Extraordinary Women Leaders in Speleology (EWLS)

"It is shameful that there are so few women in science... There is a misconception in America that women scientists are all dowdy spinsters. This is the fault of men. In Chinese society, a woman is valued for what she is, and men encourage her to accomplishments yet she remains eternally feminine." Chien-Shiung Wu, Experimental Physicist who made significant contributions in the field of nuclear physics. #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls

A visit to the Cave of the Mounds — likely a favorite field trip for many schoolchildren — is an everyday activity for kids taking part in Camp Brigham there. The daily cave experience is true of any of the eight week-long camps, which have themes such as “Wild Safari” and “Life in the Past.” However, the cave visits were particularly meaningful for last week’s geology-based camp, GeoJourney. It’s one of the more popular camps because it is at the core of the experience of Cave of the Mounds, said Kim Anderson, operations manager. “The cave has many more surprises than you learn on a normal cave tour,” said Gabe Pitzen, 10, a GeoJourney camper who will be a fifth-grader at Chavez Elementary School. “I like that we get to go into the cave every day and there’s different activities every day.” Margaux Bress, 12, who will be a seventh-grader at Hamilton Middle School, said she also enjoyed the trips into the cave and its constant 50-degree temperature. Read more … http

"Don't be afraid of hard work. Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Don't let others discourage you or tell you that you can't do it." Gertrude B. Elion, Biochemist & Pharmacologist who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine. #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls

As tiny as 1.7 mm, a snail whose relatives live exclusively in the deep recesses of caves, provided a sensational discovery from the depths of Nodong cave, South Korea, back in 2000 for its collector, J. S. Lee. It is the only cave-dwelling representative of the family of hollow-shelled snails in the whole of Asia with its closest relatives known from as far as Croatia and Northern Spain. The scientists, Adrienne Jochum, Bern University and Natural History Museum Bern, Larisa Prozorova and Mariana Sharyiool from the Far Eastern Russian Academy of Sciences and Barna Páll-Gergely from Shinshu University, published its description in the open-access journal ZooKeys. SOURCE http://m.phys.org/news/2015-08-cave-snail-south-korea-ancient.html Image: http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=5902 Image: http://unibe-ch2.academia.edu/AdrienneJochum

Find more great ideas on our Pinterest page ... https://www.pinterest.com/pinterestewls #ewls #womencavers #speleology

“If you push through that feeling of being scared, that feeling of taking risk, really amazing things can happen." Maria Mayer (1906 – 1972), Theoretical Physicist & Nobel laureate in Physics for proposing the nuclear shell model of the atomic nucleus. She was the second female Nobel laureate in physics, after Marie Curie. #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls

Besides women cavers who are vets, EWLS would like to thank all the men out there that support women cavers and especially veterans! Khalvin Cook is a Navy veteran and retired Navy Seal. He works to support women cavers and serves as Vice President of EWLS. Khalvin was introduced to organized caving in 2010 when he met Lisa our president. He has been a major force of support for our organization and we are very happy to have him! Thank you Khalvin for your service. For those men who also support women cavers, use the hashtag #WeLoveWomenCavers and thank you all veterans for your service! Read more about Khalvin here: http://www.ewls.org/khalvin-cook-1.html

Hannah Davis is a US Coast Guard veteran and a lifelong caver. She currently works for the USGS as a hydrologic tech. She says "I get to do a lot of awesome science. I am proud to be a woma n veteran, caver and scientist." Thank you for your service Hannah! #ewls #ScienceWomen #womencavers #speleology  

Lynn joined the Army in 1976, where she trained as a Military Police Officer trainig a military police dog. She was sent to Germany where she reconnected with Phil Winkler and his family, though she got started caving much earlier. She began caving in her second year of college while at Montgomery College, Rockville, MD via Geology class where she was introduced to caving on trips led by Jim McCloud and Patrick Connor. Here she became secretary of the MC Geology Club and Sligo Grotto and she coordinated trips almost every weekend. “My first caving trip was Sinnett-Thorn at OTR in 1972. Jim got me to crawl into tight wet spots and soak up all the water!!!! All were total suck-ins!” she said with a smile. She became a member of the NSS in 1973.  In the early 1980's due to a physical injury, this inspired her to get involved with Cave Rescue with the Eastern Region NCRC where she took various basic and national level courses and later became involved with with setting standards for

Scientist, Rene Chavez and Denisse Argote from Mexico’s National Anthropology and History Institute were part of a group of scientists from the Autonomous University of Mexico that discovered a sacred sinkhole cave, known as a cenote, under Chichen Itza’s grand Kukulkan Castle Pyramid, which could shed new light on the ancient Maya civilisation. Mexico’s Kukulkan pyramid is one of the new seven wonders of the ancient world, renowned for its perfect astronomical geometry. “We know that in caustic areas, its surroundings have subterranean waters. So, taking into account the concept of the maternal womb, the origins of life and water which is the original of life, we have a double meaning which is very significant. Therefore, taking all these concepts into account we link it with a step to the sky in magical and religious thinking,” said Argote. #speleology #ScienceWomen #womencavers #ewls WLeadership Read more here: http://www.euronews.com/2015/08/14/sci

“In nature nothing exists alone." Rachel Carson (1907 – 1964), Marine Biologist and Conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls

Before Rene Ohms was the the chief of resource management at Devils Tower National Monument she was a Physical Science Technician at Jewel Cave National Monument where she formed and became the first chair of the Jewel Cave National Monument "Green Team" in 2010. Her innovation and leadership changed "how park employees view the importance of [conservation] issues." Park employees began to integrate energy conservation and sustainability ideas into all park operations. Then, she coordinated efforts that led to the park's success in becoming a member of the Climate Friendly Parks Program (CFP) in 2013. Rene's efforts lead the park to complete greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and develop a modified environmental management system (MEMS) and CFP Plan, in order to attain CFP status. Jewel Cave was the first park to successfully complete a MEMS/CFP Plan. Besides this, Rene coordinated and lead CFP workshops to help other Black Hills area parks make their way