Tuesday, August 02, 2022

 

Engineers repurpose 19th-century photography technique to make stretchy, color-changing films

The technique opens a door to manufacturing of pressure-monitoring bandages, shade-shifting fabrics, or touch-sensing robots

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Stretchy Optics 

IMAGE: BY APPLYING A 19TH-CENTURY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUE TO MODERN HOLOGRAPHIC MATERIALS, AN MIT TEAM HAS PRINTED LARGE-SCALE IMAGES ONTO ELASTIC MATERIALS THAT WHEN STRETCHED CAN TRANSFORM THEIR COLOR, REFLECTING DIFFERENT WAVELENGTHS AS THE MATERIAL IS STRAINED. view more 

CREDIT: COURTESY OF MATHIAS KOLLE, BENJAMIN MILLER ET. AL

Imagine stretching a piece of film to reveal a hidden message. Or checking an arm band’s color to gauge muscle mass. Or sporting a swimsuit that changes hue as you do laps. Such chameleon-like, color-shifting materials could be on the horizon, thanks to a photographic technique that’s been resurrected and repurposed by MIT engineers.

By applying a 19th-century color photography technique to modern holographic materials, an MIT team has printed large-scale images onto elastic materials that when stretched can transform their color, reflecting different wavelengths as the material is strained.

The researchers produced stretchy films printed with detailed flower bouquets that morph from warm to cooler shades when the films are stretched. They also printed films that reveal the imprint of objects such as a strawberry, a coin, and a fingerprint.

The team’s results provide the first scalable manufacturing technique for producing detailed, large-scale materials with “structural color” — color that arises as a consequence of a material’s microscopic structure, rather than from chemical additives or dyes.

“Scaling these materials is not trivial, because you need to control these structures at the nanoscale,” says Benjamin Miller, a graduate student in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. “Now that we’ve cleared this scaling hurdle, we can explore questions like: Can we use this material to make robotic skin that has a human-like sense of touch? And can we create touch-sensing devices for things like virtual augmented reality or medical training? It’s a big space we’re looking at now.”

The team’s results appear today in Nature Materials. Miller’s co-authors are MIT undergraduate Helen Liu, and Mathias Kolle, associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT.

Hologram happenstance

Kolle’s group develops optical materials that are inspired by nature. The researchers have studied the light-reflecting properties in mollusk shells, butterfly wings, and other iridescent organisms, which appear to shimmer and shift their color due to microscopic surface structures. These structures are angled and layered to reflect light like miniature colored mirrors, or what engineers refer to as Bragg reflectors.

Groups including Kolle’s have sought to replicate this natural, structural color in materials using a variety of techniques. Some efforts have produced small samples with precise nanoscale structures, while others have generated larger samples, but with less optical precision.

As the team writes, “an approach that offers both [microscale control and scalability] remains elusive, despite several potential high-impact applications.”

While puzzling over how to resolve this challenge, Miller happened to visit the MIT Museum, where a curator talked him through an exhibit on holography, a technique that produces three-dimensional images by superimposing two light beams onto a physical material.

“I realized what they do in holography is kind of the same thing that nature does with structural color,” Miller says.

That visit spurred him to read up on holography and its history, which led him back to the late 1800s, and Lippmann photography — an early color photography technique invented by Franco-Luxembourgish physicist Gabriel Lippmann, who later won the Nobel Prize in Physics for the technique.

Lippmann generated color photos by first setting a mirror behind a very thin, transparent emulsion — a material that he concocted from tiny light-sensitive grains. He exposed the setup to a beam of light, which the mirror reflected back through the emulsion. The interference of the incoming and outgoing light waves stimulated the emulsion’s grains to reconfigure their position, like many tiny mirrors, and reflect the pattern and wavelength of the exposing light.

Using this technique, Lippmann projected structurally colored images of flowers and other scenes onto his emulsions, though the process was laborious. It involved hand-crafting the emulsions and waiting for days for the material to be sufficiently exposed to light. Because of these limitations, the technique largely faded into history.

A modern twist

Miller wondered if, paired with modern, holographic materials, Lippmann photography could be sped up to produce large-scale, structurally colored materials. Like Lippmann’s emulsions, current holographic materials consist of light-sensitive molecules that, when exposed to incoming photons, can cross-link to form colored mirrors.

“The chemistries of these modern holographic materials are now so responsive that it’s possible to do this technique on a short timescale simply with a projector,” Kolle notes.

