Making bold innovations in computer science and engineering once is remarkable. But to do it twice while pioneering the foundation of many computing methods and high-tech companies is revolutionary. And that’s exactly what the incredible @conwaylynn did. Lynn Conway is most known as a renowned computer scientist and co-author of the textbook “Introduction to VSLI Systems” – what started as a guide and became the future standard microprocessor and memory chip design. Very large-scale integration (VSLI) is a system used to create many circuits in a single piece of semiconductor as opposed to electronic components – allowing for smaller, cheaper, and more efficient microchip creation. This revolutionary work occurred when she restarted her career in “stealth mode” after her gender transition in 1968. Before this, Lynn had made major contributions to out-of-order dynamic instruction scheduling (DIS) in computers at IBM but was fired for being transgender. DIS is the basis that allows supercomputers to complete tasks out of the order it’s written in when it can be executed independently of other tasks. However, she was separated from this work for 30+ years simply for being who she is. As such, in addition to being the STEM superstar she is, Lynn Conway is also a fierce transgender activist. Thank you for all that you do @conwaylynn! #WomensHistoryMonth #WHM #WomenInSTEM #TransInSTEM #ComputerScience #ElectricalEngineering #WomenInEngineering #LynnConway https://www.instagram.com/p/CM0VRNFj13N/?igshid=12poakdaq16bw
Transgender scientists and engineers face extra hurdles. But they are gaining support. And trans researchers are finding peers through meetings and social media.
When Miles Ott was in high school, he had a love-hate relationship with math. Sometimes, he enjoyed his classes. At other times, he felt confused. “I did not understand what the point was,” he says. “I just thought I wasn’t good at it.”
But that changed in college when he took a calculus class. The teacher explained the concepts very clearly. “‘Oh, this makes sense now,’” Ott recalls thinking at the time. “It was a great feeling to finally understand this thing that was so profoundly confusing to me. And I just never wanted to stop.”
He didn’t. Later, he went to graduate school and studied biostatistics. That field combines math and statistics to understand how to improve the health of large groups of people. Ott now works at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. He has done research on topics such as HIV in South Africa and alcohol use among college students.
He also has explored mental health issues in transgender people. This area has special meaning to Ott because he is a transgender man.
Miles Ott is a biostatistician. He uses math and statistics to study how we can improve people’s health.Smith College
What does being transgender mean? Imagine that when a baby is born, the doctor looks at their body parts and proclaims, “It’s a girl!” But at some point, that person comes to realize that they don’t feel like a girl at all. In fact, they knowthey’re supposed to be a boy. Put another way, their “gender identity” is male, making that person a transgender boy or man.
This can go the other way around, too. Doctors could say that a child is a boy at birth. But that person grows up knowing they are female. This is a transgender girl or woman.
Many transgender people then go through a process called a “transition.” Often, they start wearing clothes that match their gender identity. They may change their name. A transgender man named Andrea at birth, for instance, might start going by Alexander. And they can change their pronouns. Pronouns are words such as “he,” “she”, “him” and “her.” A transgender woman would ask people to refer to her as “she” and “her.”
Some people take medications or have surgery to change their bodies. A transgender man could undergo these treatments to develop male features. A transgender woman could go through other treatments to develop female features.
For Ott, being a transgender scientist has come with challenges. He was going through his transition when he applied to graduate school. He wasn’t sure which name to use on his applications. He decided to list his old name, even though it didn’t feel right.
In grad school, some people asked him overly personal questions. He slowly learned how to deal with these situations. “It took me a while to figure out that I don’t have to answer anybody’s questions,” he says. “I get to decide what I’m comfortable with.”
Becoming a scientist takes years of hard work and dedication. Transgender scientists and engineers, though, face extra hurdles. Sometimes they feel alone because they don’t know other transgender researchers. When they transition, colleagues may treat them rudely and disrespectfully. And transgender researchers can be in greater physical danger when they travel to other countries for fieldwork.
