At the September chapter meeting Dr. Bonnie

Zimmerman, an assistant clinical professor of

Psychiatry at Stanford Medical School who teaches

courses on creativity through Stanford Continuing

Studies program, gave a very enjoyable hands-on

introduction into the creative process. Bonnie is

deeply convinced that creativity is a state of being

which is accessible to anyone: we just need to learn

how to access it. Everybody had fun doing two

minute exercises, such as making a mess on paper

with pastels and watercolors, while the discussion

that followed these brief exercises revealed

surprising insights into the nature of creativity. We

started thinking about how free we are to express

ourselves, how following familiar patterns prevents

us from trying something new, what internal blocks

stop us from feeling creative, etc. The insights

gained from these simple exercises can be applied

to many other areas of life. Bonnie suggested that in

order to foster creativity one should try to focus on

the process, rather than on the final outcome; be

open and receptive to new ideas; proceed in spite of

judgment by others; and be willing to break old

patterns. For those who are interested in reading

more about creativity, try these excellent books:

M.Ray and R.Myers ‘Creativity in Business’; S.

Nachmanovich ‘Free Play: Improvisation in Life and

Art’; A.Robinson and S.Stern ‘Corporate Creativity’.

If you have questions or are interested in taking one

of Dr.Zimmerman’s classes she can be contacted by

The past months have brought many personal

successes for AWIS members. Lisa Vasquez, a

member and mentor was recently married. Member

and former NCC representative Jennifer Hertz had a

mentor Michelle Illing had a baby girl, Nicole on

additions to their families.

As for me, this is my last newsletter before my

move to London. I’ve taken a one year position as

the cell biology editor at the journal Nature. I am

thrilled to embark on this great adventure, to being a

foreigner and to the career switch. When we return,

my husband and I hope to settle back down in the

I’d like to thank Mirella for all of her hard work as

newsletter editor. We will miss her, but wish her the

best of luck in her new position at Nature in London.

A special thanks goes out to Avital Bareket-Samish

for volunteering to become the new Managing

Editor. Along with the newsletter, our outreach

committee, programs committee, and membership

committee are always recruiting. The amount of

time you would like to commit is completely up to

you. Please feel free to contact any of our board

members, either at a meeting or through the contact

information listed on the back of the newsletter if you

would like to learn more. It is a great way to network

informally, give back, and above all, have fun. We

look forward to seeing you soon and welcoming you

On October 2nd AWIS Palo Alto held the first

Mentoring meeting of the academic year. The

meeting drew more than 60 mentors and protegees-

an exuberant crowd. We consumed delicious indian

food from Suraj. Helen brought us cookies for

dessert and Lyle Rice brought the drinks. Our

student reps Sarah Reybuck, Jenny Nyman and

Nahrain Kamber recruited protegees and helped set

up. We spent most of the evening introducing our

mentors – and heard some fabulous career stories!

The remainder of the meeting was spent networking

and making mentor-protegee pairs. Please join us

writer Paula Park reported that female life scientists

earn from 6% to 24% less than their male peers.

According to a salary survey conducted by Abbott,

Langer & Associates and sponsored by The

Scientist and the American Institute of Biological

Sciences. Similar studies recently by the University

of California, Los Angeles and the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology showed similar trends.

"In the United Kingdom and Canada, women may

suffer greater disparities in their salaries than do

those in the United States, though The Scientist

salary survey provides just a snapshot, not an

authoritative salary analysis."

Full text of Paula Park’s article can be read at

Calling all AWIS Members - AWIS is its

members! The first priority for us in the next year is

to DOUBLE OUR MEMBERSHIP. Help AWIS

expand as a network, a resource, and a voice by

broadening its membership base. For 30 years

AWIS has worked to ensure the full and equal

participation of women in science. Let us now work

together to assure a strong AWIS for the next

generation of women in science. Do you have a

friend, a colleague, a student, or a mentor who is not

a member? Ask them to join! Bring a guest to your

next AWIS chapter meeting. Share a copy of the

AWIS magazine. Introduce a colleague to the AWIS

web site. AWIS memberships make great gifts!

Reaching the 2002 goal is easy - if each AWIS

member recruits at least one new member!

We always need more mentors and you can join

the program at any time during the year. The second

email mentoring_awis@yahoo.com and fill out the

Mentor Profile form, RSVP and plan to attend.

Think you don’t have enough experience to be a

good mentor? Think again! Mentors listen, coach,

brainstorm, define options and offer understanding.

