46 The Israel Chemist and Chemical Engineer Issue 9 · January 2023 · Tevet 5783 Report Associate Professor Mindy Levine joined the Department of Chemical Sciences at Ariel University in the Fall of 2019. Prior to that, she was a faculty member at the University of Rhode Island from 2010–2019, first as an Assistant and then as an Associate Professor. Mindy’s research focuses on the development of novel, practical chemical sensors, using fluorescence and/or colorimetric changes, with a particular focus on the use of supramolecular, cyclodextrin-based chemistry. Mindy is also a passionate advocate for the promotion of women and girls in science, and was the recipient of the American Chemical Society’s National Award for the Encouragement of Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences. She recently ran Chemistry Camp for Girls in Israel, for 33 girls in grades 5 and 6, and continues to run high-quality programing for girls and young women to support their continued interest in chemistry. Abstract: The continued and persistent gender gap in the chemical sciences, in which more men than women choose to study chemistry, continue to advanced degrees in chemistry, and ultimately pursue careers in chemistry, is a deeply concerning phenomenon that has the potential to negatively impact scientific progress due to a lack of diversity among scientists. In this article, I summarize the talk that I gave at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society in March 2022 in honor of my receiving the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences. This talk focuses briefly on the problem of the gender gap, and much more extensively on ways in which we can address that gender gap and continue to make progress in enhancing diversity. exist. A report published by Linda Wang in Chemical and Engineering News in 2016 indicated that although some gains had been made in the percentages of female faculty, particularly in top chemistry departments, the overall percentage of women at all levels of academia remained disappointingly low (percentage of women by rank: 26% of assistant professors; 30% of associate professors; 14% of full professors). At the current rate of improvement, researchers estimate that it will take an additional 136 years to close the gender gap in the chemical sciences. Introduction This article is adapted from a talk that I gave at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, in a symposium celebrating my receiving the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences. One thing that is clear when we talk about women in the chemical sciences, is the fact that despite a significant amount of effort and attention towards addressing issues of gender disparity in the chemical sciences, significant gaps in the percentage of men and women in the chemical sciences still Agency, advocacy, and attention: A tale of encouraging women into careers in the chemical sciences Mindy Levine Department of Chemical Sciences, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel Email: mindyl@ariel.ac.il
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