement), how to behave during a negotiation (best practices) and to speak up and ask for what you want or need. The evaluations show that the participants took away these skills and reported that it was "very likely" that they would use these skills in the future.
