SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY SCIENTISTS Achim (from left), Berreau, Kovacs, Darensbourg, Behar, Crans, and DeRose.
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WOMEN IN CHEMISTRY Strong and healthy, the bioinorganic field provides supportive environment
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ESPITE CONCERNS THAT THE CA-
reer prospects for women chemists in academia are less than optimal, the Women in In organic Chemistry symposium cosponsored by the Division of Inorganic Chemistry and the Women Chemists Committee (WCC) showed that women are doing well in the bioinorganic field. The symposium is part of WCCs 75th anniversary celebration, falling under its theme of "Promoting and Advancing Women in Chemistry " According to Marjam Behar, WCC committee associate and retired scientific review administrator at the National Institutes of Health Center for Scientific Review, this symposium is part of a series organized to show the contributions ofwomen in various chemistry disciplines. Behar contacted Marcetta Y. Darensbourg, professor of chemistry at Texas A&M University, and asked her if she was interested in organizing a symposium high lighting the work of women in inorganic chemistry To Behar's delight, Darensbourg agreed to take on the responsibility. Because of the breadth of the inorgan icfield,Darensbourg decided to focus on bioinorganic chemistry. "I thought there would be a more cohesive symposium if we focused on one subarea, which just hap pens to be the subdiscipline in which I work primarily,,, she says. "This community, both men and wom en, has welcomed new talent, and it has a reputation for going out of its way to en courage young people into thefield,"ex plains Darensbourg. She cites the Gordon Conference on Metals in Biology as an 56
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example of a program that targets young scientists. Symposium presenter Victoria J. DeRose, associate chemistry professor at Texas A&M, stated at the start of her pres entation that one of the main reasons why thefieldhas such a good retention record "is that it is overall very healthy This is en abled by opportunities such as graduate and postdoctoral training in techniques through workshops such as the Inorganic Biochemistry Summer Workshop at the University of Georgia and a number of well-organized conferences." Symposium presenter Catalina Achim, assistant chemistry professor at Carnegie Mellon University, also took a moment to credit the Georgia summer workshop for helping her become a member of the com munity and succeed in this area. In addition, DeRose noted that "this area is a natural for assistant professors just starting their careers. There seems to be an unlimited expanse ofexciting research en deavors, and the field is inherently inter disciplinary and encourages collabora tions." Furthermore, she said, "there is a history of women leaders in this field." In planning the symposium, Darens bourg says that she was faced with ques tions that concerned her such as, "Is it really necessary to have a women-only sym posium in this day and age?" and "Won't it be a bunch ofwomen talking to a bunch of women?" But her fears were laid to rest when she discussed the issue with one of the speakers, who told her, "I love to talk about my work. Give me an opportunity, and Γ11 be there!"
With that, Darensbourg went to work, inviting women at various stages oftheir ca reers to participate in the symposium. She pulled together six women—ranging from a newly minted assistant professor to a full professor—who represent the wide diver sity of the bioinorganic field. "If we can make it, we might be able to understand it" is the motto of synthetic chemist Julie Kovacs, professor of chem istry at the University of Washington. Her presentation discussed research to make and model molecules that mimic the ac tive sites of important metalloenzymes. Lisa M. Berreau, assistant chemistry professor at Utah State University, also de signs molecules to study the active sites of metalloenzymes. She showed how she is able to use these molecules to investigate hydrogen bonding. Mixed-valence binuclear iron complex es were Achim's focus. Because she is cur rently in the process of setting up her labs, she spoke about research that she worked on as a postdoc. STANDING ON THE EDGE of a new field of research is DeRose. Her talk outlined work being done using various spectro scopic techniques to investigate metal binding in ribozymes and the resulting catalysis. Research on cell inhibition in yeast by giant oxometalate molecules—100 to 1,000 times the size of a cell—was pre sented by Debbie C. Crans, professor of chemistry at Colorado State University. This work is a divergence from her earlier research in vanadium chemistry and biochemistry ClaudiaTurro, assistant chemistry pro fessor at Ohio State University spoke about her research using photochemistry and ex cited-state properties of inorganic com pounds to effect reactivity in biomolecules. A biophysical chemist, her work general ly focuses on the study ofrhodium bimetal lic complexes. For Darensbourg, the success ofthe sym posium—which was attended by more than 60 people—was clear. "The excitement about interesting research topics was what filled the room," she says. "Each talk had so much discussion that it had to be cut off. Good ideas and excellent questions from the audience made it clear that this sym posium was about great young scientists and their cutting-edge research."—SUSAN M0RRISSEY HTTP://PUBS.ACS.ORG/CEN
