Originally published on April 8, 2021 9:41 am
Boston University biology professor Pamela Templer is a real-life Lorax. She studies the effects of climate change on trees across New England: from the White Mountains of New Hampshire to the Harvard Forest in central Massachusetts, and in urban areas like the campus at Boston University along Commonwealth Avenue.
“I love working with trees,” Templer said. “I mean, if you look at them, it’s like looking at history.”
History, in this case, is a small, leafless hardwood tree. It looks like it might blow over if a good gust of wind struck it just right. But according to a small silver band wrapped around the tree to measure its trunk size, this one is actually growing pretty fast.
Grounded In Science, Climate Researchers Are Rethinking How Often They Fly wbur.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wbur.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
COVID-19 and Beyond: Solutions for Academic Mothers
After reading paper after paper describing the problem, scientists urge on- and off-campus entities to help female caregivers weather the pandemic through specific policy changes and approaches.
By
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Earlier this week, the National Academy of Sciences released a consensus report on the experiences of women in the academic sciences during COVID-19. The upshot of that report and others on the same topic is that the pandemic has disproportionately hurt the careers of women, especially mothers, who now require targeted, equity-based interventions.
While that publication is deliberately short on solutions, focusing instead on further research questions, a new paper in
Boston University scientists led a global team of 13 researchers (all mothers) from different backgrounds and career stages to author an action plan to foster a more equitable and inclusive higher education and research system.
Tired of actionless data about their lived pandemic experiences, a group of biology researchers all moms themselves strategized ways to help academic mothers recover and rebuild careers.
Over the summer and fall, paper after paper revealed that mothers are one of the demographics hardest hit by the pandemic. From layoffs and leaving careers to do caretaking, to submission rate decreases and additional service projects, the data were clear, but the follow-up less so. Many of the problems are not new and will remain after the pandemic. But a new paper published this week in
PLOS Biology outlines methods to help solve them.