Plus, being a mentor can be rewarding and fun. Sign

up and help the next generation of women get off to

The second mentoring meeting for grad students

and their prospective mentors will be held on

campus in Hartley Hall (Mitchell Earth Science

were made after the first meeting in October. The

2nd meeting will provide time for pairs to get

together AND for additional pairs to form. The

meeting format will be small roundtable discussions

to facilitate getting to know one another. Your RSVP

is required by 11/11 (mentoring_awis@yahoo.com)

Expanding Your Horizons Conference at San Jose

State University, which will be held on Saturday,

March 15, 2003. The conference in Science,

Mathematics and Engineering is sponsored by San

Jose State and the Math/Science Network and is for

young women in grades 6 – 9. Approximately 800

girls and 200 accompanying adults attended the

2002 conference, and it was a great success thanks

to the help of many volunteers. We are planning

something special to commemorate our Silver

Anniversary of this wonderful yearly event for young

Each year, great volunteers come from local

businesses, schools and chapters of SWE, AAUW

and AWIS, and a number of businesses provide

financial support. We invite you to visit our website:

www.elstad.com/sjsueyh.html so you can learn more

about this Conference and see last year’s brochure,

which lists the workshops we offered in 2002.

Workshop Leaders have the unique opportunity

to impact young women in a number of ways: To

emphasize the importance of taking mathematics

and science courses in secondary school, to foster

awareness of career opportunities for women in

mathematic and science related fields, to provide

young women with the opportunity to meet and form

personal contacts with women working in

traditionally male-dominated occupations, and to

alleviate the isolation of young women who are

interested in math, science, engineering and other

non-traditional careers for women.

Many AWIS members have served as Workshop

Leaders in the past and the response is unanimous:

great fun! Katy Kuo Korsmeyer is a demo

coordinator and can provide materials and

suggestions for demos. In addition, it is possible to

volunteer as a helper - that way you are partnered

with someone who has done demos before, and

learn from her and help with setting up the

experiments.

The time to volunteer is now. Contact Kathy

Land at San Jose State to become a Workshop

leader or to serve on the Planning Committee or to

be a General Volunteer on the day of the event.

Kathy will connect you with a demo leader who can

MentorNet, the E-Mentoring Network for Women

in Engineering and Science! working in close

collaboration with AWIS

(www.awis.org/mentornet.html), is seeking

engineering, scientific and technical professionals to

mentor women engineering and science students

online! MentorNet’s Presidential Award Winning

One-on-One Mentoring Program pairs women

engineering and science students with professionals

working in corporations and government. During the

school year, mentors and students communicate by

email about career goals, balancing work and life,

course work, and many other topics. Mentors and

students can also participate in MentorNet‚s EForum,

an online discussion community. To apply,

AWIS-PA holds annual elections for chapter

officers. We encourage anyone who is interested in

running for office in the future to volunteer as a

back-up. Board meetings are open to all members,

and attending is one way to learn how decisions are

made and what officers do. Committee chairs are

appointed, and members are welcome to join any

and all. You must be a member in good standing to

hold Committee Chair or Board positions. Refer to

the back page of the newsletter and contact any one

These books, suggested by Mentoring committee

members were door-prizes given away at the first

mentoring Meeting on Oct 2. If you won one, would

you be willing to write a review?

"Be Your Own Mentor" by Sheila Wellington

"Play Like a Man, Win Like A Woman" by Gail Evans

"Getting It Right: How Working Mothers Successfully

Take Up the Challenge of Life, Family and

Career"

by Larraine T Zappert

"And Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou

"Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou

"Alternate Careers in Biotechnology" by Cynthia

Venture Capital. JP Morgan is interviewing for three

life scientists. In New York, a position as an

Associate is available as well as a position as an

Analyst. In San Francisco, a position as an

Associate is available. Please send resumes to

for a Biology Post-Doctoral Fellow for a two-year

position. The Fellow will work closely with the

Teacher Institute faculty in developing and

implementing institutes and workshops, working with

teachers in the classroom, and consulting on special

projects including publications, on-line resources,

and exhibition design. Send resume by November

Street, San Francisco, CA 94123 or by fax to (415)

561-0370 or by email to resume@exploratorium.edu

Venture capital is the top of the food chain for investment and management of

biotechnology companies. Join us for a special panel discussion about venture

capital led by three successful leaders in the field. This will be exciting and

informative discussion about careers in venture capitalism and future trends in the

7:00-7:30 pm Networking and light supper

7:30-7:45 pm Announcements

7:45-8:45 pm Program

Take Hwy 280 SOUTH, exit at Page Mill Rd and at the bottom of the ramp turn LEFT and head towards Palo Alto.

