Food for thought

Debra Rolison from the Naval Research Laboratory was invited to give a diversity lecture on Wednesday. Over lunch, she gave a talk on the societal impact of nanotechnology. She addressed issues such as the need to ponder the impact of nanoscience beyond the immediate scientific goal, ethics in conducting such research etc. She gave a couple of examples of potentially dangerous uses of nanotechnology - one example was the use of cadmium selenide quantum dots for drug delivery. However, Cd2+ is very toxic and was observed to leach out in some studies. In the evening she gave a talk on whether "Title IX can do for women in science, tech, engg., and math what it has done for women in sports". Interesting talk. Her basic contention was the presence of very few women as faculty in class I research institutions when so many of them receive Ph.D's is a sign of an unhealthy environment in academia in the U.S. Some spirited language.
Then yesterday she gave a scientific talk on aerogels (about which I learned for the first time). Apparently H spoke to her about me on Wed and she had offered to speak with me yesterday evening. We met up after her seminar. I had a very nice talk with her for about 40 minutes. She is a very inspiring scientist - well rounded and very well read. Got me thinking on what I want to do with my life. More on that later.