Kimberlyn Bailey wins Mulert Award 2020 with the “STEMM-Project” from Heidelberg

Germany, the US and many other countries have low rates of women in the senior-most career milestones in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) academia. Underrepresentation is undoubtedly an international issue. Nonetheless, there has been relatively little international conversation on the topic. One Fulbright alumna’s ongoing project tries to fix that.

The 2020 Mulert award was given to Kimberlyn Bailey, a 2018 – 2019 US Student Fulbright grantee, for a series of interviews she conducted with females in STEMM academia currently working in Germany. Bailey’s several dozen interviewees hailed from a variety of countries and academic STEMM fields.

Bailey’s interviews traced what started each women’s interest in STEM and how that interest became a STEMM career. From these career profiles, Bailey is writing, illustrating and producing a children’s book. Bailey explained, “We’re hoping that this book will help kids will discover or nourish their own STEMM interests by reading about how active women in STEM discovered and nourished their own STEMM interests.” This is Bailey’s second book she has created in concert with cuSTEMized, a non-profit devoted to fostering STEMM interests in young girls. The book will be released in English and German, free for download or available for purchase in print sometime in 2020. The Mulert award money will cover the costs of professional translation into German.

With each woman, Bailey also asked about their experiences as women in STEMM, their views on gender diversity initiatives and policies in STEM and relayed how their fellow interviewees answered, without revealing which woman gave a particular answer. Bailey explained the rationalte for these conversations. “I wanted to give these women — quite often the subject of public debate — a chance to weigh in for themselves and discuss what is ordinarily too heated a topic for open conversation. By not revealing which woman gave a particular answer, these women got to, for once, hear and react to the plethora of different viewpoints of their collagues.”

Bailey said what came through strongest from all these interviews was the critical role culture played in shaping each women’s experiences in STEMM and opinions about gender representation in STEMM. Bailey, herself a woman in STEMM who does sociology of STEMM research, hopes these conversations will fruitfully inform her future volunteer work and scholarship. Bailey commented, “The Fulbright/Mulert mission for ‘mutual understanding’ between countries is undeniably important. What it means to be a woman in STEMM drastically varies from one country to the next. I hope my future work and the children’s book will serve to support women in STEMM around the globe.”

 

FRANKly: Call for Articles

The 2020 Call for Articles for our association’s annual journal FRANKly is now available. Our editor this year – Jana Frey – is looking forward to your contributions on this year’s topic “reinventing comunities”.

Articles that exhibit a connection with the Fulbright Program, the German Fulbright Alumni Association (F.A.e.V.), or the network of Fulbright Alumni Associations across the globe are always encouraged. When submitting your article, please provide 2-3 sentences about yourself and a headshot. Authors are encouraged to submit images (3-6 images total) that support their article. Every photograph must include the photographer’s name and a caption. Articles may range in length from 3,000-12,000 characters (including spaces) and should be written in American English. The deadline for submissions is June 7, 2020.

Reinventing Communities

Being part of a community – or of different communities – is one of the most important aspects of our lives, as they are places where we connect with other people. The way we feel about communities and the way we act within in them shapes us as people and contributes to who we are.

As Fulbrighters we have all jumped at the opportunity to leave our own home communities for a time, at the opportunity to be part of new host communities in a different country as well as to completely create our own communities that are neither home nor host community, but something new. Communities today are capable of bridging borders. As members of the Fulbright Alumni e.V. we are part of a huge community of different people from all over. And we might be part of other communities: the sports community, the music community, the physical community of our home town or broadly speaking – the online community.

But the way we understand community has been changing drastically. The FRANKly 2020 welcomes contributions that focus on what community means to you: What experiences have you had with moving between different communities and which communities have you been part of? How have they shaped you and how have you shaped them? How have communities changed? And what kinds of opportunities might lie ahead in the communities of the future? How have we reinvented what community means to us in the
past? And will outside influences change our community beyond recognition, or can we take an active part in reinventing what community is today in a positive way?

Download Call for Articles 2020

Registration now open for General Assembly and Winterball 2020

Dear Fulbrighters and Friends,

We kindly invite you to the General Assembly and Winterball, which will be held February 14- 16, 2020 in the city of Mannheim, with the Winterball itself taking place in the Dorint Kongresshotel Mannheim.

We are proud to offer a program around the General Assembly that will give you the opportunity to discover Mannheim, a city revered for its rich history, industry, trade and university. We’re sure you’ll enjoy the weekend!

For more information and to register, please check the Winterball page.

We would like to thank our sponsor, the Mannheim Business School, for making reduced ticket prices for current grantees and returnees possible!

Save the Date: Welcome Meeting 2019

We are happy to announce the date for the 2019 Welcome Meeting.
From October 11th to October 13th, 2019 returnees, U.S.-grantees and “old hands” are gathering in the beautiful city of Darmstadt.

More information about the event will be available in all German Fulbright Facebook groups, on our website and via this newsletter.

Membership in the Fulbright Alumni e.V. is not necessary for participation.

Until then, we wish you a good time and hope to see you in Darmstadt!

Your Fulbright Alumni e.V.

PS: By show of hands, this is how much the participants liked last year’s Welcome Meeting:

Participants of 2018 Welcome Meeting

FRANKly 2019 Call for Articles

The FRANKly is the annual journal of the German Fulbright Alumni Association. In addition to reporting on the regional, national, and international activities of our association, the publication serves as a platform for current Fulbrighters and alumni to share their fascinating experiences, witty opinions, unique perspectives, and thoughtful insights.

A new year, a new FRANKly! The 2019 Call for Articles is here and we are thrilled to announce this year’s theme:

Electric Engagement

What electrifies YOU? What are you passionate about? What is the electricity in your life; in society; in culture? We want to hear about it!

Electricity is the presence and flow of electric charge. Using electricity we can transfer energy in ways that allow us to perform common, everyday tasks. Similarly, Fulbright is all about working together to accomplish positive change and to make our goals become reality. At Fulbright events where current grantees, alumni, and friends are all eager to network, share their ideas, and to learn from one another, the electricity in the room is palpable.

The FRANKly 2019 welcomes contributions that focus on the electrifying factors in your life – how you are fueled by positive energy or how you combat negative charges that cross your path – as well as those that focus on active engagement in research or projects in the tech-industry for which electricity literally plays an integral role. Articles that exhibit a connection with the Fulbright Program, the German Fulbright Alumni Association (F.A.e.V.), or the network of Fulbright Alumni Associations across the globe are always encouraged.

When submitting your article, please provide 2-3 sentences about yourself and a headshot. Authors are encouraged to submit images (3-6 images total) that support their article. Every photograph must include the photographer’s name and a caption. Articles may range in length from 3,000-12,000 characters (including spaces) and should be written in American English.

The deadline for submissions is June 2, 2019. Please send all questions, ideas, and contributions to Anna Irvine (Editor, F.A.e.V. FRANKly) via email at editor.frankly@fulbright-alumni.de. I look forward to your articles!