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Dr. FO. Nwaokorie,

International President

Dr. Julie B. Ealy, President

(United States)

Message from the Desk of Iota Nu Presidents

Dear sisters in science, the last two months have been busy for our

officers who are putting forth every effort to balance the demands from

the work, of family and spiritual life, mentoring and learning, and other

social responsibilities. We are sure it is the same for everyone. No matter

what we still had time to package our e-bulletin to reach out to our

sisters. This edition features the minutes of our online meeting and

financial update. You should enjoy reading the story of one of our

members from Indonesia, about Francisca’s visit to California in the

United States, and the pictures of Susan Fetics and Julie Ealy when Susan

presented her research to Julie’s Bio439 class, bioinformatics, and

returned to learn from Julie. And most especially, the pictures of baby

Melvis and a visit by our members to the happy family. In the United

States Spring has arrived, flowers have blossomed, and the buds of the

trees have opened with many beautiful colors.

Francisca and Julie

- Message from the

Desk of Iota Nu

Presidents ----------1

• - Chapter news -----2

• - Special report ----4

• Opportunity for

members------------5

• -Iota Nu member of

the month ----------6

• -This is what a

scientist looks like

outside the lab----10

Dr. FO. Nwaokorie,

International President

Dr. Julie B. Ealy, President

(United States)

C O N T E N T

IOTA NU BULLETIN

Volume 3,No. 2,

May, 2015

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Attendance: Francisca Nwaokorie, Susan Fetics, Sherly Diana da Costa, Helen Nwaba, Monica

Natalia Gonzales Perez, Julie Ealy, Chidi Nosiri, Emelda Chukwu, Tsiory Andrianavalona, Zaidat

Musa, Judy Artley

Opening Remarks from Francisca and Julie

Introductions of members that called in:

Sherly – Germany, working on her PhD

Helen - Nigeria, working on her PhD

Susan - USA, Post-doctoral candidate

Monica - USA, a PhD student preparing for her defense

Zaidat - Nigeria, just completed her PhD

Emelda – Nigeria, Doctoral candidate

National Committee announcement has been added to the Iota Nu web site with details

Funding for members:

- Members interested in funding opportunities were advised to visit previous bulletins and

the Iota Nu website.

- Susan is actively applying for international funding.

- Iota Nu sent a request for funding to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation but the

application was not approved.

Iota Nu Skype Meeting

Saturday March 14, 2015. Start time 5pm GMT (London)

Chapter News

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Sherly learned about Iota Nu via a web search "international women in science"

Susan created a message board on the Iota Nu web site

Helen and Zaidat discussed challenges encountered in publishing scientific paper in reputable

journals especially the high cost of publication fees.

Francisca, on behalf of Iota Nu congratulated Emelda on the arrival of her new baby

The next meeting was scheduled in 3 month’s time.

Since the GWIS National Meeting is in June, members agreed to hold the next Iota Nu

meeting after that in order to discuss the issues raised at the National Meeting.

$1000 has been allocated for chapter development and would be utilized to implement related

activities. We have $1179 in our bank account.

Iota Nu has its own LinkedIn page! Follow this link and send a request

so you will be added onto our group page: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Iota-Nu-international-chapter-GWIS-8286332?home=&gid=8286332

Treasurer's Report

By Robin Woo, Iota Nu treasurer

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Between the last week of March and first week of April 2015, I had a 10-day visit to the USA to attend the 12th Annual DNA Technical Workshop organized by Bode Cellmark Forensics USA, at Coronado Island Marriott Resort & Spa, California. I had the opportunity to deliver a paper titled "Status of Forensic Laboratories Services in Nigeria, Challenges and Prospects". Participants were trained on the latest technology of sample collection, processing equipment for Human DNA analysis, and next generation sequencing and bioinformatics. Highlights of the workshop were lessons learned from forensic experts on:

Next generation sequencing and Forensics

Ethics in the discipline of forensic DNA

DNA phenotyping: predicting the physical appearance and bio-geographic ancestry from crime scene DNA and unidentified remains

Next generation sequencing and future legal challenges

DNA analysis in 45 minutes

I took time to enjoy being under the Colorado sun and a boat ride at the ferry landing.

