GENDER ACROSS BORDERS III:  RESEARCH TRANSFORMATIONS 

Friday, April 4th

9am-1pm, Clemens Hall 120

SPECIAL SESSION:  CREATING A SPACE FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE

9am:  Creating a Space for Women in Science panel

Laura Abdi, Environmental and Safety Specialist, the Leader Group

Gail Willsky, Associate Professor, UB Biochemistry

Joseph Gardella, Professor, UB Chemistry

Presentation Detail:

Laura Abdi will describe her position as Environmental and Safety Specialist in the Buffalo office of Leader Professional Services, Inc., an environmental, engineering, and safety consulting firm. On the environmental side she has been Project Geologist for various projects involving interpretive site geology, soil classification, geoprobe investigations, and groundwater monitoring. Effectively in the safety aspect of her vocation she is in the process of creating space in her field for women as Fall & Rescue Procedures trainers for wind turbines; she and her colleagues are not aware of any women now working in this particular field. As a Safety Specialist, Laura completed a 3-week rigorous training regime to become possibly one of the first female certified trainers of her kind for wind turbine rescue procedures. This training included specialized climbing and rescue-at-heights equipment designed for use in wind turbines, suspension trauma awareness and treatment, and fall/rescue-specific course design. She is also a certified First Aid & CPR instructor, and tailors her classes to the particular work environments wind turbine technicians encounter. Laura has traveled the United States extensively during the safety instruction aspect of her career, and will illustrate what working environments are like during the construction and operation phases of wind farms in various locales. With her backgrounds as graduate of SUNY at Buffalo in the Department of Geology and rock climbing enthusiast, she will state how she feels she was (and was not) prepared for this type of work and how she has survived as a female scientist and female safety trainer in these male-dominated occupations. Ms. Abdi will present in power point format her academic background and how she entered her fields, detailing challenges she has faced, nuances of working in her respective fields, and why she enjoys it all.