Intro to femgineering

So I recently came across Female Science Professor's blog, and as a mentor-starved femgineer, I sat there for a couple hours reading about the wonders that (hopefully) lie ahead of me in academic life (yes, I started reading at the 1st blog entry). I then thought to myself, hey, maybe someone would care about the early career travails and successes of a female scientist. I know I question other women every chance I get about their choices and paths. And even if no one ends up reading my blog other than my husband, at least it'll encourage me to keep journaling (which is a surprisingly useful tool for staying sane in stressful times).

Then came the question of anonymity. My new electronic mentor, FSP's blog, is anonymous. That makes sense considering some of the departmental politics she posts about (plus it would be weird to have all your students have instant access to your personal life / thoughts). But I thought, why should I be? Hmmm.... maybe because I'd actually like to be hired by a university some day? Maybe because some engineering departments would hesitate to have their 1st female hire (yes, many departments are still 100% mengineering) be an outspoken, opinionated, blog-happy assistant professor?

My partial bio:

• B.S. in Engineering from Major Research University 1 (MRU 1)
• Ph.D. in Engineering from MRU 2
• Postdoctoral studies (in progress) from MRU 3
• Faculty member at MRU 4 (this one is the dream)

<removed>. (The language is borrowed from Mason & Ekman's book "Mothers on the Fast Track". <removed>) Suffice it to say that money is not everything, and that is one of >20 reasons I think academia is the perfect fit for many femgineers. This is a crazy statement and I'll have to defend it, but that will wait for another post.