The panelists were unanimous: The field of earth science offers a variety of career opportunities, but it could interfere with a woman's plans to have a family.
Catherine Forster, Susan Gill, Amishi Joshi and Lisa Rodrigues were the guest speakers at Saturday's Women in Earth Science panel discussion held at Carolyn Hoff Lynch Auditorium.
Panel moderator Jamie Horvath, a current doctoral student studying Earth and Environmental Science, said the education and experience that the four speakers brought to the table could be greatly beneficial to women who attended the discussion.
All four panelists earned their doctoral degrees from Penn's Earth and Environmental Science Department, but each has chosen a vastly different career path.
Joshi, an environmental scientist at Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, talked about the transition from student to government worker.
"It was a little bit of an adjustment at first to get used to reading papers that were not scientific," said Joshi, a mother of two. "Now, I just try to capitalize on the research, writing and speaking skills I've learned in graduate school."
Gill, who stayed on as an administrator after graduating from Penn, now works as an education director at Stroud Water Research Center.
She said her profession, which involves "working hand-in-hand with scientists as they're developing their research agendas," is a near-perfect match for her research-oriented background.
"We take the findings that they come up with and communicate them to a broader audience," Gill said.
Forster, a professor at George Washington University, recommended that researchers teach after receiving their degrees.
"Before I moved to George Washington University, I taught Human Gross Anatomy to medical students at Stony Brook University for 12 years," she said. "If you're really involved in research, that's what you should do with your life."
Rodrigues, the most recent graduate of the four speakers, is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Geography and the Environment at Villanova University, having previously working in the Biology department.
When the subject of husbands and children came up, the women spoke forthrightly about the delicate balance between their families and their careers.
"First always remember that you're living a life, not a career," Gill said.
"In a way, I think my career would have definitely been better if I had waited longer to have kids," Joshi added.
"If you want to be a professional woman, you need a very supportive husband," Forster said.
Though Rodrigues does not have children, she tries as much as possible to limit her work to the hours between nine and five.
"I try to be very organized, not for lofty career raises or child-raising goals, but just for completely frivolous reasons," she said. "I always like to have a life outside of science and do other things."
Each woman admitted that, at one point in their careers, they second-and even third-guessed their chosen field.
Speaking for the entire panel, Gill summed it up this way: "If anyone says they never felt pushed to the limit, they're probably lying," she said.
Ultimately, Horvath said the panel's advice could help female students considering a career in the earth sciences.
"We want to start to establish a network of women in this field," Horvath said.