In their new study, the team adhered elastic, transparent holographic film onto a reflective, mirror-like surface (in this case, a sheet of aluminum). The researchers then placed an off-the-shelf projector several feet from the film and projected images onto each sample, including Lippman-esque bouquets.

As they suspected, the films produced large, detailed images within several minutes, rather than days, vividly reproducing the colors in the original images.

They then peeled the film away from the mirror and stuck it to a black elastic  silicone backing for support. They stretched the film and observed the colors change — a consequence of the material’s structural color: When the material stretches and thins out, its nanoscale structures reconfigure to reflect slightly different wavelengths, for instance, changing from red to blue.  

The team found the film’s color is highly sensitive to strain. After producing an entirely red film, they adhered it to a silicone backing that varied in thickness. Where the backing was thinnest, the film remained red, whereas thicker sections strained the film, causing it to turn blue.

Similarly, they found that pressing various objects into samples of red film left detailed green imprints, caused by, say, the seeds of a strawberry and the wrinkles of a fingerprint.

Interestingly, they could also project hidden images, by tilting the film at an angle with respect to the incoming light when creating the colored mirrors. This tilt essentially caused the material’s nanostructures to reflect a red-shifted spectrum of light. For instance, green light used during material exposure and development would lead to red light being reflected, and red light exposure would give structures that reflect infrared — a wavelength that is not visible to humans. When the material is stretched, this otherwise invisible image changes color to reveal itself in red.

“You could encode messages in this way,” Kolle says.

Overall, the team’s technique is the first to enable large-scale projection of detailed, structurally colored materials.

Indeed, Kolle notes that the new color-changing materials are easily integrated into textiles.

“Lippmann’s materials wouldn’t have allowed him to even produce a Speedo,” he says. “Now we could make a full leotard.”

Beyond fashion and textiles, the team is exploring applications such as color-changing bandages, for use in monitoring bandage pressure levels when treating conditions such as venous ulcers and certain lymphatic disorders.

This research was supported, in part, by The Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the National Science Foundation, the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, Samsung, and the MIT ME MathWorks seed fund.

CAPTION

An MIT team has provided the first scalable manufacturing technique for producing detailed, large-scale materials with “structural color” — color that arises as a consequence of a material’s microscopic structure, rather than from chemical additives or dyes.

CREDIT

Image courtesy of Mathias Kolle, Benjamin Miller, et al; edited by MIT News

Written by Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office

Additional background

Paper: “Scalable optical manufacture of dynamic structural color in stretchable materials”

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-022-01318-x

SARS-CoV-2 and vaccine uptake among First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples in urban areas

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL

 NEWS RELEASE 

Despite prioritizing Indigenous populations for SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations, vaccine uptake was low among First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples in Toronto and London, Ontario, according to new research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journalhttps://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.212147.

As more than half of Indigenous Peoples in Canada live in urban areas, it is critical to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated existing health inequities, on these populations.

“Dense and multigenerational social networks; barriers in access to culturally safe health care; and a disproportionate burden of poverty, chronic disease and inadequate housing create conditions for the spread of SARS-CoV-2 among First Nations, Inuit and Métis living in urban areas in Canada,” writes Dr. Janet Smylie, St. Michael’s Hospital, a site of Unity Health Toronto, and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, with coauthors.

To fill gaps in understanding, a team of Indigenous and allied researchers co-led by Dr. Janet Smylie, Cheryllee Bourgeois, Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto and Dr. Michael Rotondi, York University, in partnership with Indigenous agencies, aimed to generate data on rates of SARS-CoV-2 testing and vaccination, and incidence of infection among First Nations, Inuit and Métis living in Toronto and London, Ontario. They included data on population-representative samples of 723 and 364 people over age 15 in each city respectively. The rate for 2-dose vaccination among First Nations, Inuit and Métis in Toronto was 58% compared with 79% for the overall population. In London, 2-dose completion was 61% for Indigenous populations compared with 82% for the overall population.

As well, vaccination rates among First Nations, Inuit and Métis in Toronto and London lagged behind overall vaccination rates among First Nations living on and off reserve in Ontario and national rates for First Nations on reserve. The authors suggest these differences in vaccination rates could be because of delayed access to vaccines in cities as well as Indigenous peoples’ mistrust of vaccines and of the urban hospitals leading Ontario’s vaccination campaigns.

“Multigenerational colonial policies that aimed to assimilate First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples and appropriate land and resources have led to inequities across most major health outcome for First Nations, Inuit and Métis living in urban, rural and remote geographies compared with non-Indigenous people in Canada, as well as striking gaps in access to equitable and culturally safe health care,” write the authors.

