Lynn Billman

To my amazement, I was elected to the National Council of the American Scientific Affiliation in December 2012.  When the Executive Director, Randy Isaac, suggested to me that there was work to do in the realm of women’s involvement in science, my reaction was "Really?”  I knew the participation of women in ASA was relatively low (one of the main reasons I ran for Council), but across the science establishment in the U.S.?  When I decided to major in chemistry at the University of Illinois in 1971, of course, there were few women students – and even fewer in the ranks of chemical engineering students – but today, in 2013, I was skeptical that gender issues in the sciences are still a problem.  

Always having faith in my executive director, and being a scientist/analyst, I dug into the data for myself.  And what did I find in the prestigious "Science Indicators” from the National Science Foundation?  Proof that Randy was right.  Along with this blog, we are posting on the ASA/CWIS website a set of slides that I prepared for our July 20 "launch” of ASA’s Christian Women in Science affiliate.  You will see there the numbers that aroused my passion for reaching out to Christian women interested in science, and gave birth to CWIS.  

Take a look yourself.  Our sisters in Christ need support to pursue and stay engaged in science.  Our sisters in science who are not Christians need to understand, at least, that Christians are not troglodytes when it comes to science.  Our mission in CWIS is to encourage Christian women of all ages to pursue, sustain, and grow in a career in science,

technology, engineering or math, and to encourage women in these endeavors to pursue, sustain, and grow in the Christian faith.  If you haven’t already, come join us!