EUGENE–They’re talented, accomplished and ambitious, but women faculty in the sciences are still bumping up against a glass ceiling that they believe is preventing them from reaching their professional potential.

A nationwide group of senior women chemists is putting its energy towards eliminating the professional barriers that women scientists encounter in their careers, through a new effort called COACh, the Committee on the Advancement of Women Chemists. The womens’ efforts have recently been rewarded with $1.4 million in joint funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Energy, for projects to be implemented nationally over the next 5 years.

"We’re delighted with the support we’re receiving from the federal agencies because it demonstrates the national concern for gender equity in the sciences and the importance of women to be leaders in the technology workforce of the future," says Geri Richmond, COACh chair and University of Oregon professor of chemistry. "We have a small but exceptionally talented group of women chemists in academia in this country, and we need to make sure that these women reach their full potential and pave the way for many girls and women to follow their path in the future."

Richmond is a widely published chemical physicist with an active research program and a distinguished professorship at the UO. She founded COACh in 1997 after discussions with many of her female faculty colleagues nationwide who expressed frustration at being overlooked for advancement. A recent survey by the American Chemical Society of the top 50 universities found that only six percent of full professors of chemistry are women.

"We’re fortunate at the University of Oregon, where 25 percent of our tenure-track chemistry faculty are women," says Richmond. "But this kind of supportive environment for female scientists is the exception, not the norm, and we’re working to change that."

COACh was formed with seed funding from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, awarded to Richmond and Jeanne Pemberton, a University of Arizona chemistry professor. COACh now consists of 18 women chemistry professors at universities such as Harvard, Brown, the University of California at Berkeley, Maryland, Delaware, Arizona and Kansas, as well as Barnard and Wellesley colleges.

The goals of the group include:

"The major push thus far has been to help provide our female colleagues with leadership skills and assist them in identifying and addressing the issues that are keeping them down–glass ceiling issues," says Richmond. "We’re helping them to more aggressively pursue leadership roles in the science community and to look for ways to amplify their careers."

COACh also is involved in the development of a data base of women in the chemical sciences; consulting services for departments who are striving for gender equity and elimination of gender barriers in their departments; and coaching, mentoring and networking activities at all levels.

The initial focus of COACh is on advancing the careers of women chemists and chemical engineers in academia. But Richmond says that she hopes their ideas and programs will eventually expand to other disciplines and to industrial and government laboratories.

More information about COACh and links to related sites can be found on the web at <http://coach.uoregon.edu/>.

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