Women in STEM

Genetics and the Law: A Scientist’s View
Yale Law & Policy Review, 1985

Heroines and Role Models
Science, 1991

Thoughts of a Nonmillenarian
Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1997

Inspired Choices
Science, 1998 

Regulating Human Cloning
Science, 1998 

Believing Is Not Understanding 
The Washington Post, 1999 

Enhancing the Postdoctoral Experience
Issues in Science and Technology, 2000 

Shaping the Future for Women in Science
The American Society for Cell Biology Newsletter, 2000 

I met Maxine as a postdoc in Marnie Halpern's lab (then at Carnegie Embryology). It was Maxine's passion for making a difference in the science education of K-12 students that impressed me. So much so that when I was an Assistant Professor, I started BioEYES, a program that uses zebrafish to excite kids about science. When we launched BioEYE in 2002, I asked Maxine to advise our program. Maxine generously shared her wisdom, which is certainly one factor that helped us grow to a program that is all over the world and approaching 200,000 children served.

Maxine told me the following with regard to the state of science education in the US: Image when students were in primary grades, they learned the names of famous baseball players. Then, as they got older, they memorized the rules. In high school, they got to hold a ball and glove or maybe walk on the field. Never did they ever get a chance to play the game. She believed it was essential that every child have a chance to have a hands-on science experience.

Maxine Singer was Carnegie's president when I came to DTM (Department of Terrestrial Magnetism*) as a postdoc and remained so until several years after I was hired onto the scientific staff. She was an absolutely amazing scientist, administrator, and human being.

Despite being my boss's boss and in an utterly different field from me, she was always eager to talk science with me and listen to my ideas about, well, anything. I was lucky enough to live in the same neighborhood as her, so even long after she retired, I would regularly run into her on walks or at the grocery store, and she always wanted to catch up.

She is sorely missed.

*The Department of Terrestrial Magnetism merged with the Geophysical Laboratory to form the Earth and Planets Laboratory in 2020.

I was a Ph.D. student at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Professor Ernest Winocour’s laboratory when Maxine came with her family for a sabbatical. She became my mentor, colleague, guiding light in my academic journey, and a close friend. Over time, our relationship grew so deeply that my family and I came to see Maxine, Dan, and their children as part of our extended family. 

My first encounter with Maxine at the Weizmann Institute left a profound and lasting impression on both my scientific and personal life. I vividly recall standing in Ernest’s office as Maxine shared the groundbreaking news of Dan Nathans’ talk at the Gordon Conference, where he described the use of restriction enzymes to study SV40 DNA—heralding the dawn of a new era in molecular biology. I was fascinated and in awe to discover that this brilliant scientist, who would be joining our lab for a year, was accompanied by her husband Dan, a distinguished lawyer, and their four young children. This remarkable balance between her family life and her dedication to groundbreaking scientific research demonstrated that it is possible to excel in both realms simultaneously.

She inspired and mentored me, guiding me through critical professional decisions with wisdom and care. Above all, she treated me as an equal and a trusted friend.

I had the honor of being Maxine's primary care internist for 20 years. Maxine confirmed my career decisions and goals. She made me proud to be a primary care doctor. Her family is exemplary, and her dedication to it is obvious. Knowing that it is entirely possible to be your full professional self AND love and nurture your family is a role model we need for all. Thanks, Maxine!

Maxine was most impassioned about her work in science education. She shared with me her stories about her efforts to expand science education to youth. As a primary care doctor, I share this belief with her and wish we could expand our understanding of human disease at a young age so we all have more comfort and education about our human bodies over the lifespan. Maxine was an easy patient. She understood human biology and was accepting of her changes during her later life. We should all be so accepting!

I had the great privilege of working in Maxine’s lab at the NIH for 2 summers while I was in college. In 1977-78, molecular biology was just beginning to come of age, and Maxine was right at the forefront. I remember that the lab was a hub for many of the stars in the field who came to visit, and it was a very exciting but busy time. Nevertheless, Maxine was always able to make time to talk and troubleshoot with people in the lab. Soon after I arrived in the lab, I had to seed 200 plates of cells on a Friday for an experiment to begin on Monday. When I came into the lab after the weekend, I was crestfallen to discover that the plates were contaminated with yeast. I had had experience with tissue culture and, of course, was incredibly embarrassed, and I couldn’t understand how this had happened.