Turn RIGHT onto Coyote Hill Road. PARC (formerly Xerox PARC) is on the left, just past the crest of the hill. Enter

Take Hwy 280 NORTH, exit at Page Mill Road, turn RIGHT at the bottom of the off ramp and head up hill towards

Oregon is renamed Page Mill Road. Follow Page Mill Road WEST, cross Foothill Expressway, and take a LEFT on

WEST. Turn LEFT onto Coyote Hill Road. PARC is on the left, (follow directions above to Auditorium).

Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D., is Professor of Chemistry and Molecular and Cell Biology at UC

Berkeley, Head of the Chemical Biology Department at the Lawrence Berkeley National

Laboratory (LBNL), and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She is also

co-founder of Thios Pharmaceuticals, a newly formed company in the Bay Area focusing on

drug development in sulfation pathways. Prof. Bertozzi’s research at UC Berkeley spans the

disciplines of chemistry and biology with an emphasis on studies of cell surface glycosylation

pertinent to cancer, inflammation and bacterial infection. Her lab has identified new targets for

therapeutic intervention and developed technologies for studying glycosylation changes in

disease states. At LBNL, Prof. Bertozzi’s group works on the design of biomimetic materials for

a variety applications. Her work has resulted in over 100 scientific publications and patents. In

addition to her academic pursuits, Prof. Bertozzi is a member of numerous professional societies,

national and international scientific review and evaluation committees, and several journal

editorial boards. Prof. Bertozzi has received numerous awards including young investigator and

Clearly, women need to be concerned with their financial futures. But first, women

should spend some time enhancing their investment knowledge before they invest their

money. The best way to protect yourself and your family from life's unpredictable

financial circumstances is to maintain a comprehensive financial plan.

In this workshop, Desiree Oliver, a Financial Advisor from the San Mateo office of

Morgan Stanley, will address financial topics of particular interest to women throughout

7:00-7:30 pm Networking and light supper

7:30-7:45 pm Announcements

7:45-8:45 pm Program

Take Hwy 280 SOUTH, exit at Page Mill Rd and at the bottom of the ramp turn LEFT and head towards Palo Alto.

Turn RIGHT onto Coyote Hill Road. PARC (formerly Xerox PARC) is on the left, just past the crest of the hill. Enter

Take Hwy 280 NORTH, exit at Page Mill Road, turn RIGHT at the bottom of the off ramp and head up hill towards

Oregon is renamed Page Mill Road. Follow Page Mill Road WEST, cross Foothill Expressway, and take a LEFT on

WEST. Turn LEFT onto Coyote Hill Road. PARC is on the left, (follow directions above to Auditorium).

Tuesday, November 5

Panel of five women in Biotech

Venture Capital

7:00-9:00 pm

PARC Auditorium

3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto

$2 donation requested

Tuesday, November 12

9:00 am-5:00 pm

Women in Life Sciences Forum

San Diego Convention Center

Visit www.viti.com to register.

AWIS members use promotion

code DMAL to save $50 on

November 12-14

San Diego Convention Center

To register, please visit

www.bioitworldexpo.com

Program involves pairing Stanford

graduate students with mentors for

encouragement and support. No

experience required to be a

mentor. Make a difference and

volunteer. RSVP to

mentoring_awis@yahoo.com by

November 11

Wednesday, November 13

7:00-9:00 pm

Hartley Hall

Mitchell Earth Science Building

Wednesday, November 20

Carbohydrate Sulfation as a Target

for Anti-inflammatory Drug

Development

Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi

University of California at Berkeley

Professor of Chemistry and

MacArthur Fellowship winner

6:30-8:30 pm

Chiron Corporation

Emeryville, CA

Please visit www.ebawis.org and

Wednesday, November 20

Wednesday, December 18

Programs TBA

Please visit www.biosf.org for cost

Thursday, November 21

James P. Collman

Professor of Chemistry

Stanford University

Author of "Naturally Dangerous:

Surprising Facts About Food,

Health and the Environment"

Biltmore Hotel

To confirm the details and to

Saturday, November 23

An invitation to business owners,

leaders and professionals to

participate in skill building,

development of leadership

presence, and other leadership

qualities.

An exploration of embodied skills

and practices that allow you to

navigate uncertainty and change

with greater ease, trust and

personal power.

Waters Edge Hotel

Tiburon, CA

Register online at

www.bridginglives.com, by email to

Beata C. Lewis: beata@igc.org

Tuesday, December 3

What Every Woman Wants to

Know About Investing

7:00-9:00 pm

PARC Auditorium

3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto

$2 donation requested

Chapter dues $25.00 per year. Student/unemployed $10.00. Membership in National AWIS required. Pick up an application at