But these scientists and engineers are gaining support. Universities and organizations are working to make them feel included in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. More researchers are talking openly about being transgender (often abbreviated as “trans”). And they are finding other trans people through meetings and social media.
Good night. I just killed my shoulders for the third time this week, passed a chemistry test that I was terrified I wouldn’t, turned in a paper thank God @patter_daughter proof read it, and did a super long and very difficult lab, and worked my jobs this weekend. Glad to close this week out. 😴😴 #gym #gymrat #shoulderworkout #tattoo #trans #transftm #ftm #transman #transguy #bio #biology #biomajor #stem #transinstem #hrt #armday #tatt #fitness #gains #nerd (at Tuscaloosa, Alabama) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2-nrGpjDAo/?igshid=sowqhxmdvhei
It's Trans Visibility Week and we're thinking back on how a simple idea to signpost location for an LGBTQ+ meetup at one palaeontoogical conference has grown into what Palaeoiris is today. Our pins and buttons are meant to be worn, both to aid in visibility without having to loudly draw attention to queer identity/ies of the wearer, but also to visibly showcase support and signal that the space queer people are finding themselves in is a safe space where they will be cherished and valued as everyone else.
And showcasing allyship to trans people has never been more important, as the moral panic around trans people existing keeps progressing and being pushed forward. So we must push back.
If you are a proud wearer of one of our trans, non-binary, or genderqueer Queerlobites, Queerutili, Queeraminifera, and others, we would love to hear from you. Let us know in the comments if it has resulted in some exchanges, if it made you or someone else happy, and feel free to also share a photo in your story and tag us so we don't miss it. We absolutely LOVE seeing our creations out and about around the world. Seeing them after they leave our HQ really makes their quest real and heart warming. Of course, if you're not in a position to share and out yourself, we completely understand and value you still. 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵
Transgender scientists and engineers face extra hurdles. But they are gaining support. And trans researchers are finding peers through meetings and social media.
When Miles Ott was in high school, he had a love-hate relationship with math. Sometimes, he enjoyed his classes. At other times, he felt confused. “I did not understand what the point was,” he says. “I just thought I wasn’t good at it.”
But that changed in college when he took a calculus class. The teacher explained the concepts very clearly. “‘Oh, this makes sense now,’” Ott recalls thinking at the time. “It was a great feeling to finally understand this thing that was so profoundly confusing to me. And I just never wanted to stop.”
He didn’t. Later, he went to graduate school and studied biostatistics. That field combines math and statistics to understand how to improve the health of large groups of people. Ott now works at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. He has done research on topics such as HIV in South Africa and alcohol use among college students.
He also has explored mental health issues in transgender people. This area has special meaning to Ott because he is a transgender man.
What does being transgender mean? Imagine that when a baby is born, the doctor looks at their body parts and proclaims, “It’s a girl!” But at some point, that person comes to realize that they don’t feel like a girl at all. In fact, they knowthey’re supposed to be a boy. Put another way, their “gender identity” is male, making that person a transgender boy or man.
This can go the other way around, too. Doctors could say that a child is a boy at birth. But that person grows up knowing they are female. This is a transgender girl or woman.
Many transgender people then go through a process called a “transition.” Often, they start wearing clothes that match their gender identity. They may change their name. A transgender man named Andrea at birth, for instance, might start going by Alexander. And they can change their pronouns. Pronouns are words such as “he,” “she”, “him” and “her.” A transgender woman would ask people to refer to her as “she” and “her.”
Some people take medications or have surgery to change their bodies. A transgender man could undergo these treatments to develop male features. A transgender woman could go through other treatments to develop female features.
For Ott, being a transgender scientist has come with challenges. He was going through his transition when he applied to graduate school. He wasn’t sure which name to use on his applications. He decided to list his old name, even though it didn’t feel right.
