The 2017 AWIS New Jersey STEM Scholars
Association for Women in Science New Jersey chapter offers scholarships to female high school seniors and Juniors, residing anywhere in the state. The purpose of the competition is to provide encouragement to New Jersey high school women who have chosen to undertake a science, technology, engineering, or math course of study. 
This year, applicants from all parts of New Jersey displayed especially high academic performance, were active in a wide variety of extracurricular activities, and received exceptional support from their recommenders. Essays were well written and thought-provoking, enlightening our review committee about the lives and aspirations of our applicants, and about the accomplishments of inspirational New Jersey women scientists.
Barriers and facilitators for workplace gender diversity
Creating Role Models across all gender Spectrum’s
REGISTRATION LINK: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=4gjx7fdab&oeidk=a07eedw2onf246d4470
July 27th, Thursday, 6:00PM 
Clinical Academic Building, 125 Paterson Street, Room 2144, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Workplace gender inequity extends way beyond stereotypical male and female roles. While misogyny gets some attention, other gender inequities often get overlooked. Preference by majority in the “other” gender spectrum to stay invisible often leads to lack of role models and sometimes, unintended perpetuation of stereotypes.
Association for Women in Science New Jersey chapter is organizing this diversity event to discuss real life challenges faced by many of us. Jennifer Long, a veteran military combatant will share her experience of fighting bias in the 
military, a direst work place for gender minority.
James Millonig, Senior Associate Dean of School of Graduate Studies, Rutgers University will discuss how gender minority can thrive in science and in higher education.
The objective is to raise awareness and dispel myths for improved perceptions about workplace fairness,
AWIS New Jersey Marching for Science
“Science, Not Silence”
AWIS New Jersey partnered with the New Jersey March for Science to support the national mission:
“The March for Science champions robustly funded and publicly communicated science as a pillar of human freedom and prosperity. We unite as a diverse, nonpartisan group to call for science that upholds the common good and for political leaders and policy makers to enact evidence based policies in the public interest.”
The march organized in Trenton war memorial by Prof. Matthew Buckley (Founder) and Elizabeth Meyer (Lead organizer) drew more than 3,000 peaceful and non-partisan scientists, supporters of science and advocates for evidence-based policies.
2017 AWIS New Jersey Women in STEM Mentoring Excellence Award.
Association for Women in Science recognizes that mentoring impacts not only the direct beneficiaries, but also induces a ripple effect. At our 
inaugural awarding event, meet these successful women panelists and hear their stories about how mentoring has impacted their professional growth.
Dr. Jacquelyn Litt is the recipient of 2017 Association for Women in Science, New Jersey Women in STEM Mentoring Excellence award.
Dr.Jacquelyn Litt is the Dean of Douglass Residential College and the Douglass Campus and Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies and Sociology. Dr. Litt has a distinguished record of scholarship, teaching, and administrative service that focuses on women’s issues.She is a national expert on faculty mentoring and consults on mentoring program development around the country.
New Jersey Assembly joint legislative resolution.
Association for Women in Science empowers andpromotes women scientists through programs that facilitate career development, education, networking, leadership & entrepreneurial opportunities. For close to 20 years we have been annually recognizing high school seniors and this year also Junior female students who reside in New Jersey and who demonstrate interest & intent to pursue STEM for higher education in form of Annual STEM Scholarships & Awards.
Association for Women in Science was recognized for the service on the New Jersey Assembly floor with presentations of resolutions to our scholarship recipients.
Spearheaded by Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker,the resolutions had bipartisan support from Pamela R.Lampitt, Chair Women & Children, Bateman and Ciattarelli. Additionally, it was supported on the floor by Maer Muoio, Valerie Vainieri Huttle, Eric Peterson, Gordon Johnson, Ronald S Dancer and John DiMaio
2016 AWIS New Jersey High School STEM Scholarship Winners
Established in 1995, AWIS NJ empowers and promotes women scientists through programs that facilitate career development, education, networking, leadership and entrepreneurial opportunities.
For close to 20 years, we have been offering STEM scholarships to female high school students from all parts of New Jersey who display high academic performance, are active in extracurricular activities and plan to pursue STEM careers.
The 2016 high school STEM scholarship winners were highly recommended. Their thought-provoking essays enlightened the review committee about the lives and aspirations of the applicants as well as the accomplishments of inspirational New Jersey women scientists. Our reviewers consider the winners among the top young women of scientific aptitude that New Jersey can offer.
