Author Archives: Mary Williams

“Mom.” A parenting epiphany

Sometimes you realize the importance of a moment only in hindsight, but sometimes you’re instantly aware that a moment has changed you forever. My parenting epiphany occurred while playing “Go Fish” with my then three-year old son. Go Fish is a simple card game; the object is … Continue reading

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I don’t know how she does it: Stories of plant scientists with children

Originally published on Plantae.org Sept 2027. A recent blog post, “How does she do it?” featured stories of women in neuroscience who have successful scientific careers and families. This post prompted a few of us who are plant scientists and … Continue reading

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Advent Botany Day 12: Lessons from Plants

For many years, the plant and botany communities have shared stories about plants during the month of December using the hashtag #AdventBotany. After a brief hiatus, it’s back, with a focus this year on #BotanyBooks #AdventBotany2023. I chose to highlight … Continue reading

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Articles about institutional racism, ableism, and systemic bias

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Social Media to Support, Amplify, Nuture, and Connect Plant Scientists (a short talk)

In July 2021, I was invited to give a talk at the “virtual” Arabidopsis meeting, ICAR2020 (the meeting was scheduled for 2020, but postponed until 2021 due to COVID). I spoke about how every scientist can benefit from having a … Continue reading

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What is ROOT&SHOOT?

Early in 2021, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) posted an annoucement about a new type of funding opportunity, called LEAding cultural change through Professional Societies (LEAPS) of Biology. The NSF is is committed to supporting efforts that use evidence-based … Continue reading

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Intersectional Allyship for Racial Justice: A Workshop for White Allies

I gave myself a present! I signed up to attend this workshop, through the Equity in the Center. What does it mean for white people to be effective allies to people of color in our work for racial equity and … Continue reading

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E/quality and Diversity

(Originally published April 2016 in Plant Science Today) Recently, I was asked it if is ethical to give a job to a woman rather than to a man of higher quality. I replied, “How do we measure “quality”? This is … Continue reading

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We are all migrants

Lessons from Orkney (I wrote this in 2016 after a wet and windy summer solstice trip to Orkney, Scotland.)  I enjoyed a trip to Orkney last week to celebrate the graduations of my sons from high school and university. We chose … Continue reading

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Preparing your manuscript for submission. A writing webinar

I have spent the past 25 years helping scientists learn to be better writers, and it’s one of my favorite things to do. I regularly give seminars on how to prepare a manuscript for publication. This is a recording of … Continue reading

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