Rho Tau (Research Triangle Park Chapter) welcomed over 60 scientists to the 95th annual GWIS conference on June 25th!  Scientists (both male and female) from all career stages had the opportunity to network, share their science and gain first-hand science outreach experience at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. Early career scientists shared their research through traditional poster presentations and talks and also outreach themed table presentations and short public talks.

Our keynote was a captivating walk through the various avenues of science outreach and science communication by Dr. Holly Menninger, the Director of Public Outreach at NC State’s College of Sciences.  Concurrent sessions included a 3 person panel of leaders in the education and STEM outreach sector who gave important advice to those seeking an outreach career.  We also had the pleasure of skyping with a pillar in the science community Dr.Elizabeth Weisburge,who gave an encouraging talk about her career and the future of women in science. The final concurrent session was a peer-review of outreach presentations.

After the concurrent session, we had the opportunity to hear from 4 presenters including a GWIS fellowship winner! After lunch, groups split for Hunt Library Tours, Arboretum Tour and outreach at NC Museum of Natural Sciences.

Afterwards, we regathered for a poster presentation at the NC State Arboretum and continued with a  banquet dinner with our speaker Scott Huler. We also had a hard fought silent auction and a celebratory award ceremony to present poster and talk prizes. For special thank you’s see here.

How could we forget the fun times at the Thursday and Friday pre-conference activities! These days included National officer meetings and a fun Comedy Show outing at Comedy Worx!

The 2016 GWIS National Conference was organized entirely by Rho Tau Officers and our volunteer committee, whose dedication and wisdom made this possible. I thank you for your time and effort towards making this a great meeting.

Special thank you’s for our conference speakers and of course Winnell Newman (NCSU)

Dr. Sarah Council
Conference Director
President, Rho Tau Chapter of Graduate Women in Science (2015-2016)

We as a team also very much appreciate the support of the organizations and companies acknowledged in this booklet and all of you for attending the 95th Annual National GWIS Conference!

President- Kathleen McCann, Ph.D.

Kathleen received her B.S. in biological sciences with a minor in technical writing from Carnegie Mellon University and a Ph.D. in genetics from Yale University. She is currently an IRTA Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. She has mentoring, teaching, science outreach, event planning and writing/communications experience. Her goal is to make science more accessible by bridging the gap between scientists and the community.

Vice President- Meghan Rebuli, Ph.D.

Meghan Rebuli received her B.S. in Human Biology and Ph.D. from North Carolina State University in 2015 with Dr. Heather Patisaul, where she studied the effects of endocrine disruptors on neurodevelopment and behavior.  She is currently working as a Postdoctoral Trainee at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with Dr. Ilona Jaspers.  Her current research focuses on understanding the role of sex differences in innate immune response and gene expression in the airway when exposed to tobacco products and other toxicants.  Meghan has published 5 first author publications in high impact toxicology journals and has presented her work at a variety of national and international conferences.  She is currently a council member and program committee member for the Triangle Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience.  Meghan’s vision for the Rho Tau GWIS chapter is to continue developing new and interesting networking events for current participants and help to expand membership and attendance to new and upcoming graduate women in science.  She also looks forward to creating joint activities with the new Greenville based chapter of GWIS.

Treasurer- Susan Lyons

Susan is currently finishing up my PhD in the Department of Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She investigate the relationship between the brain, hormones, and reproductive behavior in birds, and I am specifically interested in understanding the neuromechanisms that underly motivated behaviors.

Secretary- Megan Serr

Megan is a PhD candidate in Zoology at NCSU, focused on conservation biology and invasive species. Before going back to graduate school I taught high school biology and anatomy and physiology to nursing students at a small university. In my spare time I like to herp ( look for amphibians and reptiles) and I am secretary for the North Carolina Herpetological Society.

Liaison- Vicky Cattani, Ph.D.

Vicky Cattani grew up in Argentina and did her undergraduate at the University of Buenos Aires, where she majored in Genetics and Evolution. She then moved to the US to attend graduate school at the University of Rochester, where she received her PhD in 2012. For her graduate work, she studied reproductive isolation and meiotic recombination in Drosophila species. Following her PhD, Vicky moved to New York University to do postdoctoral work at the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology. She is now a postdoc at North Carolina State University, where she studies the causes and consequences of plastic recombination in flies and worms. Vicky is also the Chair of the GWIS Fellowships Committee, and has served in the committee since 2014.