2016 AWIS New Jersey High School STEM Scholarship Review Committee
Michael P. Shakarjian, PhD (Chair)
Roberta Batorsky, PhD
A Campaign for Mental Health Under Way at Janssen Research & Development, A Janssen Pharmaceutical Company of Johnson & Johnson
Have you ever thought of eating disorders with disdain, belittled them as a fad, a “phase”, or deemed them as a lifestyle choice? If yes, you are among many who overlook these serious disorders with potentially life-threatening outcomes as “frivolous.”
Our featured article for the month discusses the leading efforts to uncover the causes and potential treatments for illnesses like treatment-resistant depression, suicidality, and other mental illnesses.
SCIENTISTS DISCUSS THE NEED FOR SCIENCE ADVOCATES IN GOVERNEMENT
Snapshots from invigorating discussion “Funding R&D to enhance economic development”.
Media coverage in The Daily Targum
Rutgers Dept. of Neuroscience & Cell Biology Emmanuel DiCicco-Bloom MD, Princeton Plasma Physics Labs Andrew Zwicker PhD, Assemblyman Dan Benson (D-Mercer), Centre for Advanced Biotechnology & Medicine Ann Stock PhD, Association for Women in Science, NJ President Kamana Misra PhD, Human Ecology at Rutgers University Daniel Van Abs PhD, Environmental Analysis and Communications Group Rutgers Jeanne Herb and InnoPharma Navneet Puri PhD.
AWIS-NJ Science & Policy Panel 101
2015 AWIS-NJ STEM Scholarship Winners
The Scholarship Review Committee congratulates the winners for their efforts and performance in the Scholarship Competition considering these winners among the finest young women of scientific aptitude that New Jersey can offer.
1st place: Shweta Modi, Edison High School, Edison, NJ
2nd place: Katherine Chew, Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, NJ & Francesca Gualano, High Point Regional High School, Sussex
We would like to thanks our sponsors: Quatresian, Garden State Neurology, MD4KIDZ, Biothink, Coldwell Bankers, Orchid Consulting, Roshni Media
Scholarships are given to New Jersey women in their senior year of high school who undertake a science, technology, engineering, or math course of study in the college. Like each year, this year also, applicants from all parts of New Jersey applied. For winners we look for especially high academic performance, activity in a wide variety of extracurricular activities and exceptional support from their recommenders.
Winners also wrote well written, thought-provoking essays enlightening our review committee about the lives and aspirations of our applicants, and about the accomplishments of inspirational New Jersey women scientists.
The Politics of Promotion
The winners of 20th annual AWIS-CJC High School STEM Scholarships will be announced.
Arthur L. Johnson High School AWIS_CJC “Adopt a River ” team completes a year.
“Adopt a river” initiative was started by New Jersey chapter for Association for Women in Science to give high school students an opportunity to initiate and get involved in scientific projects that have a social impact. Simultaneously, the students get an opportunity to demonstrate scientific skills that involve team work and interaction with peers and experts.
The story as featured in the local newspaper
If you wish to participate or get further details, send an email awis_cjc@yahoo.com
AWIS_CJC at 14th annual conference for young women in STEM at Princeton University
AWIS_CJC supported the annual conference for young women in STEM, an initiative by Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Beyond the leadership representation as speakers, AWIS_CJC exhibitor booth introduced close to 500 young female attendees to “AWIS_CJC Annual High School STEM Scholarships” and “AWIS_CJC adopt a river Project.”
The Young Women’s Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics introduces middle-school and high-school aged girls (in 7th though 10th grades) to women scientists and engineers and the wide breadth of careers available to them in these fields.
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2015 AWISNJ STEM Scholarship Applications – Open
Click here to download AWISNJ Scholarship Guidelines for 2015 PDF.
Scholarship Application Guidelines:
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Deadline April 30, 2015 (11 pm)
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Winners will be announced May 30, 2015
Who Can Enter:
The scholarship is open for any female high school senior (class of 2015) living and studying in New Jersey.
Female high school seniors who reside in New Jersey (only), who are entering college, university, or any educational institution in the fall of 2015 and who are interested in studying any STEM topic.
The application process is simple and only requires:
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A cover email,
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An essay,
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& recommendations.
