Sarah Stone
Micaela Parker
The careers of Micaela Parker and Sarah Stone, program managers at the UW eScience Institute, are the subject of an article in the latest issue of Oceanography, the quarterly magazine of The Oceanography Society. In it, Micaela and Sara talk about what inspired them to jointly apply to the program manager position, in which they share responsibility for day-to-day operations of the institute and serve as the primary point of contact for campus and external partners and the public.
“The eScience Institute’s mission is to engage researchers across disciplines in developing and applying advanced computational methods and tools to real world problems in data-driven science and research,” they explain. “This interdisciplinary mission attracted us to the program manager position.”
Micaela and Sarah proposed a job-sharing arrangement—backed up by data, of course!—that would allow them to balance a career in academia with their roles as caregivers. The arrangement has worked out well for all parties, as it has enabled the faculty, staff and students that work with the institute to benefit from both women’s skills and experience.
“We enjoy helping scientists create and utilize tools that enable novel research questions and empower others,” Micaela and Sarah tell Oceanography. “The eScience Institute is an exciting, cross-disciplinary environment that allows us to work with scientists doing cutting-edge research.”
They credit the institute’s leadership, including UW CSE professor Ed Lazowska and iSchool professor and CSE adjunct professor Bill Howe, plus Chris Cunnington and the rest of the UW CSE staff, for supporting their job-share. They offer advice to other women in academia similarly striving for work-life balance, urging them to not be afraid seek flexibility but also to embrace “opportunities to explore outside of your comfort zone.”
Read a PDF of the article here.