We are securing funds for our next cohort of fellows before we can open the application process. We hope to begin the process in spring 2023.
All details of the application process will be posted and public here. Stay tuned for more information by March 2023. Do you want to be in contact with our team? Please contact us at: fellowship@500womenscientists.org. In the meantime, check out what a few of our fellows have been doing below.
Rose Bear Don’t Walk (She/her)—Ethnobotanist and rotating host of SciShow
Project Details: My fellowship project is Recover our Roots: Salish Ethnobotany for Community Wellbeing and it allows me to use the science of ethnobotany to make a positive change on my home Salish tribal community. During the pandemic I launched the Salish Plant Society which is an online resource available for native and non-native peoples to highlight the traditional ecological knowledge of the Salish people and how we can have positive healthy relationships with food plants.
How Fellowship for the Future has helped: The fellowship funds allowed me to publish my website as well as pay a local native artist to design our logo. Additionally, the funds helped me purchase a camera that I otherwise could not afford on my own and that has helped me create content for the website as well as informational blogs and resources I create. I was able to use some funds to create Covid care packages for elders and other community members featuring traditional food plants and medicines. In total I believe I created and delivered 37 care packages to Salish citizens on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana.The fellowship has also opened me to a new world of STEM and opportunities to connect, learn and share with Women of Color in science which is both inspiring and enriching.
Learn more links:
Social Media (Instagram): @salishplant society & @rosedontwalk
Social Media (Twitter) : @rosedontwalk
Jessica Tran (She/her)–PhD Candidate, Environmental Social Sciences (University of Minnesota), Yale Environmental Fellow, American Geophysical Union Thriving Earth Exchange Community Science Fellow
Project Details: My project team is working to map the impacts of the Tar Creek Superfund Site in northeastern Oklahoma. Designated in 1983 after the closure of the world’s largest lead and zinc mine, 74 million tons of lead-contaminated tailings piles, also known as “chat”, were left dispersed across the landscape. This contamination has affected the lands of nine federally recognized Native American tribes and the county’s 31,000 residents. Through mapping the Superfund Site with data layers that include future predicted climate change impacts (like flooding), it will allow residents to better understand the future of their community, advocate for stronger remediation efforts, and plan to adapt to climate change.I'm really proud of the map we created and the stakeholders we've been able to engage with thus far. The map has 18 data layers which includes mining waste, flood plains, tribal boundaries and more.
How Fellowship for the Future has helped: The Fellowship for the Future Program has opened a lot of doors for my project team. Financially, it helped support us by giving us the resources we needed to compensate contractors and purchase necessary data files. Additionally, through the fellowship's workshops we connected with Jordan Scruggs from Let's Talk Consulting on web design. Lastly, the fellowship's workshops have pushed me to think deeply on the equity aspects of this community driven research project. The workshops were invaluable tools that allowed us to set up contract work and network with other women of color.
Learn more links:
Syrita Steib (She/her)—Executive Director and founder of Operation Restoration; nationally certified and licensed Clinical Laboratory Scientist in the state of Louisiana.
Project Details: The Lab Assistant Program prepares currently and formerly incarcerated women to work in a laboratory healthcare setting and obtain training and employment, in partnership with Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women (LCIW), Delgado Community College and the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. This program meets the immediate needs for qualified lab personnel that have been intensified due to the global pandemic. The program provides stable, high-quality employment opportunities for incarcerated women after release. The Lab Assistant profession gives women an opportunity for upward mobility in laboratory professions
How Fellowship for the Future has helped: The fellowship program has supported by covering some of the student costs -- transportation, uniforms, and food.
What are you most proud of accomplishing with your project? I'm most proud of the official launch of the Lab Assistant Program, which took place on April 25, 2022. We have 15 women in the first cohort, and they are so excited for this opportunity and the doors that will open with new acquired skills.
Learn more links:
Social Media (Twitter): @theor_nola