Special report

My journey in California

by Francisca Nwaokorie

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Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge

The 2015 challenge will launch on 1st June

The Elsevier Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge is open to individuals or organizations operating in

the not-for-profit and for-profit sectors from all countries. Projects can be in any field of Green or Sustainable

Chemistry so long as they are applicable for use in developing countries.

Projects which are within their early stage are preferred. The winning project in the Elsevier Green and

Sustainable Chemistry Challenge willreceive a single payment of € 50,000; the winner of the second prize will

receive a single payment of € 25,000.

Projects will be reviewed against the following criteria:

Be replicable, scalable and sustainable and set a benchmark for innovation

Have practical applicability

Reduce or eliminate the use or generation of one or more hazardous substance, or provide a more

sustainable method for using resources, during the design, manufacture or application of a chemical

product

Be suitable for use in developing countries

Judging

Applications will be reviewed against the Elsevier Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge criteria by the

Elsevier Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge advisory group, comprised of relevant internal and

external Green and Sustainable Chemistry specialists. Those in contention for the short list will be reviewed by

an expert panel of external judges.

The shortlist will be announced on 21 October, 2015. Shortlisted candidates will be given the opportunity to

refine and elaborate on their proposals. Five candidates selected from this shortlist will be invited to present

their proposals at the First International Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference to be held in Berlin,

Germany, 4-6 April, 2016, where the winners will be announced.

Opportunities for members

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Inspiration:

I am passionate about

Environmental Science focusing on

Resilience and Disaster

Management, Community

Engagement, Risk and Policy, and

Education. In many countries, many

excellent ideas are written about

environmental protection in the

constitutions, policy acts, and the

educational systems, but there are no good

implementations yet. The process of achieving

a resilience is dependent on the integrity of the

solutions and there are a lot of approaches. The

process is the key to a golden step to develop

management of multi-cases that are happening

in many countries. In order to protect the

environment it is the responsibility of both the

government and the community.

Career Path:

I got my Bachelor Degree in

Education and Art focusing on

Conversation Analysis of Non-

Native Speakers and Native

Speaker of Canadian English in a

Catholic University, Kupang City of

East Nusa Tenggara Province,

Indonesia. My path of education has

moved to multidisciplinary studies

that focus on disaster management.

I was really concerned with

catastrophic disasters that happened on my

Island, East Nusa Tenggara. I did my MSc in

multidisciplinary studies, concentrating on

Geo-Information for Spatial Planning and

Disaster Risk Management, Environmental

Science, in the Faculty of Geography at Gadjah

Mada University, Yogyakarta Indonesia,

through an Achiever Scholarship from the

Ministry of the National Education, Republic

of Indonesia. I was the first and only student

from East Nusa Tenggara who concentrated

study on Geo-Information for Spatial Planning

Name: Apolonia Diana Sherly da Costa

MembershipType: Transitional

Member Since: 2015

Location: Jena, Thuringen Germany

Iota Nu member of the month

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and Disaster Risk Management. The MSc

program is connected with the University of

Twente, The Netherlands. It is the first MSc

Program on Disaster Management in Indonesia

and was designed by Gadjah Mada University.

My MSc thesis is “Resilience for the Flood

Event based on Community Perception in the

West-Malaka Sub district of Belu Regency,

East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia”. This

research is the leading research in the world as

there have not been any researchers who have

researched the topic of resilience and disaster

management in the affected area, the border

area between Indonesia and East Timor. While

I was working as a young researcher at the

Community Association for Disaster

Management in Kupang City of East Nusa

Tenggaa Province, Indonesia, my research

paper titled “Community Resilience for the

2011 Flood Disaster in Remote area of Eastern

Indonesia” was selected by the International

Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

(IIASA). I have been working as young

scientist for three months (June 1 to August 31

2014) in Risk, Policy and Vulnerability

Program (RPV) Laxenburg, Austria. It is based

on the selection of young scientists’ projects

from all over the world. Indonesia and

Australia joined the corporation with IIASA, as

the 20th members of the National Membership

Organisation (NMO) in 2013. NMO is

organized by the School of Business

Management (SBM) at the Institute of

Technology Bandung (ITB), Bandung,

Indonesia and the State Ministry of Research

and Technology, Jakarta, Indonesia. Based on

Presidential Decree No. 1, year 2013, I was the

sole and first young scientist from Indonesia

who worked at IIASA to support the vision and

mission of the President’s Delivery Unit for

Development Monitoring and Oversight of the

Republic of Indonesia through NMO. After

that, I was working as a researcher at the

Indonesian National Committee for Applied

Systems Analysis (INCASA), Indonesia. Prof.

