Women in Science and Engineering at Yale (2020 Edition)

Jessica Thompson instructing a student at the Hadar fossil locality in Ethiopia in 2012. Photo credit: William Kimbel

Women in Science and Engineering at Yale (2020 Edition) was inspired by the 50 Women at Yale 150 initiative, the University’s 2019-2020 celebration of 50 years of undergraduate coeducation and the 150th anniversary of female graduate students at Yale.

As curators, our goal was to show the extraordinary range and diversity of work being done by women in science and engineering at Yale in 2020 together with historical context about the first Yale women to study, teach, and research in these disciplines. (The historical material was adapted and expanded from our 2012 exhibit, Women in Science and Engineering at Yale: The Evolution.)

The contemporary researchers we profiled were initially identified through an email invitation to all female science and engineering faculty (professors, research scientists, lecturers, emerita). The exhibit was enhanced with advice and assistance from the Yale Women Faculty Forum (WFF). We wish to offer our special thanks to Reina Maruyama, WFF Chair, and to Katina Calakos, WFF Ph.D. Fellow, for her assistance with research and writing.

The profiles in the exhibit should be viewed as a broad representation of women faculty in the sciences and engineering as of December 2020. Despite extensive efforts and outreach, the list is by no means comprehensive. For the most part, we did not include physician-scientists; their work has been documented in online exhibits by the Yale School of Medicine. For a historical perspective, please visit 100 Years of Women at the Yale School of Medicine, created by our colleagues at the Medical Library.

Curated by Lori Bronars and Gwyneth Crowley
Marx Science and Social Science Library