Three Prince­ton alum­nae gath­ered Wednes­day at Career Ser­vices Wis­dom for Women in STEM Majors. Akira Bell John­son ’95, Cheryl Rowe-Rendleman ’81 and Joanna Nice ’06 have all had sub­stan­tial careers in the sci­ences since leav­ing Prince­ton, and they offered advice and per­spec­tives on being a woman in the sciences.

One of the most repeated pieces of advice was to find a men­tor. All the women spoke about being hum­bled dur­ing their under­grad­u­ate years, and John­son put it suc­cinctly when she said, “It doesn’t pay to try to fig­ure some­thing out for a long time.” In any sit­u­a­tion, it’s impor­tant to rec­og­nize when you need help, because that pro­duces bet­ter results. “It’s okay to ask ques­tions,” said Nice. “Part of your job is to ask questions.”

The women also empha­sized the impor­tance of a sup­port sys­tem while bal­anc­ing work and fam­ily. A few grad stu­dents asked the panel mem­bers, all of whom had chil­dren, how they approached the work-home ques­tion. Rowe-Rendleman had her first child while in grad­u­ate school, and said, “He sat on my lap while I was writ­ing my dis­ser­ta­tion.” Though the women it said it’s impos­si­ble to be per­fect, John­son said that hav­ing a “net­work of sup­port around your fam­ily” helps immensely.

For those not think­ing that far into the future, the panel also shared their per­spec­tives on what to do in col­lege. “It’s never too early to start intern­ing,” said John­son. Even non-science pur­suits can be valu­able, added Nice. Nice did crew while at Prince­ton and said she learned about “hard work and dis­ci­pline and tenac­ity and team­work” from her team­mates. As far as pick­ing a major, the women agreed that it’s impor­tant to do some­thing you’re pas­sion­ate about that allows you to shine.

For their final words, the panel encour­aged tak­ing risks. And “if the guys are talk­ing, talk louder,” said Rowe-Rendleman, later clar­i­fy­ing, “Or, talk differently.”