With new variants arising, these lower vaccination rates are concerning.

“There is a time-sensitive need to amplify Indigenous-focused COVID-19 response measures to prevent widespread SARS-CoV-2 infection among those who are not vaccinated with a subsequent surge in hospital admissions and mortality caused by COVID-19 among First Nations, Inuit and Métis,” they write.

Testing rates for SARS-CoV-2 among First Nations, Inuit and Métis were higher in Toronto (54%) than local and provincial rates. Community partnerships and outreach and culturally safe access to testing and vaccination can help lessen the burden of COVID-19 on these populations.

“Localized by-community-for-community approaches have successfully engaged First Nations, Inuit and Métis living in cities in the COVID-19 response and could be used to further improve access to trusted COVID-19 information sources and culturally safe vaccination opportunities,” they suggest.

Life expectancy drops for Native Americans due to COVID-19

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PRINCETON SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Life Expectancy Drops for Native Americans Due to COVID-19 

IMAGE: THE PANDEMIC SET NATIVE AMERICANS FURTHER BEHIND OTHER MAJOR RACIAL AND ETHNIC GROUPS IN TERMS OF LIFE EXPECTANCY. view more 

CREDIT: EGAN JIMENEZ

Native Americans experienced disproportionately high rates of deaths from COVID-19 due to poverty, crowded housing, high rates of chronic disease, employment in frontline jobs, and limited access to quality health care.

Less is known about the pandemic’s effects on life expectancy for this population, which makes up 2% of the U.S. population.

Noreen Goldman of Princeton University and Theresa Andrasfay Ph.D. ’20 of the University of Southern California investigated life expectancy at birth in 2020 and 2021 — when COVID-19 rates were surging — compared to 2019.

Life expectancy is a metric of population-level mortality in a given year, and it is sensitive to deaths at younger ages.

Findings

The pandemic set Native Americans further behind other major racial and ethnic groups in terms of life expectancy. For a high-income country, these figures are shockingly low, the researchers said, and far below every country in the Americas except for Haiti.

  • The estimated loss in life expectancy at birth for Native Americans is 4.5 years in 2020 and 6.4 years in 2021 relative to 2019.
  • The pandemic reduced Native American life expectancy at birth from the already low 72 years in 2019 to about 67 years in 2020 and about 65 years in 2021 for both sexes combined.
  • Men and women each experienced around a six-year drop in life expectancy at birth.
    • Women’s life expectancy was 69 in 2021, 71 in 2020 — compared to 75 in 2019.
    • Men’s life expectancy was 62 in 2021, 64 in 2020 — dropping from 69 in 2019.
  • Native Americans experienced a loss in life expectancy at birth in 2020 that is more than three years above that for whites and 1.5 years above losses for Black and Latino populations.

Although much of this decline resulted directly from COVID-19 deaths, mortality from several chronic diseases also increased substantially for Native Americans during the pandemic. Those with “long COVID” or comorbidities may have been more likely to die from non-COVID causes, and detrimental health behaviors like smoking, drinking, and drug use also became more prevalent during this time — all likely contributing to upticks in mortality rates.

Policy Point

Despite a successful vaccination campaign among Native Americans, the loss in life expectancy at birth in 2021 unexpectedly exceeds that in 2020. There are a few plausible explanations for this disturbing finding:

  • Vaccines weren’t available to the public in January and February 2021, two of the deadliest months of the pandemic.
  • Two highly contagious variants (Delta and Omicron), which partially avoided natural and vaccine-acquired immunity, emerged in 2021.
  • Many Native Americans, like the general U.S. population, are still not vaccinated or did not receive a booster shot.
  • Deaths from several chronic diseases and drug overdoses increased for all populations during the pandemic, contributing to these dire figures.

Most importantly, Native Americans continue to experience large social, economic, and health inequities, some of which have persisted for centuries, and all of which increase the risk of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death.

“The large financial investment in the American Rescue Plan to enhance identification and treatment of COVID-19 infections and to strengthen the public health infrastructure for the Native American population is a significant step forward.” — Noreen Goldman, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

Study Authors

  • Noreen Goldman, Hughes-Rogers Professor of Demography and Public Affairs, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
  • Theresa Andrasfay Ph.D. ’20, postdoctoral fellow, University of Southern California

Data

Goldman and Andrasfay used data on age-specific all-cause mortality rates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention WONDER online database and the 2019 life table recently released by the National Vital Statistics System for Native Americans to calculate life tables for the Native American population in 2020 and 2021 and to obtain estimates of life expectancy reductions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Funding

This study was supported in part by the National Institute on Aging (grant no. T32AG000037).

