“What do women of science look like? What are their questions, dreams and struggles?…I see female successes and struggles as a powerful visual legacy. The end goal is to communicate current challenges and help motivate young scientists to confront them.”
An environmental engineer who studies nanoparticles in between competitively racing downhill on mountain bikes. A biologist who monitors flooding while traversing Carolina swampland to tag wildlife. An aspiring scientist who collects rocks, builds circuits, and has an affinity for pet snakes. What do they all have in common?
They’re all featured in the photojournalism project ‘Outnumbered: Portraits of Women in Science’.
The documentary photography project is being led by University of North Carolina student Clare Fieseler who is pursuing her doctorate in (take a breath..) the curriculum for the environment and ecology at UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, while completing interdisciplinary research in coral reef resilience and marine management.
Fieseler, a former nationalgeo filmmaker and grant recipient, garnered the attention from National Geographic to create a video about the project, which aims to showcase female scientists “in their natural habitat” breaking gender stereotypes, highlighting the significance of their scientific research, and ultimately, encourage young women to pursue careers in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields.
“I’ve experienced many of the same gender stereotypes and discrimination that fueled Clare to undertake her documentary photography project. First, as a female scientist with a Ph.D. in animal behavior, and today in the still largely male-dominated world of production. It’s a privilege to help showcase these amazing women pursuing their passions, and I hope it will help inspire others to do the same.”
– Sarah Joseph, Producer ‘Portraits of Women Scientists’
‘Outnumbered’ photography samples below:
Anne Galyean. Professional downhill mountain biker. UNC environmental engineering doctoral student. Studies nanoparticles by day, trains and takes to the trails by night.
Jean Richter. Head biologist at Roanoke River National Wildlife Refuge. Explores the swamplands of North Carolina to tag and measure flooding.
Josie Bondell. Daughter of two scientists. Plays with other #womeninscience. Collects rocks. Builds circuits. 7 years old.
“We owe it to young girls right now to share our own stories, not as cautionary tales, but as motivation.”
Clare (responsible for the photos above) also blogs for National Geographic, does freelance reporting for NPR, and in 2014, assisted as one of the organizers of an event called #ScienceFail, which revolved around oral storytelling with an emphasis on seeing value in failures in science.
Sarah Joseph, producer of the National Geographic video, said Fieseler’s project is particularly meaningful to her.
In this ‘Scientist Spotlight’, we proudly support Clare Fieseler and her courageous endeavor to advance science by visibly showcasing the women pursuing and actively engaged in scientific research themselves.
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