Send completed applications to awis_cjc@yahoo.com
Best of Luck! You could be the next winner. We look forward to reading your essay and supporting your career.
Who is representing you, the STEM professionals in Politics?
Kamana Misra, PhD, President Association for Women in Science, NJ
Should this be a wake up call for scientists? How many of us know, or care about our re
presentation in the Congress? Some disturbing statistics from the 113th Congress1:
- Congressmen with science background, ~7%
- Doctors with MD degrees, ~4%
- Engineers, ~1%
- PhD degree holders, <1%, (~0.5%)
So who is actually representing us? For Senators lawyers top the list followed by public service/politics and business people. For Representatives business professionals are the majority followed by public service/politics and lawyers.
Certainly, they are very capable and able representatives, but can they really understand the pain of downsizing a functional lab due to a funding crunch? The pain of terminating groundbreaking research projects due to lack of research staff? And worst, the pain of terminating employment of scientists, who have been taught to believe that they are the best of the breed?
Here in New Jersey, our representation is even worst in the two legislative bodies, the State Senate and Assembly. Amongst these lawmakers ultimately responsible for guiding New Jersey out of our economic downturn, we have a single MD doctor representing us. We all know that the states that invest in STEM are strong states. According to the Research & Development Council of New Jersey, 14 of the world’s top 20 biopharmaceutical companies are in NJ and we have the world’s highest concentration of scientific professionals2. By 2018, New Jersey needs to fill over 269,000 jobs in STEM. It seems to be a logical conclusion: We need to increase the representation of STEM professionals and scientists in the New Jersey Assembly.
More under the featured article tab
AWIS Statement on President Obama’s State of the Union
WASHINGTON D.C. — Tonight, President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of Congress on the State of the Union. In his speech, President Obama called for new steps to strengthen working families across America asking Congress to pass legislation that would allow millions of working Americans to earn up to seven days of paid sick time per year, proposing more than $2 billion in new funds to encourage states to develop paid family and medical leave programs, and modernizing the Federal workplace by directing agencies to advance up to six weeks of paid leave for parents with a new child.
The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) believes family-friendly workplace policies are essential to help retain women scientists, engineers, and technologists in the interest of strengthening America’s diverse, competitive workforce and advancing our country’s innovation enterprise. Creating work environments where employees can integrate the demands of career and family is good policy for both employers and employees. Paid family leave for mothers and fathers, a flexible workplace, and safe and affordable childcare are essential to this nation’s ability to attract and retain the “best and the brightest.”
The United States is currently one of only three countries, including Lesotho and Swaziland, that that does not offer some form of paid leave for workers. Currently, only 40% of the US workforce is covered by the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which permits up to 12 weeks unpaid time off for medical and family issues. In fact, a mere 12% of US employees have access to paid leave through their employers.
Work-life integration issues are having demonstrable impacts particularly on the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. In the largest global survey ever undertaken about work-life integration issues among scientists and researchers worldwide, AWIS found serious issues, including paid parental and sick leave, that challenge employers’ capacity to retain scientific talent, to sustain innovation within the science workplace, and to keep both women and men engaged in research endeavors. Nearly 40% of women respondents said they had delayed having children because of their careers, while 27% of males indicated the same situation. Most respondents noted that they could not afford to start a family on their current income as lack of paid time off and safe and affordable childcare were beyond their reach.
AWIS is pleased to see President Obama giving strong support to the case for improved family-friendly policies in all workforces. We join the President in urging not only the US federal government, its contractors, and funding agencies but also all workplaces to pursue the productivity benefits available from creating workplace cultures that accommodates holistically the work/life dimensions of the workforce.
January 20, 2015 Contact: Allison Kimble 703.894.4490
AWIS_CJC, Rutger’s Professional Science Masters, Quartesian & Harel consulting present
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Click on the images to get more information about the panelists:
Jacob Harel, Tanya Chowdhury Flora Ma,
2014 AWISNJ Editorial Board
2014 Editorial Board
“Adopt-a-River” campaign: A partnership between New Jersey schools and Association for Women in Science, New Jersey Chapter.
With an objective to get high school students involved in local ecological conservation projects, we invite you to partner with us to learn basics of water quality testing. Each school / team will have an opportunity to identify a river of choice in their neighborhood. Based on the material and instructions provided from our experts, school teams will be assigned simple tasks to test defined parameters of the designated water body. Each school team will share their results in a presentation at the end of the school year. The long-term goal is to make this a recurring annual event to track ecological parameters of different water bodies across NJ over extended time period with students providing valuable data each calendar period.