Resources

The paper, “Life Expectancy Loss Among Native Americans During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” was published July 27 by Demographic Research, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal of population studies. This work builds upon an earlier study by Goldman and Andrasfay.

Most but not all Texas coaches say they’ll plan for climate change

Rice University survey suggests some aren’t considering dangerous conditions to come

Peer-Reviewed Publication

RICE UNIVERSITY

HEAT 

IMAGE: RESEARCHERS AT RICE UNIVERSITY AND ELSEWHERE POLLED THOUSANDS OF COACHES AND ATHLETIC DIRECTORS AT TEXAS HIGH SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES ABOUT HOW RISING TEMPERATURES WILL AFFECT THEIR SUMMER PRACTICES. FROM LEFT: TOP ROW, SELENA GUO, BECK MIGUEL SAUNDERS-SHULTZ, GARGI SAMARTH AND EMILY GURWITZ; SECOND ROW, CHELSEA LI, LIZZY GAVIRIA, KAREN LU AND EBRAHIM NABIZADEH; BOTTOM ROW, KATE WEINBERGER, SYLVIA DEE, JANE BALDWIN AND CHRISTINE NITTROUER. view more 

CREDIT: THE CLIMATE AND WATER LAB/RICE UNIVERSITY

HOUSTON – (Aug. 1, 2022) – A survey of coaches and athletic officials in Texas indicates many of them would be wise to think harder about the risks their students face as the climate changes, according to Rice University researchers who conducted the statewide study.

Rice climate scientist Sylvia Dee led a survey of Texas coaches, trainers and athletic directors showing that while many are aware of the risks of outdoor workouts during the height of summer, not all are on board with adjusting for hotter weather. Dee said that’s concerning in light of recent warnings that climate change is already making Texas’ summers hotter. For example, a 2021 report from the Texas State Climatologist’s office said Texans should expect the number of 100-degree days each summer to nearly double by 2036 compared to the average numbers from 2001-2020.

“It’s one thing to send out a survey, but we need to think ahead and have the tough conversations about what to do if it’s too hot to play football in the summer in the near future (or even now),” said Dee, an assistant professor of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences. “I want to hope that just receiving this survey got these athletic staff thinking about the problem.”

The survey of hundreds of coaches and athletic directors at Texas high schools, colleges and universities found that most are aware of the dangers of intensive workouts and strenuous events when temperatures above 95 degrees Fahrenheit can put athletes at risk of heat-related illnesses

They indicated they’re keeping a close eye on damaging heat, humidity and wet bulb temperatures and will adjust schedules as necessary. But surprisingly, some indicated they don’t acknowledge climate change or its implications for the health of athletes and their programs. 

The results appear in an open-access paper in the American Geophysical Union journal 

GeoHealth.

The 22-question survey, organized and carried out by students starting during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, went to 4,701 email contacts, with complete responses from 224 Texas coaches and officials, 51% of whom coach football. 

The study relied on state-of-the-art simulations developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research to compare temperature, heat index, humidity and wet bulb temperature in Texas over two key periods: 1976-2000 and 2076-2100. The projections incorporated estimates for high- and low-carbon emissions scenarios through the end of the century.

They projected average air temperatures, heat index values and wet bulb temperatures will all rise substantially in the future with heat index values regularly exceeding 113 degrees Fahrenheit in Houston, Austin and San Antonio, and exceeding 110 degrees in Dallas, even in the lower-emissions scenario. In West and North Texas cities, including Lubbock, El Paso, Midland/Odessa and Abilene, maximum heat index values could be 30 degrees higher than they are now.  

Wet bulb temperature is the temperature of a parcel of air at 100% humidity, basically the point at which athletes -- and everyone else -- can no longer sweat to cool their bodies. According to one study, even the healthiest people would not survive a wet bulb temperature of 95 degrees for more than several hours in the shade.

“It’s quite rare that you would see the wet bulb temperatures on a newscast,” Dee said. “Although a weather forecast usually reports the heat index (the “feels-like” number that combines temperature and humidity), the wet bulb temperature is the one that matters for heat exhaustion, heat stroke and exertional heat illness.”

All of those responding to the survey reported they were aware of heat warnings issued by the National Weather Service, and 88% indicated they factor those warnings into decisions on whether to cancel practice. However, only 54% indicated they take humidity into account when making decisions. 

“This discrepancy suggests that there may be a lack of understanding among athletic staff in how humidity affects the perceived temperature,” the researchers wrote. 

