You can contribute to a large-scale effort to increase awareness about issues facing women in academia. As an SfN member, you have access to a series of Increasing Women in Neuroscience (IWiN) toolkits and related resources that are adaptable for your use at your institution or local chapter meeting. Each toolkit contains a 30-minute presentation that focuses on specific gender retention issues, such as recruitment, hiring, promotion, and evaluation. The presentations highlight critical data, real-life success stories, practical strategies for breaking the cycle, and ready-to-use tools. The toolkits were adapted from live workshops and made possible through the NSF-funded Department Chair Training to Increase Women in Neuroscience program. Explore the toolkits and related resources here.

Pablo S. Villar is currently doing his PhD thesis at the University of Maryland.

Pamela Yao is a senior scientist at the Laboratory of Neurosciences in the National Institute on Aging. Her work focuses on studying the normal functions of signaling pathways in establishment and maintenance of neural circuits in developing brains, and the pathological roles of these signaling pathways in age-related neurological disorders.