Click on the link to get further details and to register:
http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=4gjx7fdab&oeidk=a07e8tj18l80f2f76de
Snapshots from PSM rutgers, Jeiven Pharmaceuticals& AWIS-CJC joint Event.
Dr. Sangya S. Varma, Associate Director for Academic Affairs & Curricula Development, Professional Science Master’s Program, Rutgers.
Marty Jeiven, President Jeiven Pharmaceutical Consulting, Inc., President for AdiraMedica LLC.
Nazish Irfanul Huq, Associate Director of Clinical Development, Shionogi Inc.
Divya Patel, Project Leader, Integrium.
Carolyn Benslimane, Recruiter.
AWIS-CJC 2013 Scholarship Winners.
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2013 Scholarship Sponsors:
Jeiven Pharmaceutical Consulting, Inc.
Garden State Neurology & Neuro-Oncology, PC
Coldwell Banker, Real estate agent, Sangita Sancheti
AWIS CJC Annual High School Senior Scholarship Applications, 2013
AWIS CJC Annual High School Senior Scholarship Applications are now open for 2013
For full information follow the link:
2013 Annual High School Scholarship Application
Or click on the scholarships tab.
AWIS NJ Officers 2013:
Kamana Misra, PhD Smita Thakker-Varia PhD Gina Schaefer Doranelly Kolchev PhD
AWIS-CJC and the Douglass Project for Rutgers Women in Math, Science, and Engineering joint networking event.
AWIS-CJC & Rutgers PSM joint event:”Clinical research, a path not so less travelled”.
Directors of the Professional Science Masters (PSM) program, Rutgers,
Marty Jeiven, President Jeiven Pharmaceutical Consulting, Inc., President for AdiraMedica LLC,
Carolyn Benslimane, Recruiter with Valesta Clinical Solutions, a division of On Assignment and
Anthony E. Klon, PhD, Senior Medical Writer, Tricore Inc.
Snapshots from our networking event “Mentoring Essentilas for Career Enhancement”
Keynote speaker: Kathleen W Scotto, PhD
Look in our Media Gallery Section for more Pictures
2012 AWIS NJ scholarship recipients.
The Association for Women in Science, NJ chapter is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2012 scholarship awards. These scholarship winners have each demonstrated exceptional performance and a special interest in pursuing STEM subjects in college. Congratulations.
Gabrielle Goodrow
The Marine Academy of Science and Technology, Highlands, NJ
1st Place.
Payal Marathe
West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, Plainsboro, NJ
2nd Place
Amanda Autore
High Point Regional High School, Wantage, N.J.
2nd Place
Attend our upcoming networking event “Mentoring essentials for career enhancement”
Kathleen W. Scotto, Ph.D.,
Vice President of Research and Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Science
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
Kathleen W. Scotto, Ph.D. is the Vice President of Research and Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. She previously held the role of Senior Associate Dean of Research at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, where she is a Professor of Pharmacology and a member of the RWJMS-Cancer Institute of New Jersey. She received her Ph.D. from the Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences in 1984, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Rockefeller University until 1988. Prior to joining UMDNJ-RWJMS in the fall of 2004, Dr. Scotto was an Associate Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York (1989-2001) and a Professor of Pharmacology at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia (2001-2004).
In addition to her administrative roles, Dr. Scotto maintains an active NIH-funded laboratory at CINJ. She is internationally recognized for her work on the regulation of drug resistance genes that impact sensitivity of cancer cells to therapeutic agents. She is the author of numerous articles, reviews and patents in this area. The Scotto lab also studies the regulation of alternative splicing, particularly as it relates to the cancer phenotype. Dr. Scotto serves on multiple committees within the cancer field, and is on the editorial board of two cancer journals. Combining her dedication to the nurturing and training of young scientists with her passion for the translation of basic science into new disease treatments, she is currently involved in the development of a novel New Jersey state-wide infrastructure to develop and train the clinical/translational research teams of the future.
Dr Scotto has also been the recipient of a number of awards for her research and administration efforts. In 2008, Dr Scotto was named an NJABR Outstanding Woman in Research, and in 2011 she received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University.
AWIS New Jersey in Action. NJ Women in STEM Mentoring Award Highlights
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