Graduate Women in Science (GWIS), also known as Sigma Delta Epsilon, is an organization for female graduate students in science, first established in 1921.
Membership is open to anyone, regardless of sex, who has at least a bachelor's degree in a scientific discipline. The organization is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that works to assist women in science. It does so through offering grants, awards, and fellowships; holding annual conferences and sponsoring additional meetings and symposia; publishing the quarterly GWIS Bulletin; and promoting the participation and representation of women in science fairs.
GWIS was established in 1921 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. In keeping with the Greek system of naming chapters, the Cornell chapter became the "Alpha chapter" when the second ("Beta") chapter was added in 1922. The organization currently has 20 chapters throughout the United States and is headquartered in Avon, Massachusetts.
The GWIS National Meeting is held annually in June and is hosted by a local chapter.
Famous quotes containing the words graduate, women and/or science:
“In the United States, it is now possible for a person eighteen years of age, female as well as male, to graduate from high school, college, or university without ever having cared for, or even held, a baby; without ever having comforted or assisted another human being who really needed help. . . . No society can long sustain itself unless its members have learned the sensitivities, motivations, and skills involved in assisting and caring for other human beings.”
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“Women will not advance except by joining together in cooperative action.... Unlike other groups, women do not need to set affiliation and strength in opposition one against the other. We can readily integrate the two, search for more and better ways to use affiliation to enhance strength—and strength to enhance affiliation.”
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“Natural science will in time incorporate into itself the science of man, just as the science of man will incorporate into itself natural science: there will be one science.”
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