Association for Women in Science Update
Lisa M. Harrison-Bernard, PhD, AWIS-SL President
Habits and Hacks from Hopkins (H3)
The Association for Women in Science South Louisiana Chapter (AWIS-SL) held a group
discussion of the Podcast from Habits and Hacks from Hopkins (H3) by Sarah Amend,
PhD https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-zren6-10fc5e8 on the topic “Habits and Hacks of Interdisciplinary Science” on Friday, April 28
from noon to 1 pm. Attendees consisted of 17 faculty, graduate students, and a research
associate.
Dr. Amend gave the following advice on creating a successful collaboration, "It's really just three things: be humble, be patient, and be intentional."
There were four top takeaways from the 39-minute podcast:
1. This interview with Dr. Amend focuses on how to foster healthy and productive collaborations
between diverse-minded experts.
2. Listening and having an open mind is key when traversing the dynamics of an interdisciplinary
team.
3. Most interdisciplinary collaborations break down because they are not formalized
or there is not a shared set of core values.
4. Assuming other people have noble intent is a powerful tool to building a successful
interdisciplinary collaboration.
The group discussion focused on the following topics:
- When/would you turn down a chance to collaborate in an interdisciplinary setting?
- On the spectrum of rightful claim in collaboration, what side do you lie closer to: "I must cure cancer and make sure you know it was me" or "as long as cancer is cured, I do not care who gets the credit"?
- Do you think there should be some form of confidentiality agreement when collaborating?
- How are you building bridges of interdisciplinary science while in grad school?
- Do you participate in interdisciplinary science? How can we better connect departments and labs to improve interdisciplinary collaboration?
- Have you ever experienced disagreement or conflict as a team member? Was it constructive or destructive? How did the team move forward?
- Have you ever had to leave a team or dissolve a team that wasn’t a good fit or working for the group anymore?
- Have you had any very successful or very unsuccessful collaborations? What made them successful or unsuccessful?