They noted “athletic staff placed heavier emphasis on and were more concerned about the impact of temperature rather than climate change.” Fully 30% of those who responded were “not concerned at all” about the effects of climate change. 

Dee noted there are state-level guidelines that discuss the risks of heat illness for various athletic activities. “But there’s certainly no acknowledgement of increasing risk in the future in any of these documents,” she said.

Dee said the Rice athletes among her intro-level students inspired the project. “I asked them what they do when it’s 100 degrees and humid outside. Where do you go? How do you handle that?” she said. “That got me thinking it would be a neat to start them thinking about the impacts of climate change on student athletes.” 

The first pandemic summer of 2020 provided an opportunity to set them to work through online internships, gathering contact data for Texas coaches and officials. Along with designing the survey itself, she said that took nearly two years. 

To better understand the responses, Dee and her Rice team collaborated with Christine Nittrouer, formerly a Ph.D. student of Mikki Hebl in Rice’s Department of Psychological Sciences and now a colleague at Texas Tech Universitywho is accustomed to analyzing survey data, as well as colleagues who study extreme weather and epidemiology.

“It’s not surprising that it’s going to get really hot,” Dee said. “But it was a little frightening that, in relation to the physiological limit, there’s a lot of evidence that it’s already too hot for student athletes to safely play sports outdoors.”

She and co-author Nittrouer are interested in a follow-up collaboration that goes beyond the athletic field.

“There’s some interesting work to be done in this field,” she said. “A lot will rely heavily on our colleagues in the social sciences and humanities to think about how we communicate the risks to people in a way that will help them change their minds.”

Co-authors of the paper are Rice Ph.D. student Ebrahim Nabizadeh and undergraduates Chelsea Li, Lizzy Gaviria, Selena Guo, Karen Lu, Beck Miguel Saunders-Shultz and Gargi Samarth; Stanford undergraduate Emily Gurwitz; Jane Baldwin, an assistant professor of Earth system science at the University of California, Irvine, and an adjunct associate research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University; and Kate Weinberger, an environmental epidemiologist at the University of British Columbia. Nittrouer is an assistant professor of management at Texas Tech. 

The Rice Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry supported the research.

-30-

Peer-reviewed paper:

“Increasing health risks during outdoor sports due to climate change in Texas: projections vs. attitudes” | GeoHealth | DOI: www.doi.org/10.1029/2022GH000595.

URL: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022GH000595.

Images for download:

 

 

 

 

https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2022/07/0718_HEAT-1-web.jpg

CAPTION: A survey of Texas college and high school coaches, trainers and athletic directors suggests many are not taking climate change into account as they plan their programs’ futures. (Credit: 123rf.com)

 

https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2022/07/0718_HEAT-2-web.jpg

CAPTION: Researchers at Rice University and elsewhere polled thousands of coaches and athletic directors at Texas high schools and colleges about how rising temperatures will affect their summer practices. From left: top row, Selena Guo, Beck Miguel Saunders-Shultz, Gargi Samarth and Emily Gurwitz; second row, Chelsea Li, Lizzy Gaviria, Karen Lu and Ebrahim Nabizadeh; bottom row, Kate Weinberger, Sylvia Dee, Jane Baldwin and Christine Nittrouer. (Credit: The Climate and Water Lab/Rice University)

Related links:

The Climate and Water Lab (Dee group): sylviadeeclimate.org

Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences: earthscience.rice.edu

Wiess School of Natural Sciences: naturalsciences.rice.edu

This news release can be found online at https://news.rice.edu/news/2022/most-not-all-texas-coaches-say-theyll-plan-climate-change.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 4,240 undergraduates and 3,972 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 1 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.

 

 

 

CAPITALI$T FEMINISM; OVERCOMING CHAUVINISM

Successful women make the best advocates to help other women rise up in the ranks

Job referrals can have different effects depending on the gender and level of experience of who provides them, according to a new study from UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SAN DIEGO

Elizabeth Lauren Campbell 

IMAGE: ELIZABETH L. CAMPBELL, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT AT THE RADY SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT view more 

CREDIT: UC SAN DIEGO'S RADY SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

New research utilizing data from U.S. Supreme Court law clerk hiring decisions finds that female job applicants with recommendations from other, highly tenured women have the strongest chance of getting a job offer. 

 The study from the University of California San Diego’s Rady School of Management examines the impact personal references have on hiring decisions because who you know is often just as or more important than what you know when it comes getting hired.

