Women in Science Symposium
The 2020 Women in Science Symposium held this week at Colorado State University focused on Building Bridges to the Future”
Dr. Danielle Adney has been instrumental since the first symposium in 2012.
Adney, a 4th year student in the College of Veterinary Sciences, helped host a breakout session on gender equity.
She has been watching the veterinary science field with interest.
Adney: “ When you look at the field as a whole, most of the incoming students are women. If you look at leadership on the national level a lot of those positions are held by men. We still have a lot to do and we don’t want to exclude men from the conversation. In an ideal world we’d move the place where it’s very equitable across race and gender and identity. So the goal of the symposium is to reach a wider audience and be as inclusive as we can.”
Before her studies as veterinary science student at CSU Adney completed a PHD in the Microbiology department. She says the symposium idea began soon after she started her studies at CSU, during a conversation with a professor. They had attended a conference and noted that attendees' experiences were likely colored by their gender. More conversations with additional faculty eventually became formalized CI or Career Issues groups which meet once a month. A few years later the group won grant money for a larger symposium.
This year’s symposium featured NASA astronaut and retired Air Force Colonel, Dr. Yvonne Cagle as keynote speaker Currently, Dr. Cagle is advising on deep space neurobehavioral research and polar analog simulations for NASA’s exploration missions
