Women in science

The Girl from Ipanema writes thoughtfully about women in science; her thoughts are triggered by a recent faculty appointment in her department, where graduate students get to voice their opinion through a formal mechanism.

While the broad principles -- diversity, mentorship, affirmative action, and yes, social justice -- are well known, the question of whom to choose for a given faculty position is hard to resolve when one specific candidate is pitted against another. The devil, certainly, is in the details.