“Personal referrals and recommendations can act as a gatekeeping process in elite and lucrative occupational contexts,” said Elizabeth L. Campbell, assistant professor of management at the Rady School and lead author of the study. “Having the right connections and a powerful informal advocate, also known as a sponsor, has a big impact on job candidates’ success in the hiring process, above and beyond their qualifications alone.”

Referrals and recommendations have been shown to be helpful for women, particularly those in male-dominated professions, where women face even greater biases than the norm. However, Campbell’s study, published in the journal Academy of Management Discoveries, shows that referrals can have different effects depending on who provides them.  

“We find that overall candidates who are recommended by male sponsors are more likely to be hired than those recommended by female sponsors,” Campbell said. “Yet, when we dig deeper into the data, we find that the story is a bit more complicated. When you factor in how long the sponsor has been working in their respective position, also known as their tenure or seniority, this pattern changes. Female candidates who are sponsored by highly tenured female sponsors are the most likely to be hired.”

While this research suggests that male sponsors are perceived as more persuasive overall, women who are highly tenured in their careers may have more power than they think.

“Growing awareness of gender inequalities may explain this,” Campbell said. “People now better appreciate how challenging it is for women to reach high levels of rank and tenure in their careers, relative to men. Knowing it was harder for women to get to the same place as their male peers changes the assumptions people make about those women who have achieved seniority in their fields.”

The authors utilized field data on real hiring decision for U.S. Supreme Court clerkships because they are elite early career positions in the legal field, which remains male-dominated despite an abundant pool of highly qualified female candidates.

Campbell and co-authors theorize higher levels of tenure boosts perceptions of female sponsors’ credibility specifically when it comes to identifying high-quality female candidates. This is because highly tenured female sponsors, who likely faced challenges advancing in their own careers, might be seen as better able to identify junior women poised to succeed in the field over the long term, compared to male sponsors.

 “A takeaway is that highly tenured and high-ranking women, who have been successful in their careers, should feel empowered to use their influence,” Campbell said. “Our research suggests they can have a meaningful impact on helping early-career women achieve their goals, particularly in spaces where highly tenured women are notable exceptions.”

The authors obtained data for the study from a combination of sources, including the Public Information Office at the Supreme Court and the Judicial Yellow Book, which includes records of judges and the clerks they hire each year.

Using different statistical modeling techniques, the authors examine gender differences in clerkship hiring decisions while also controlling for other important factors like the candidate’s qualifications and the sponsor’s prior success with getting candidates hired as clerks.

 “While we found evidence of gender differences in hiring decisions, our results also underscore that there are actions professionals can take to help address gender inequity,” Campbell said. “Sponsorship is something that leaders can do to help talented junior employees succeed. Organizations still need to do their part in trying to eliminate bias from formal hiring and promotion processes. But informal advocacy will continue to play a role in hiring decisions and our research suggests successful female leaders can wield influence in this domain to help talented junior women advance in their career.”

The study, “From Exception to Exceptional: How Gender and Tenure Impact Sponsor Effectiveness” can be found here and is co-authored by Brandy Aven and Rosalind M. Chow, both of the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University.

The many versions of a female scientist

There’s still more work to do to overcome stereotypes of female scientists

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA BARBARA

Women in Science 

IMAGE: WOMEN DOING SCIENCE view more 

CREDIT: WOMEN DOING SCIENCE INSTAGRAM PAGE

Depictions of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are powerful sources of inspiration for young women who aspire to a career in those fields. But stereotypes of female scientists persist, and we have some way to go to vanquish them. So says Alexandra Phillips, a researcher at UC Santa Barbara’s National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), in a paper published in the journal Social Media + Society.

“What do you think of when you picture a scientist? For many people, the image of a scientist is influenced by things like movies and TV shows, like ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ where scientists — especially women scientists — are highly stereotyped,” said Phillips, who also serves as NCEAS’s science communication and policy officer.

Indeed, popular culture still has the tendency to typecast females in STEM fields, which, among other things, pits femininity and female attractiveness against intelligence and seriousness, and casts doubt on women’s competence. Add to that a dearth in representations of diversity, and there’s a connection to be made between prevailing stereotypes and lack of role models, and the significant gender disparity in the U.S. STEM workforce. According to statistics from the National Science Board, women make up almost half of the employed U.S. population, but only about a third of the STEM workforce, a proportion that has changed little since 2010.

So in 2018, while pursuing her doctoral degree in organic geochemistry at the California Institute of Technology, Phillips turned to Instagram and started Women Doing Science, a site that features photos and profiles of female scientists all over the world in their elements, be they labs, lecture halls or the field.