Dr. Ir. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, MSIE., MSCE is

the head of the President’s Delivery Unit for

Development Monitoring and Oversight

Republic of Indonesia, NMO and Professor in

the School of Business Management (SBM) at

the Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB),

Bandung, Indonesia. After a couple weeks I

received a scholarship from Katolischer

Akademischer Auslander-Dienst (KAAD) to

continue my Doctoral Studies in Environmental

Science focusing on Disaster Management in

Germany. My doctoral thesis is titled “Building

Resilience for the Flood Disaster in Remote

Area of Eastern Indonesia”. I was the only and

first doctoral student in the Asian Department

of KAAD who is doing study and research in

Disaster Management. Actually, I have been

enrolled since May 2014 at the Institute of

Social Geography, University of Jena, but I

have been waiting for the result of the KAAD’

scholarship. Now, I am in the first year of my

Doctoral Study in the Institute of Social

Geography, Faculty of Chemistry and Earth

Science, University of Jena, Germany. KAAD

sponsors conferences in several countries in

Europe that can help the KAAD Scholars to be

well known in the development of their

scientific work and the Institutions who are

engaged with KAAD. Thus, my passion to be

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more seriously engaged in many scientific

programs has been increased. I was trying to

engage with more scientific programs by

searching the internet, and finally I found

Graduate Women in Science (GWIS). I would

like to be a member of this great scientific

program in the USA. I registered and became a

member of the Iota Nu Chapter. One of my

research ideas is based on my MSc fieldwork in

Flood Hazard Mapping Assessment. I improved

the methods of sampling by increasing the

number of households of those affected by

flooding and I added more affected areas, i.e.,

villages and subdistricts. I submitted this

research plan to GWIS. Through this research

topic, I would be able to conduct fieldwork in

East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia.

While, the research paper is already on Flood

Hazard Mapping Assessment based on

Community Perception was submitted to the

Alltech Young Scientist Competition 2015 in

Lexington, Kentucky, USA. I am actively

involved in scientific activities such as a

conference speaker in other countries and I

attend workshops and participate in training

programs.

Future Goals:

My goal is to help affected communities due to

the flood disasters in the border area between

Indonesia and East Timor. It will be

accomplished by not only building an

International Institution on Building Resilience

and Disaster Management, but also building

cooperation between Indonesia and East Timor

to protect the environment in the border area.

The Benanain River which divides the two

countries is one of the sources of flood disaster

and it is impacted by new multi-case solutions

(anthropology, social, economic, education,

law or legal policy). I would like to become,

through my future career as a scientist and a

politician, someone who can contribute to

Indonesia development by improving the

environment and educational aspects of the

country.

Favorite Pastimes:

I love reading, writing, singing and playing

guitar, photography and travelling.

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This is what a Scientist looks like outside the lab!

Sisters in Sciences! Visit from Iota Nu Nigerian Sub-Chapter

From right: Zaidat Musa, Francisca Nwaokorie, Emelda Chukwu, Ebele Afocha

Hiking!

Patricia Silveyra : “Hiking the Tinker Cliffs in Mt Union, Virginia (USA). With me is my 8

year old dog, Mandy”

Mother !

From Nigeria: Emelda Chukwu and her “bundle of joy” Melvis Congratulations!!!

Magda BOU DAGHER-KHARRAT from

Lebanon :“My daughter Marie-Lou (8 years)

and I while exploring Iris pollinators during holidays. The photo is taken by my son Jeff (12 years) at the top left”

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“Iota Nu member of the Month” and

“Thisis what a Scientist looks like

outside the lab”are two sections designed

especially to enhance the visibility of all members.

If you are willing to be featured in the next Iota

Nu bimonthly bulletin, send your information to

the corresponding secretary at

tsioryandrianavalona@gmail.com.

Don’t hesitate, we would love to hear

from you!

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Subscribe to the FREE bimonthly electronic newsletter, Iota Nu e-Bulletin!

Send an email request to: Tsiory Andrianavalona

tsioryandrianavalona@gmail.com Corresponding Secretary

Volume 3: No. ,May 2015