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girls who are considering a STEM career and don’t get the The ASA, via the WIA Committee, is always trying to
same support as they make that decision. Sometimes we just improve the number of women in the Society, such as
need someone to tell us we can do it. Honestly, without some through increased visibility, more positions of authority,
key mentors at vital points in my life, I may have dismissed mentoring, and ASA child care for attending scientists. The
my ambitions as impossible. I am confident that mentors regular luncheons have proven to be a highly successful
like these exist everywhere, especially in acoustics, and I way to network while socializing, allowing women to cross-
hope to be one myself.” fertilize their scientific and Society work. It is important that
women not only serve in administrative roles in the Society,
Importance ofRule Models . . . . . .
“ _ _ which can be very time consuming, but also in scientific
During the 2017 ASA Conference in Bosmn’ MA’ ‘W0 of d honorar roles. However as evidenced b this issue of
my female friends/mentors in acoustics took the train down :1 ti T 3 i akin ‘ ‘yd . b .
from Boston to have dinner at my home in Rhode Island. I “glue 3.5 0 Hy‘. women are g grea S n es m emg
_ _ _ ea ers in the science community.
The three of us, all scientists/engineers, returned from a day
of attending and giving talks in acoustics to find my husband Thus’ we eeiitimie i° ieam important lessons‘
cooking dinner with our 3-month-old baby strapped to his ' Menmiiiig is extieiiieiy ii“l7°i't3“t- Find 3 memo‘ 3“‘i be
chest in a baby carrier. As we sat at dinner, we were struck 3 memo"
by the observation that this scene would probably not have ' Networking is iiiwiuebie‘
occurred just a generation ago. I sat there with these amazing ' Talking ie oihei wome“ can make a e°i°sse'i diefeieiiee‘
women and realized how fortunate I was to have female The day is surely coming when a scientist is recognized by
mentors and role models in acoustics. We talked about the her achievements and not for her gender, even if we are not
importance of seeing women in roles that we aspire to, but quite at that day yet.
whereas I had a few women I could point to, they, who are
from different areas of acoustics (signal processing and Bioskatchaa
animal bioacoustics), both pointed to the same inspiration
or ‘proof of concept’ from when they were starting off in Marcia Isakson received her BS inengi-
their careers: Ellen Livingston.” neering physics and mathematics from
the United States Military Academy at
|:°n¢;|u5ign3 West Point in 1992. On graduation, she
In summary, although these stories are all quite individual, W35 “W3-"5-led 3 H9111 F0““d3‘i0“ F91‘
together they illustrate a number of points. First, from the 1‘ 10WshiP 31“-i 5°mPieie‘i 3m3-sieies ‘iegiee
early stories, we can see how some discrimination is simply in Physics 3‘ The University °f Texas 3‘
um allowed mymom A distinct imPmvgmgm_ 5gc0nd_ we Austin in 1994. Captain Isakson served in the United States
see that there have been significant pockets of sometimes Army {mm 1994 i° 1997 3s 3 i’3“3ii°“ °Per3ti°“s Oflicen
horrible behavior. However, women as a group do not She earned 3 P i1D in Physics fmm Tiie Uiiiyeisity °f Texas
tolerate such behavior anymore, and one hopes that such 3‘ A“5'-in in 2002- She i"3s been emPi°ye‘i 3‘ the APP]-ied Re‘
situations have been wiped out. Things do seem to have 5e3-‘Ch L3i’°’3t°i'ies 3i The Uiiiyeisity 0f Te-"35 (ARLIUT) 35
improved over time. However, one needs to always watch 3 "Search Sciemisi Since 2001-
:'::ip‘)ir:|l::ems, particularly sexual harassment, which can be _m‘ Alex Tolstoy was an applied mamemw
tician specializing in the wave equation
Many institutions have policies to improve the fema.le-to-ma.le and in acoustical oceanographyl under-
ratio in STEM areas; others are developing policies based on water acoustics/signal processing for
the growing number of women in the field. These policies over 40 years. She retired in December
typically involve keeping women in the system and getting 2012 and then transitioned into a pro-
them to return if there is a hiatus such as for family reasons. fessional artist (ato1stoya.rt.com).
Fall 2013 | Acoustic: Tnduy | 13