Rosalind Franklin (Roz)

Rosalind Franklin Forum for Female Scientists is a scientific collective named in honor of the distinguished chemist-crystallographer, created by and for women but open to all. Here, senior professor-researchers around the world advise young graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and assistant professors of professional pitfalls, practical problems, and solutions arrived at over lifetimes in science. Giving voice with directness, humor, and individuality, these advisors support every form of intellectual persistence and encourage free thinking about the future.

This constellation of advice has been assembled because scientists typically think and work to consensus. Our aim is that hundreds of honest observations will help entering colleagues feel clearer, more measured, less alone, less anxious, and open to the expectation that all is possible in time. We hope these ideas, communicated with clarity and generosity by pioneering researchers, teachers, and thinkers, will seem right, recognizable, and a universal inheritance serving readers well in their efforts to come.

Our dream jobs consume an average of 70 hours per week. During this time we prepare classes and create support materials; teach undergraduate courses and graduate seminars; clear course administration such as office hours, grading, evaluations, updating files, and other paperwork; meet separately with students, postdocs, and the entire group; write, rewrite, and yet again rewrite research articles and reviews; review journal manuscripts and grant proposals; and conduct correspondence including careful letters of recommendation for colleagues and students.

We never stop pursuing external grant funding.

We read the professional literature of our field; monitor research budgets; recruit and hire coworkers; attend colloquia and problem sessions; chair or participate in departmental committees for planning, scheduling, curriculum coordination, staff evaluation, and for Ph.D. candidates; prepare status reports for funders and university leaders; show appreciation for colleagues and coworkers; and organize or attend conferences.

We also care for our children, home, and parents.

While we do these things, we also did this — it's that important to us. Rosalind Franklin: A Forum for Female Scientists is a non-profit publication and website, produced by and for female scientists, open to all. With gratitude we thank each respondent for her generosity; partners, spouses, parents, and children for ten minutes freed here and there; and to every underwriter of Rosalind Franklin: A Forum for Female Scientists.

We invite readers to peruse the following questions and answers repeatedly, and will do our best to respond to follow up questions, comments, or suggestions.