Rather than throwing this incompetent undergraduate out the door, Maxine sat down with me and said that there must be a logical explanation. After going over my whole day and not finding any red flags, Maxine remembered that I had mentioned to her that I enjoyed baking challah. Sure enough, that Thursday night, I had prepared challah and baked it in the morning. After that, my challah routine changed, and my cultures remained sterile. More importantly, I carry with me the lessons I learned from Maxine about respecting every person and taking the time to learn from even simple, silly mistakes to this day.

Maxine's excitement for science was infectious, and she helped direct me into my career in science, for which I am forever grateful. I remember an interview of Maxine with Bill Moyers in which she said that one of the reasons she went into science was that there are not many careers in the world in which you can say you learned something new every day. That excitement certainly inspired me, and I think all who knew her.

I knew Maxine slightly, and she knew me.  She had a close friendship with my director, Leonard Searle, which is the origin of my connection with Maxine.  I appreciate the kindness she showed me. 

Of course, she was a notable intellect, as was Leonard.  It was their friendship that ensured the construction of the Magellan telescopes in Chile; without that, Carnegie Astronomy might have died out.  We owe our careers to Maxine and Leonard's friendship and their intellect.

The last time I saw her, she told me of a new book on flowers she had just published.  I was amazed at her ability to continue to contribute to Science at the age of 87.

Maxine Singer was my predecessor as the president of the Carnegie Institution. She left a remarkable imprint on Carnegie as a result of her recruitment and encouragement of top-level scientists, her engagement with them, and the initiatives she launched. These included the establishment of the spectacular Singer Building at Johns Hopkins as the home for the Embryology Department, nurturing the continuation of the incredible and productive scientific culture of that group. She also oversaw the construction of the two Magellan telescopes in Chile, keeping the Carnegie Observatories at the cutting edge of astronomy. Additionally, she launched the Department of Global Ecology, enabling scientists from many different disciplines to address climate change without the barriers often imposed by academic silos. These were noteworthy accomplishments on which I was able to build.

Maxine had a commitment to education. She recognized that the District was disadvantaging its children due to the decrepit state of the educational system, particularly in science and math. Because Carnegie was a significant scientific institution in the District, she felt that Carnegie had a responsibility to try to address this need. Throughout her tenure and mine, Carnegie held Saturday morning classes for District children in the P Street building, where various scientific subjects and projects were explored. A large room in the basement was dedicated to this effort and included aquariums, microscopes, and various other materials for the kids to use, as well as full-time staff to nurture the program. This effort launched some kids onto educational trajectories they otherwise might not have followed.

Many of the teachers responsible for science education in the District’s schools had no prior educational experience in science. Maxine launched a program in which District teachers were brought into the building during the summer for a week or two of training on how to teach science. The program provided some focus on substance but also included training on effective classroom instruction. The training featured something that was anathema to the teachers—the videotaping of a participant's efforts to teach a subject, followed by a review of the videotape and a discussion (with gentle criticism) of the teacher's performance. To encourage participation in the workshops, teachers were paid to attend, and they grudgingly accepted the indignity of the videotape. But they learned. One teacher at a final session said to me, "I came to Carnegie to learn how to teach science, but I left having learned how to teach."

The memorial symposium focused on the establishment of a Math for America outpost in Washington. Math for America was the brainchild of Jim Simons, the phenomenally wealthy hedge fund founder and a mathematician himself. The program involved an arrangement with American University to provide both a master’s degree in mathematics and an educational certificate. Carnegie would find appropriate candidates for the program, pay for their education, and provide a stipend, with the commitment that recipients would teach mathematics in the District’s schools for a certain number of years. We even increased their school salary to meet norms for those with a master’s degree and provided mentors to help them navigate the challenges of teaching in some of the District’s schools. At the symposium, we learned that the program has had a lasting and very positive impact on mathematics education in the District.

One amusing anecdote relates to the initial funding for the Math for America DC effort. Maxine went to New York to pitch funding to Jim Simons. She was ushered into his office and noticed an ashtray on his desk. She asked if he minded if she had a cigarette. Simons, incredibly pleased to find someone who shared his addiction, pulled out his own pack of cigarettes. They bonded as a result, and our funding was forthcoming.