“I started Women Doing Science because social media, unlike regular media, can show so many versions of what a scientist looks like, highlighting many potential role models for women in STEM that they may lack in their everyday lives or professional institutions,” Phillips said.

What started as a creative endeavor and a bit of activism quickly evolved into an international movement as submissions rolled in from female scientists all over the world. There are women doing science underwater, peering through microscopes, examining rocks, studying animals, testing robots, giving lectures. They range in appearance and dress, and they all look like they’re enjoying their work. The site currently has almost 100,000 followers and has gained a large crew of volunteers who help recruit more scientists and write about their work.

The healthy dataset naturally lent itself to a case study.

“We wanted to determine if Women Doing Science was successful in its goal of highlighting diverse and international scientists, and if yes, what the impact was to the followers of the page,” Phillips said.

In their analysis, the Women Doing Science team found that the site was indeed successful in its scope, with 37% of their posts featuring women of color and a third with bilingual captions. In fact, the site’s representation of diversity is a large draw.

“In a survey, followers mentioned that the diversity of posts was a main reason they engaged with the page,” Phillips said, “along with finding role models and generally getting inspiration.” Followers also noted the power that images of female scientist had in helping with impostor syndrome and alleviating the loneliness of being a woman in a STEM field.

But there was a downside, too. Upon examination of three particularly viral posts, two subjects received a lot of approval from followers for being “trailblazers,” while the third stimulated heated debate. It was a photo of a biology doctoral student in the lab, in heels, with hair down and makeup on.

“The third went viral for a bad reason, because the scientist was depicted as highly feminine and conforming to traditional stereotypes,” Phillips said. The angry comments and direct messages to the featured scientist came down to harassment, she added. Meanwhile, other commenters came to the doctoral student’s defense, criticizing others for gatekeeping the image of a female scientist. The admins decided to remove the post temporarily to defuse the situation.

But that feedback was important as well, highlighting pitfalls in the ongoing struggle of women to develop STEM identities.

“That experience had always been on my mind while running the page,” Phillips said. “But getting to formally analyze it was really insightful for myself in processing what was happening. I realized how fragile the identities are of women in STEM, that an image of a female scientist that is beautiful and wants to be taken seriously has such a hard time doing so, even today. We just have so much more work to do for STEM to be a truly inclusive space for women, and especially for women with marginalized identities.”

The team hopes that this case study will provide valuable information to universities and research institutions as they work toward evening the STEM playing field for incoming researchers and add dimensionality to the image of female scientists.


Drought-resistant crops, hydropower, AI for atomic measurement, controlling refrigerants and recycling e-waste

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DOE/OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY

The facts behind hydropower 

IMAGE: THE MELTON HILL DAM ON THE CLINCH RIVER IN EAST TENNESSEE CAN GENERATE UP TO 79 MEGAWATTS OF ENERGY FOR THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY. view more 

CREDIT: JASON RICHARDS/ORNL, U.S. DEPT. OF ENERGY

Orchestrating rhythms of the light

A team of scientists led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a theory that thylakoids, membrane networks key to plant photosynthesis, also function as a defense mechanism to harsh growing conditions, which could aid the development of hardier plants.

Thylakoids contain grana, structures resembling stacked coins that expand and contract when water flows in and out, like the bellows of an accordion. The action mirrors the movement of guard cells, structures on plant leaves that act like accordion buttons, allowing carbon dioxide in and water vapor out. 

These structures harmonize the flow of electrons with carbon uptake during photosynthesis. Scientists have questioned why such a complicated network exists in hardier plants. ORNL researchers theorize that it helps plants tolerate fluctuating conditions such as too little or too much water and sunlight.

The theory was developed as scientists studied large-scale photosynthesis and will help refine global carbon cycling models, said ORNL’s Lianhong Gu. — Stephanie Seay  

Media contact: Kim Askey, 865.576.2841, askeyka@ornl.gov

Video: https://youtu.be/t26ryNq5ap4

Caption: The bellows-like action of the thylakoid membrane inside plant chloroplasts harmonizes the flow of electrons to power photosynthesis. A team of scientists led by ORNL theorize the thylakoid can help plants respond to stressful growing conditions such as drought. Credit: Nathan Armistead and Jacquelyn DeMink/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

 

The facts behind hydropower

To further the potential benefits of the nation’s hydropower resources, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed and maintain a comprehensive water energy digital platform called HydroSource that informs key stakeholders of development and operational costs, environmental concerns and licensing requirements.

