WEST Symposium Promotes Women In Science

The inaugural Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology Symposium held on November 7, 2014 is aimed at attracting women to science and engineering careers.

AsianScientist (Nov. 11, 2014) – On Friday last week, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) held a public symposium showcasing some of the best female scientific talent from Singapore and abroad.

The Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology symposium, or WEST symposium, was held in conjunction with Marie Curie’s 147th birthday. Curie was the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize and the first person to win the prestigious award in two different categories—physics in 1903 and chemistry in 1911.

While women make up about half of the world’s population, only 24 percent of the scientists and engineers in the United States and the European Union are women; in Singapore, that figure stands at 30 percent.

Professor Ada E. Yonath, who was the first woman in 45 years to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009, was the keynote speaker at the WEST symposium. A crystallographer best known for her pioneering work on the structure of the ribosome (cells which help make proteins), she is also a role model for female scientists having received the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award in 2008.

Also present were more than 200 participants, including students from junior colleges and polytechnics, who came to listen to the women professors share about their scientific careers.

According to Assistant Professor Sierin Lim, who organized the conference, while Singapore’s ratio of female scientists at 30 percent is better than the world average of 14 percent, there is always room for improvement.

“Without women having a sizable presentation in the areas of science and engineering, less attention may be given to problems that are important to women,” said Prof. Lim, who received the Singapore L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship in 2013.

“Women of great influence can always be found throughout human history. In sciences we had those like Marie Curie, who had discovered radiation that made today’s radiotherapy possible while other women like Florence Nightingale and Mother Teresa were at forefront of humanitarian aid.”

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Source: Nanyang Technological University.
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