The following grants have been awarded under the 2008 New Scholars Program, providing support to the efforts of the academic and research community to address the fundamental challenge of balancing childcare and family responsibilities with demanding careers in science and technology.  To read more click here.

AWIS Leading Women to create their own Personal Work/life Balance

Association for Women in Science (AWIS)

 An Elsevier Foundation grant will be used by the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) to develop an educational/support program, including a toolkit with supplementary resources and extended coaching to enable AWIS’ 51 chapters around the county to help early-to-mid career women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learn to effectively manage their personal and professional lives. Building on an established network, this three year project will address the critical career point when women’s attrition from STEM fields is highest. 

Committee on the Status of Women in Physics

American Physical Society

This Elsevier Foundation grant will enable the American Physical Society to provide childcare grants to young physicist parents at the APS’ large annual spring meetings. The program addresses the critical role that professional societies can play in long term diversification within the physics discipline by creating a more family-friendly environment. It also aims to ease the financial disadvantage parents responsible for childcare may face in attending meetings which are essential to collaboration, visibility, networking, and a successful career.

Child Care & Mentoring Support at the Annual Evolution Conference

University of the Pacific, Stockton California and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington New Zealand

 This Elsevier Foundation grant provides an integrated approach to childcare and mentoring needs at the annual Evolution conference. The Society for the Study of Evolution, the Society of Systematic Biologists, and the American Society of Naturalists will partner with Elsevier to establish on-site, subsidized child-care service; a professional mentoring program for 50-100 pairs administered through MentorNet; and a themed key note lunch symposium.  Ensuring that young women researchers can attend this critical conference will help reduce their well-documented attrition in the field of biology.

A Program for Personal and Professional Development of Women Scientists in Georgia

Maternal and Childcare Union Tbilisi Georgia 

With a grant from the Elsevier Foundation, this project will create a framework of national issues, capacities, mentoring and support for women scientists in Georgia. While the Soviet era officially offered women equal access to education, employment and remuneration, no real or lasting opportunities were created for women to develop as leaders in science. To address these challenges, this grant will conduct a survey of 100 Georgian postdoctoral women candidates, a week-long training curriculum for 150 scientists, and build a new virtual network and website resource. Georgian women scientists from different regions and institutions will learn the tools, skills, and networks needed to advance their careers including developing grant proposals, managing research projects, publishing results, successfully balancing work and family -- and assuming leadership positions.