Hydropower accounts for nearly 7% of all electricity generated in the United States and provides quick-start capabilities during blackouts and the ability to store power for high-demand periods.

HydroSource provides updated information on hydropower facilities and infrastructure, models and visualizations for future development, and analytical tools to better understand how and where hydropower can be implemented throughout the U.S.

“We created this digital platform to enable stakeholders, including hydropower developers and operators, non-governmental agencies and advocacy groups, and policy makers to make data-driven decisions,” said ORNL’s Debjani Singh. “We all want the same thing – to develop reliable, sustainable energy while protecting the environment.” — Mimi McHale

Media Contact: Kimberly A. Askey, 865.576.2841, askeyka@ornl.gov

Image: https://www.ornl.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/Melton%20Hill%20Dam_ORNL_1.jpg

Caption: The Melton Hill Dam on the Clinch River in East Tennessee can generate up to 79 megawatts of energy for the Tennessee Valley Authority. Credit: Jason Richards/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

 

Automating neutron experiments with AI

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are developing a first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence device for neutron scattering called Hyperspectral Computed Tomography, or HyperCT. The fully automated, AI-driven platform can rotate a sample in almost any direction, eliminating the need for human intervention and significantly reducing lengthy experiment times.

The design enables scientists using neutron scattering, a technique that measures atoms inside materials, to complete characterizations of samples without pauses for adjustments. The AI software determines the optimal angles to measure based on a sample’s shape, greatly reducing the amount of unnecessary data that could slow down experimental results.

“With only a few input parameters, HyperCT will give us more accurate data roughly four times faster than conventional methods,” said ORNL’s Hassina Bilheux.

Once developed, the technology can be used on any neutron scattering instrument, which will significantly increase the number of experiments and improve the quality of scientific data that only neutrons can provide. (video)

Media Contact: Jeremy Rumsey, 865.576.2038, rumseyjp@ornl.gov

Image: https://www.ornl.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/acquisition.jpg

Caption: The AI-driven HyperCT platform has three primary points of articulation that can rotate a sample in almost any direction, eliminating the need for human intervention and significantly reducing lengthy experiment times. Credit: Genevieve Martin, ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy

 

Steady as it goes and flows

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers demonstrated that microchannel heat exchangers in heating, ventilation and air conditioning units can keep refrigerants evenly and continually distributed by inserting a device called a piezoelectric-driven magnetic actuator, or PEDMA.

Heat exchangers are shells or pipes that use metal tubing to transfer heat from one place to another. In contrast, a microchannel exchanger uses a maze of smaller pathways, making it low weight and lower cost while providing superior performance. However, these small channels can cause refrigerant maldistribution, putting extra pressure on the compressor.

In a study, the team developed a prototype PEDMA insert consisting of 3D printed resin parts and small permanent magnets.

“The magnets work to actively change the geometry inside the exchanger once inserted into the equipment,” ORNL’s Joseph Rendall said. “Testing showed significant improvement of refrigerant flow. This represents a new method for controlling flow distribution in microchannel heat exchangers.”

Media contact: Jennifer Burke, 865.414.6835, burkejj@ornl.gov

Image: https://www.ornl.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/device1_2.JPG

Caption: Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers developed a device called a piezoelectric-driven magnetic actuator, or PEDMA, that can be inserted into the header of a microchannel heat exchanger to keep refrigerants flowing evenly and the HVAC unit running efficiently. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

 

Saving e-waste scraps

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Momentum Technologies have piloted an industrial-scale process for recycling valuable materials in the millions of tons of e-waste generated annually in the United States.

Rare earth elements, or REEs, are strategic resources in high demand but in limited supply for advanced clean energy and defense technologies. Domestic pathways for securing supply chains are needed.

Researchers previously demonstrated a method for recycling scrap permanent magnets in consumer electronics using membrane solvent extraction. Now the technology has met a critical step toward deployment. The system has been scaled up to achieve high-purity separations, as reported in Advanced Engineering Materials.

“The system is modular and scalable with a small footprint and minimal waste,” said ORNL’s Ramesh Bhave.

“We’re working with partners toward commercialization and exploring applications to recycle REEs used in growing technology areas, such as wind power and electric vehicles,” said ORNL’s Syed Islam.

Media Contact: Ashley Huff, 865.241.6451, huffac@ornl.gov

Image: https://www.ornl.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/ewastescraps.jpg

Caption: Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Ramesh Bhave and team partnered with Momentum Technologies to develop a modular, scalable system for recycling scrap permanent magnets in e-waste. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy