News
Announcing the Eleanor J. Sterling Student Leadership Scholarship
AWIS-WINS is deeply saddened to share the passing of WINS Founding Member and Treasurer, Dr. Eleanor J. Sterling. In her honor, we have renamed our student scholarship the Eleanor J. Sterling Student Leadership Scholarship in recognition of her devotion to mentoring early career scholars and promoting a more inclusive workplace. This scholarship covers the AWIS national membership fees for graduate students who are serving on the WINS Chapter Executive Board or who are very active on subcommittees. Read more about Eleanor's accomplishments and contributions here.
What We Do
Past, Present, and Future!
Advocacy Committee
Providing Opportunities to Enact Positive Change
The Advocacy Committee works to research, plan, and coordinate activities that advance the mission of WINS through advocacy. These include participating in marches, holding action lunch hours and trainings to support our individual members’ efforts, and advocating for positive changes in our workplaces and laboratories towards more inclusive, equitable, and diverse spaces.
The Advocacy Committee is just one of many committees in WINS. If you are interested in becoming more involved, we suggest you join our mailing list below and learn more about the work that we do within and outside the American Museum of Natural History. You can also check out our "Resources" page.
Making the Unseen Visible
Untold stories of change-makers in conservation and natural history
In the realms of science, countless members of underrepresented groups have acted and continue to serve as change agents, contributing to the fields through their work as scientists and in other roles. Yet their stories are largely unknown, reminding us of the subjective nature of how history is recorded. We initiated this project to raise awareness of these previously unknown change makers in conservation and museum-based natural sciences in considering historical, contemporary, social and political contexts. We believe that bringing these voices to the foreground and celebrating the lives and legacies of these individuals will be inspirational to current and future generations of scientists. Explore these Untold Stories at untoldstories.net.
Guest Speaker Series
Learning together for professional and personal development
Every year, WINS hosts guest speakers on wide-ranging topics from navigating the challenges of institutional culture, to anti-harassment, to financial planning, to cutting-edge research. As an example, in her talk titled "The Social Life of DNA", Dr. Alondra Nelson (currently the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy) took us on an unprecedented journey into how the double helix has wound its way into the heart of the most urgent contemporary social issues around race. Artfully weaving together interactions with root-seekers alongside illuminating historical details and revealing personal narrative, she demonstrated that genetic genealogy is a new tool for addressing old and enduring issues, including grappling with the unfinished business of slavery, establishing ties with African ancestral homelands, and making legal claims for slavery reparations. Follow WINS or scroll below for more information about future events like this!
Mentoring Circles Program
Where everyone can be a mentor and be mentored
This program provides a space for groups of people at different stages of their career (e.g., lab technicians, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, senior scientists and faculty, institute directors, and those involved in science education and communications) to meet and mentor each other on all topics of professional life. The group members decide among themselves the direction of the group and the content of the discussions, which can range from concrete career counseling to relaxing social exchanges. As a part of this program, we arrange a workshop on professional skills open to the whole Museum community.
AWIS Star Chapter Award Recipient
Cultivating talent and leadership among our membership
In 2022 and in several past years, New York WINS has been recognized as a Star Chapter and Affiliate Award recipient by the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). The AWIS STAR award is given to select Chapters and Affiliates that have made a difference by increasing skills, and support to a community of talented women in STEM, while also empowering key-decision makers and gatekeepers with the knowledge and tools necessary to address systemic issues that have inhibited access and inclusion. To learn more about AWIS, go to awis.org.
Join Us
Step 1
Join the WINS mailing list and community
Sign-up to join the WINS email mailing list and get periodic emails with updates on and access to meetings, events, and resources. Joining our mailing list makes you a member of the WINS community.
Membership is open to all—you do not need to identify as a woman, a scientist, or an American Museum of Natural History employee to join.
Step 2 (Optional)
Join the NY WINS chapter of AWIS
If you'd like to be a voting member of WINS, run for an elected position, receive free resources and webinars from the national organization, or financially support the advancement of women in science, please consider becoming a dues-paying member of the NY WINS chapter of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). You'll also get a discount on our ticketed events and items in our shop!
Membership has three tiers (Student, Early Career, and Full). When registering for an AWIS membership, be sure to select NY Women in Natural Sciences (NY WINS) as your home chapter under the section for Membership categories.
Be sure to also sign up for our WINS mailing list via Step 1.
Our Leadership
Lisa Rifkind
President
Lisa Rifkind is the New Media Specialist for the American Museum of Natural History’s Communications Department, where she creates video and digital content to bring the work of the Museum to the general public. She has a background in documen-tary filmmaking and content creation for museums and nonprofits. She is passionate about science communication and enjoys using media to make scientific ideas accessible to everyone.
Christina (Tina) Kamerow
Vice President
Tina is a Museum Educator who works with some of the youngest scientists in the Children's and Family Learning programs at the American Museum of Natural History. She loves being involved in WINS to support Women (and girls!) in science.
Megan Wallace
Secretary
Megan Wallace (she/her) is the Lab Manager of the modern molecular labs in the Institute for Comparative Genomics and an Instructor for the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History. Her research background is in conservation genetics involving both modern and historical DNA and has focused on a variety of taxa, from frogs in the Brazilian Atlantic Coastal Forest to martens in Alaska’s Alexander Archipelago. She is passionate about science outreach and communication, especially when raising awareness for wildlife conservation.
Dr. Mary Blair
Treasurer
Dr. Blair (she/her) is the Associate Director at the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). She is an interdisciplinary conservation scientist with more than 20 years of field research experience in Latin America, Asia, and the Arctic, and leads research focused on the impacts of environmental change on biodiversity and human well-being. Mary is also Affiliated Faculty with the Richard Gilder Graduate School at AMNH.
Dr. Melina Giakoumis
Member at Large
Melina Giakoumis (she/her) is the Associate Director of the Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History, where she manages the molecular research program and facilities. Her research focuses on the population genomics and ecology of marine invertebrates in the North Atlantic Ocean. She is dedicated to science outreach and communication, and to raising awareness for marine conservation efforts.
Danielle Del Castillo
Member at Large
Danielle Del Castillo (she/her) is a PhD candidate at Fordham University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, in her final year of study. Her research focuses on exploring genomic partitioning across leopards' (Panthera pardus) range-wide distribution, employing methods from population and landscape genomics, to better understand factors influencing leopard distribution, which can be used for generating better conservation outcomes. Danielle loves science education and conservation outreach, and is passionate about inclusivity and representation in STEM.
Abosede Salami
Graduate Student Representative
Abosede Salami is a 4th-year PhD candidate in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Medicinal Chemistry concentration) at St. John's University, where she develops novel chemical entities as selective probes to study Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 2 (PARP2) function. She is passionate about supporting young women in STEM. She is excited to serve as Graduate Student Representative for the WINS local section of AWIS, helping to foster mentorship, community, and professional development for graduate students.ces, and is grateful for the chance to work on the Steering Committee for a group with the same ideals.
Dr. Suzanne Macey
Past President
Dr. Suzanne Macey (she/her) is the Assistant Director for Capacity Development at the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) at the AMNH. Suzanne's biological research focuses on the ecology and conservation of turtle species. Suzanne is Adjunct Faculty at Columbia University and mentors students with individual research projects. Suzanne was the WINS President from 2019-2021, and prior to then, Suzanne served as WINS Vice President and Chair of the Mentoring Subcommittee.
Dr. Eleanor Sterling
Co-Founder, Former Treasurer
AWIS-WINS is deeply saddened to share the passing of WINS Founding Member Dr. Eleanor J. Sterling, who served as chapter Treasurer for a decade. Eleanor leveraged over 30 years of field research and community outreach experience with direct application to biodiversity conservation in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania to focus her work on the intersection between biodiversity, culture, and languages; the factors influencing ecological and social resilience; and the development of indicators of wellbeing in biocultural landscapes. Read a celebration of Eleanor's life and legacy here.
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