more on Transgendered Professor Stirs Debate Over Women in Science

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: David Allen <David_Allen_AB63 () post harvard edu>
Date: July 15, 2006 2:45:05 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: more on Transgendered Professor Stirs Debate Over Women in  
Science

Ben Barres is an important voice in a Boston Globe story today,  
telling of an ego-strong professor who seems to have run off a  
brilliant woman scholar.  To note, for balance, there are dissenting  
voices in the story, seemingly as always.

http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/07/15/ 
mit_star_accused_by_11_colleagues/

David
______

MIT star accused by 11 colleagues
Prospective hire was intimidated, they say

By Marcella Bombardieri and Gareth Cook, Globe Staff  |  July 15, 2006

Eleven MIT professors have accused a powerful colleague, a Nobel  
laureate, of interfering with the university's efforts to hire a  
rising female star in neuroscience.

The professors, in a letter to MIT's president, Susan Hockfield ,  
accuse professor Susumu Tonegawa of intimidating Alla Karpova , ``a  
brilliant young scientist," saying that he would not mentor,  
interact, or collaborate with her if she took the job and that  
members of his research group would not work with her.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, they wrote in their June  
30 letter, ``allowed a senior faculty member with great power and  
financial resources to behave in an uncivil, uncollegial, and  
possibly unethical manner toward a talented young scientist who  
deserves to be welcomed at MIT." They also wrote that because of  
Tonegawa's opposition, several other senior faculty members cautioned  
Karpova not to come to MIT.

She has since declined the job offer.

In response to the June 30 letter, six of Tonegawa's colleagues  
defended him in their own letter to Hockfield.

Tonegawa, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, is  
considered one of the world's top scientists, and also one of the  
most powerful. The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, which  
he oversees, received $50 million in 2002 to support research into  
Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, and other diseases. Despite his success,  
Tonegawa saw Karpova ``as a competitive threat to him," according to  
a June 27 letter from a Stanford professor to Hockfield. All three  
letters were obtained by the Globe. Karpova's job offer was made  
jointly by the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and the biology  
department, which would not have required her to work with Tonegawa.

The MIT professors who signed the letter are pressuring  
administrators to give Karpova a formal apology and to investigate  
the situation. ``We have damaged MIT's reputation as an institution  
that supports academic fairness for young faculty and jeopardized our  
ability to attract the best scientists to MIT," wrote the 11  
professors, all women, and most involved in MIT committees on gender  
equity issues. Several of the professors could not be reached and one  
declined to comment.

Hockfield was traveling and unavailable for comment yesterday. MIT's  
provost is looking into the allegations, said Robert J. Silbey , the  
dean of science. In a statement provided by an MIT spokeswoman, the  
university said it cannot discuss hiring situations, but acts to  
address any concerns about unfairness in faculty hiring.

Silbey, however, said in an interview with the Globe that he believed  
Tonegawa's e-mails and conversations with Karpova were simply  
notification that he did not want to collaborate on research. The two  
have similar research interests. Karpova is just finishing a  
postdoctoral fellowship at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York,  
and was interviewing for her first faculty job.

``Is he competitive? Yes." Silbey said of Tonegawa. ``What is he  
competitive for? To make Picower the best in the world. Does that get  
on other people's nerves? Yes."

The incident occurred a few months after an MIT professor raised  
concern in a faculty newsletter that the university has stalled in  
some of its efforts to hire outstanding women scientists and treat  
them equally. In 1999, MIT acknowledged a pervasive bias against  
women and promised to work to achieve equity in hiring, pay, and the  
overall treatment of women.

The tempest also adds to concerns about the future of MIT's efforts  
in neuroscience. Some professors say Tonegawa has already caused  
tension because he is overly competitive with any potential rival,  
including the McGovern Institute, which shares the same new  
neuroscience building at MIT.

MIT professor Tomaso Poggio said Tonegawa appears to want  
``everything to be under his control."

``Most people would say that he is very smart and charming and a very  
difficult person to deal with. He is not a team player," said Poggio,  
a professor at the McGovern Institute.

On July 7, a week after letters criticizing Tonegawa were sent to  
Hockfield, a group of six MIT faculty, including two women, wrote to  
the president in defense of Tonegawa. The signers of the letter are  
all affiliated with the center that Tonegawa oversees. They wrote  
that Karpova asked Tonegawa whether he would collaborate with her,  
and he said that he would not.

``We feel that Susumu is being unfairly maligned, and we wish to  
express our strong support of him," they wrote. ``This is not a  
gender issue, and to portray it as such sets back the cause of women  
scientists."

The letter also says that punishing Susumu would have ``far-reaching  
negative consequences" and would endanger future funding for the  
institute Tonegawa oversees.

In an e-mail responding to a Globe request for comment, Karpova would  
not field questions about what occurred. ``I do believe that this  
problem has been sorted out for the present," she wrote.
She said she was accepting an offer to lead a research team at a lab  
called Janelia Farm in Virginia, recently established by the Howard  
Hughes Medical Institute, ``and I am very excited about this unique  
opportunity."

Karpova declined the university's job offer in a June 24 e-mail to  
the science dean and other MIT officials, according to a copy  
included in a complaint to university officials from Stanford  
professor Ben A. Barres .

``I wanted very much to come to MIT," she wrote in the e-mail.  
``However, the strong resistance to my recruitment by Dr. Tonegawa  
has convinced me that I could not develop my scientific career at MIT  
in the kind of a nurturing atmosphere that I and the young people  
joining my lab would need in order to succeed."

Karpova added that senior faculty at MIT warned her ``about the  
professional difficulties I would face at MIT in a situation where  
part of the community strongly felt that my research direction could  
potentially compete with their scientific interests."

Tonegawa was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine  
for pioneering work on the genetics of the immune system. He then  
moved into neuroscience, and is particularly focused on studying memory.

Several scientists said Karpova is considered one of the most  
promising young neuroscientists. Her work ``has incredible potential  
for making big steps forward in our understanding of how the brain  
works," said Barres, when asked to comment on his letter to MIT. He  
wrote in the letter that the young scientist told him about her  
experiences at MIT during a visit to Stanford, which also was  
interested in hiring her.

Barres's letter also said that in addition to Tonegawa, Silbey, the  
science dean, advised Karpova not to come to MIT. Barres also wrote  
that Tonegawa told her ``if she came he would do his best to block  
her success, including blocking access to the animal facility that he  
claims to have control over."

Silbey said that's not true, and contended that he told Karpova he  
wanted her to come to MIT. He said the overlap of her research and  
Tonegawa's would make it important for her to establish her  
independence in order to win tenure.

Tonegawa's tone, in e-mails Silbey saw, ``wasn't at all threatening  
or unpleasant. It was in fact quite complimentary," the dean said.

Marcella Bombardieri can be reached at bombardieri () globe com. Gareth  
Cook can be reached at g_cook () globe com


-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/