February 2023

Ashley Waters, DPA, executive director of Woman to Woman Mentoring, Inc., spoke from a lectern at Hood College. People with mentors, she said, have better prospects in life. Mentoring was one of the reasons Waters and several dozen others—both in person and virtually—had come to the small Frederick campus. They were gathered for Women in Science Speak, a celebration of women and girls in science and a mentoring discussion about overcoming the substantial disparities and gender bias in the field.

The Biotech Connector, a quarterly networking and speaker series, is returning to Frederick, Md, on March 1. The event, which is jointly hosted by the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research and Frederick County Chamber of Commerce, brings together entrepreneurs, industry members, and scientists of all kinds for an inside look at local advances in research to improve human health.

Frederick National Laboratory’s Academic Summer Trainees Program provides graduate and undergraduate students with the chance to work with and learn from some of the nation’s leading scientists. The program now includes students from several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and offers them increased access to advanced research and training, along with experience in biomedical programs, cancer research, and state-of-the-art technologies at FNL.

For many people, libraries conjure up images of hushed voices, using the Dewey Decimal System to search the card catalog, and perusing the shelves for a favorite author. But as is true in so many aspects of our daily lives, technology is changing the way we find and use information. That’s why Deanna West, who assumed the role of director of the NCI Frederick Scientific Library in September, is rethinking how the library serves its patrons.

The second annual Women in Science Speak event is just a few days away, but there’s still time to register. Women in Science Speak was established in Frederick last year to observe and celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The event aims to amplify the voices of women scientists and foster mentorship, allyship, and cooperation to empower current and future women scientists.

Late last year, some of the world’s top leaders in the field came together to discuss the progress of artificial intelligence applications in cancer research and clinical care at a scientific symposium hosted by Hood College and Frederick National Laboratory. It was one of several large scientific gatherings in Frederick in 2022 with implications for the new year and beyond.