Two Young Scholars Aiming to Boost Gender Diversity in the Soil Sciences

Dr. Seyfferth

In an effort to promote networking among women in the field of soil science, Angelia Seyfferth, an assistant professor in the department of plant and soil sciences at the University of Delaware, and Samantha Ying, an assistant professor of soil biogeochemistry at the University of California, Riverside, sponsored the “Food (and Drink!) for Thought” event at the recent joint annual conference of the Soil Science Society of America, the Agronomy Society of America and the Crop Society of America in Tampa, Florida.

Dr. Ying

The organizers received RSVPs for the event from 21 women. But when the networking event was held at the convention, nearly 100 women attended. Participants rotated to four different tables every 15 minutes and participated in facilitated discussions about specific issues facing women in the field of soil sciences. A contact list of all attendees was made and distributed so that women can be considered for invitations to give talks at educational institutions across the nation.

“The fact that we got more than four times the number of people who RSVP-ed showed that there was a need for this,” said Dr. Seyfferth. “We got a lot of feedback from people that said they want to have it every year.”

Dr. Seyffferth is a graduate of Towson University in Maryland, where she majored in environmental science. She earned a Ph.D. in soil and water sciences at the University of California, Riverside.

Dr. Ying holds a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and a master’s degree in physical geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She earned a Ph.D. in biogeochemistry at Stanford University.