Hunter College has a long history of extraordinary women scientists, including two Nobel Prize winners (nuclear physicist Rosalyn Yalow ’41 and biochemist Gertrude Elion ’37), several Presidential Medal of Science winners (nanotechnologist, Mildred Dresselhaus ’51 and biochemist Mildred Cohn ’31), and many other female science pioneers. More recently, neuroscientist Vanessa Ruta ’00 was named a 2019 MacArthur Fellow. Hunter’s science programs have long been the pride of the college, and our faculty in the natural sciences includes a striking number of tenured and tenure-track women professors. Hunter’s senior women scientists have an exceptional record of winning major grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, NASA, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and others.
Although Hunter’s institutional environment supports and celebrates women in science, many of the college’s female scientists have not yet achieved the distinction, recognition, and impact that is possible for them as prolific researchers undertaking innovative science. In response, Hunter College has established a Women in Science at Hunter (WiSH) initiative, which will develop a wide range of programs that help Hunter’s women science faculty strengthen their scientific partnerships and foster collaboration and interdisciplinary research. WiSH programs may include research and skills-building workshops, seed funding for research, a formalized mentoring program for junior faculty and student scientists, and a bench-to-business program to help women scientists cultivate entrepreneurial skills and connect their technologies and ideas with business and investors.