Morgan Lecture series

       The Morgan lecture series is a presentation designed to bring influential names to App State in an effort to encourage research and engagement in the scientific community. The speaker this year was Geraldine Richardson who spoke about international engagement and women in science. She told the crowd stories about her travels to other countries and passion to help science departments in colleges abroad find funding to teach properly. Some colleges she described didn't have even basic tools to perform experiments instead just having to read about them. In Cambodia some of the schools lack the funding to even pay their teachers requiring children who show up to pay instead. She was very passionate about having american colleges work towards improving the funding of those programs through partnerships.
       She also discussed women in science. Historically science has been dominated by males and cultures around the world didn't support women in those endeavors. She spoke about how mothering children would take women out of science for a couple years in which a barrier is formed that prevents them from returning. In Oman, for example, 80 percent of undergraduates were women but clearly in the workforce the percentage greatly diminished. Her work focuses on empowering and enabling women to stay in science by working against those societal barriers. Someone whom she gave as an example of the kind of work she strives to do is Dr. Moses Mossazi. He noticed women missed classes due to their menstrual cycle and a lack of available feminine products. He created a pad for the women there so that they could attend school. Dr. Richardson is an inspiring person who should be a role model to any scientists who wish to help others in their community.

 Dr. Richardson pictured center with two aspiring scientists in Uzbekistan.

Source:https://richmondscience.uoregon.edu/blog/geris-blog/