In grad school, some people asked him overly personal questions. He slowly learned how to deal with these situations. “It took me a while to figure out that I don’t have to answer anybody’s questions,” he says. “I get to decide what I’m comfortable with.”
Becoming a scientist takes years of hard work and dedication. Transgender scientists and engineers, though, face extra hurdles. Sometimes they feel alone because they don’t know other transgender researchers. When they transition, colleagues may treat them rudely and disrespectfully. And transgender researchers can be in greater physical danger when they travel to other countries for fieldwork.
But these scientists and engineers are gaining support. Universities and organizations are working to make them feel included in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. More researchers are talking openly about being transgender (often abbreviated as “trans”). And they are finding other trans people through meetings and social media.
“It is slowly — maybe slowly, but surely — changing for the better,” says Daniel Cruz-Ramírez de Arellano. “I genuinely feel like that is the case.” He is a chemist at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Cruz-Ramírez de Arellano also has studied transgender scientists’ experiences.
Transgender scientists and engineers face extra hurdles. But they are gaining support. And trans researchers are finding peers through meetings and social media.
When Miles Ott was in high school, he had a love-hate relationship with math. Sometimes, he enjoyed his classes. At other times, he felt confused. “I did not understand what the point was,” he says. “I just thought I wasn’t good at it.”
But that changed in college when he took a calculus class. The teacher explained the concepts very clearly. “‘Oh, this makes sense now,’” Ott recalls thinking at the time. “It was a great feeling to finally understand this thing that was so profoundly confusing to me. And I just never wanted to stop.”
He didn’t. Later, he went to graduate school and studied biostatistics. That field combines math and statistics to understand how to improve the health of large groups of people. Ott now works at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. He has done research on topics such as HIV in South Africa and alcohol use among college students.
He also has explored mental health issues in transgender people. This area has special meaning to Ott because he is a transgender man.
What does being transgender mean? Imagine that when a baby is born, the doctor looks at their body parts and proclaims, “It’s a girl!” But at some point, that person comes to realize that they don’t feel like a girl at all. In fact, they knowthey’re supposed to be a boy. Put another way, their “gender identity” is male, making that person a transgender boy or man.
This can go the other way around, too. Doctors could say that a child is a boy at birth. But that person grows up knowing they are female. This is a transgender girl or woman.
Many transgender people then go through a process called a “transition.” Often, they start wearing clothes that match their gender identity. They may change their name. A transgender man named Andrea at birth, for instance, might start going by Alexander. And they can change their pronouns. Pronouns are words such as “he,” “she”, “him” and “her.” A transgender woman would ask people to refer to her as “she” and “her.”
Some people take medications or have surgery to change their bodies. A transgender man could undergo these treatments to develop male features. A transgender woman could go through other treatments to develop female features.
For Ott, being a transgender scientist has come with challenges. He was going through his transition when he applied to graduate school. He wasn’t sure which name to use on his applications. He decided to list his old name, even though it didn’t feel right.
In grad school, some people asked him overly personal questions. He slowly learned how to deal with these situations. “It took me a while to figure out that I don’t have to answer anybody’s questions,” he says. “I get to decide what I’m comfortable with.”
Becoming a scientist takes years of hard work and dedication. Transgender scientists and engineers, though, face extra hurdles. Sometimes they feel alone because they don’t know other transgender researchers. When they transition, colleagues may treat them rudely and disrespectfully. And transgender researchers can be in greater physical danger when they travel to other countries for fieldwork.
But these scientists and engineers are gaining support. Universities and organizations are working to make them feel included in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. More researchers are talking openly about being transgender (often abbreviated as “trans”). And they are finding other trans people through meetings and social media.
“It is slowly — maybe slowly, but surely — changing for the better,” says Daniel Cruz-Ramírez de Arellano. “I genuinely feel like that is the case.” He is a chemist at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Cruz-Ramírez de Arellano also has studied transgender scientists’ experiences.
