Chrystal Starbird

@drstarbird.bsky.social

Scientist, mother, perpetual learner. Assistant Professor, Structural Biologist, Advocate, and Speaker. Views my own. signal @starbic.01 www.starbirdlab.com

One month left to apply (deadline August 31st)! 👇 #Virology #AcademicJobs #FacultyJobs #FacultyPosition #TenureTrack #GroupLeader

Daniel Hurdiss@danielhurdiss.bsky.social · last mo.

We are looking for an Assistant or Associate Professor to join us at the @utrechtvirology.bsky.social. Interested in building an independent research programme in a collaborative #virology environment? Please take a look and share with anyone who might be a good fit! www.uu.nl/en/organisat...

From the abstract: “promoting a woman to Associate Professor increases female faculty by 1.5 members after 15 years, leads to six additional female PhD graduates over the following decade, and raises the number who subsequently remain in academia and reach tenured positions”

Physgal ⚛️@physgal.bsky.social · last wk.

Fascinating paper on the progression of women in academia. 👩🏻‍🔬 ⚛️ 🧪 #AcademicSky docs.iza.org/dp18477.pdf?... Here's an excerpt from the conclusion:

When women do obtain tenure, the effects extend well beyond their own careers. Beyond the direct promotion of the qualifying candidate, departments experience on average one additional female promotion over the subsequent fifteen years, a substantial expansion of the female PhD pipeline, and improved retention and career progression among female doctoral graduates. These effects are concentrated in departments where women are underrepresented, but not entirely absent, suggesting that a minimal female presence is a precondition for trickle-down effects to materialize, whether through mutual support, departmental influence, or other channels that require women not to be entirely isolated.

Thanks to the woman hyping me up this morning at the cafe. Complimented my hair and earrings, and when I told her my age said “Ain’t no way!” 😂😍 I love it when we’re like this. You made my day!

This is such an important thread as we face a growing crisis in higher education. So many public universities are being taken over by people who treat them as a business and not a public good, and those are fundamentally different philosophies. And it’s destroying the road to upward mobility.

Kate Clancy@kateclancy.bsky.social · last mo.

What a great article not only on faculty workloads, but how little our salaries actually factor in to most university budgets. A few highlights. First, our salaries are falling:

Third, faculty salaries are falling even if we statistically control for faculty rank and institution. By our analysis of National Center for Education Statistics data, tenured and tenure-track salaries are down 10 percent in real terms since 2016 and are lower today than they were in 2002; nontenured faculty salaries are down 4 percent since 2016 and are at 2002 levels today.

To put this plainly: Suppose sharply increased teaching loads enabled institutions to cut one out of every seven full-time faculty. (That’s roughly what we saw last year in severe cuts announced at West Virginia, Western Illinois, and St. Cloud State Universities.) The associated savings in salary and benefits even through such drastic action would amount to less than 2.5 percent of total institutional expenditures for the typical university.

The upshot? If you think higher education has a cost problem, squeezing more teaching out of faculty is not the first place you should look.

Are you a recent Ph.D. graduate? Apply for the Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists. The $30,000 grand prize will be awarded for outstanding research in cell and molecular biology, genomics, ecology, or molecular medicine. Apply by 15 July: https://scim.ag/4lUpKMN

Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists

This Prize was created to recognize that global economic health is dependent upon a vibrant research community and we need to encourage our best and brightest to continue in their chosen fields of res...

scim.ag

In the face of ongoing pressures and critique (including here by many), the public reaffirmation of the core mission of the National Academy of Sciences is a much-needed signal from incoming NAS President Neil Shubin. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The enduring pursuit of science in America

Imagine an American organization that convenes scientific experts not to advance any ideology or interest but to provide the nation with a clear understanding of complex problems. Imagine this body wo...

science.org

I don’t know what weird virus is going around, but within the past week two members of my household spiked a fever over 100, were suddenly very lethargic and nauseous, and then completely fine a few hours later 🤷🏾‍♀️

Starting a new lab? My middle child is a rising junior at MassArt in animation/graphic design and is starting a logo design business. They designed our lab logo as well, so please contact if interested!

Bild

Short-form video (~8 mins) on threats to science from @evidentmedia.org, an Emmy-winning nonprofit newsroom, featuring takes from @cdelawalla.bsky.social, @drstarbird.bsky.social & me. Ongoing efforts by OMB are another indication of the ongoing existential threats to American leadership in science.

Inside the Collapse of U.S. Science Funding

The Trump administration cut or froze more than $3 billion in approved research grants from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation in 2025.

evidentmedia.substack.com

It turns out that if I ignore my email it really piles up. But also if I don't ignore my email, I don't get anything done? Been doing a lot of organizing this week, and my colleagues are so tired of the ever-increasing, compliance-focused bureaucratic workload. 1/7