Women in Science at the MBL and Beyond
Every February 11, the United Nations celebrates the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Take a moment to celebrate the women in science at the MBL.
The Marine Biological Laboratory has always been a unique institution—it’s part of the “MBL magic” that many scientists and students talk about every year. Its founding was no exception. When the MBL was founded in 1888, it was unusual for its time in that it encouraged women students of science to apply on an equal footing with their male peers.
In the more than a century since, the MBL has had some ups and downs regarding women in science—the years between 1910 and 1970 saw a lull in female admissions—but has made great strides in the last 60 years in making the institution a place where everyone can study and thrive, regardless of gender.
In a world where fewer than 30% of science jobs are filled by women, we’re proud that 52.8% of MBL employees (and 50% of our resident scientists) are women.
Of the 463 graduate and post-graduate students who attended one of MBL’s 2022 Advanced Research Training Courses, 276 (60%) were women.
The MBL's undergraduate and high school programs also skewed strongly female—83% of the students in the Semester in Environmental Science (SES) program identified as women as did 66% of the University of Chicago's Spring Quarter.
Woman-led MBL News Highlights: 2021 Edition
MBL Team Discovers New DNA Modification System in Animals, Captured from Bacteria
Sea Anenome's Survival is Threatened by Current Levels of Wetland Pollution
Squid and Octopus Genome Studies Reveal How Cephalopods’ Unique Traits Evolved
How Venom Achieves its Dramatic Feats
What Controls Nitrogen’s Fate in Marine Sediments? Giblin Explores with New Collaborative Grant
Live Fast, Die Young: Grass Fellow Explores Octopus's Death Spiral
That’s Your Stomach Talking: Grass Fellow Studies Gut-Brain Link
What’s New Under the Sun? Offering An Alternate View on Evolutionary Novelty
What Can Frogs Tell Us About Childhood Adversity? Whitman Fellow Sally Seraphin Explores
The Anemone in the Coal Mine | Hakai Magazine
On Giant Seaweed, an Intimately Packed Microbiome
The Search for a Model Octopus That Won’t Die After Laying Its Eggs | The New York Times
Sweeping Study Details Essential Bacterial Community on Marine Algae | Phys.org
Does Excess Nitrogen Cause a Marsh to Build Up or Collapse? Team to Resolve Contradictions
MBL’s Zoe Cardon is Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
MBL Scientists Funded for "A Time Series Success Story" | Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences
Unseen Crisis: Threatened Gut Microbiome Also Offers Hope | Mongabay
Morgan Lab is Funded to Study Effects of Parkinson’s Disease on Synaptic Function
MBL’s Women-Heavy History
During its long history, the MBL has been a source of inspiration for generations of women in science—from Cornelia Clapp, who helped found the institution, and Rachel Carson, the mother of the modern environmental movement, to the thousands of female students who have studied in Woods Hole during the last 132 years.
Learn more about some of the MBL’s female leaders at the Legacy of Leadership exhibit.
Science and scientific discovery belong to everyone, no matter their gender, sexual identity, or color of their skin. At the MBL, we are working hard to create an inclusive environment for scientists, students, visitors, and fellows alike.