“You matter. You will contribute to the world in ways that are unexpected and amazing.” So begins “An Open Letter to Women in Chemistry PhD Programs,” published in the September 2024 issue of Nucleus (the newsletter of the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society, or NEACS). A chemist by training with nearly two decades of industry experience, Dr. Lara Kallander, a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Physics, wrote this letter to inspire women in a male-dominated field and to remind them of their capacity to create systemic change.
“Belonging in science is a topic that has interested me for a long time,” Kallander says. Over the years, she has given guest lectures and participated in workshops — including the Women PhD Students in STEM series at Harvard University — on this particular issue. According to her, cultivating belonging is necessary for women to be successful in graduate school.
Kallander realized that she could reach more people by converting her talks into an accessible, well-publicized publication. With its broad reach, the NEACS’s Nucleus was the ideal venue.
“I thought it would be a nice way to address women/female-identifying students in graduate school,” she says. “Although I focus primarily on gender, my letter may have broader implications for diversity in general.”
Encountering Challenges in Chemistry
In college, Kallander loved and excelled in organic chemistry. “I was drawn to this subject because it’s about putting puzzle pieces together. When I realized that I could turn it into a career by developing medicines, I was totally sold. I wanted to help make medicines that could save lives,” she recalls.
When Kallander studied chemistry as an undergraduate student, most majors in her cohort were female.
“I did not even anticipate that I might end up being a minority,” she says. However, when she began graduate school at Stanford University in the 1990s, the chemistry community was overwhelmingly male-dominated. “I had some challenging experiences with peers,” she recalls. “One [male] postdoctoral fellow told me that I was taking a position away from a man who needed to feed his family.”
Eventually, Kallander learned how to categorize which battles to take on and which ones to abandon. “If you encounter a senior person treating you this way, then you probably need to do something about it.” She reiterated this counsel in her open letter.
Coaching Women in STEM Fields
Despite these early struggles, Kallander worked in medicinal chemistry for nearly two decades, at GSK. During that period, she led a research team to candidate selection, the transition from preclinical to clinical (or animal to human) studies.
“That was an important milestone for our team and for me,” she recalls. “We were working on heart failure [medications], so it was really exciting.”
As Kallander progressed within the pharmaceutical industry, she realized that something was missing, she says. “I may be able to help discover a medication that can help someone years down the line, but I will likely never meet that person. I was intrigued by the idea of supporting women today.”
In 2019, Kallander founded Thriving Through Adversity Coaching, an organization that offers individual and group coaching to women navigating STEM-based professions.
“People tend to enjoy group coaching even more. Not only is it less expensive, but it functions like a peer group, in which women clients get to know one another and create networks of support,” she says.
Kallander is also passionate about addressing “the leaky pipeline.” As she explains, “we lose a lot of women in STEM after college, graduate school, postdoctoral fellowships, and at virtually all other phases of their careers. I wanted to address how we can retain this pipeline.”
For Kallander’s clientele, their principal obstacle tends to be burnout. “As women, we often become overwhelmed by professional and personal responsibilities. We need to figure out how to manage those obligations, and still have some time left for ourselves.”
In her coaching practice, Kallander helps women hone their resilience. “It is necessary to be able to bounce back after challenges,” she says. “Determining when to pause, when to stop, when to have a difficult conversation about a boundary, or when to say no, is so important.”
Kallander’s therapeutic approach is rooted in her training in positive psychology. (She received a master’s degree in the subject from the University of Pennsylvania in 2018). For instance, Kallander draws from psychologist Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman’s PERMATM, or five pillars of wellbeing (positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment), in her coaching practice.
“I want people to be happy and to focus on their wellbeing,” Kallander says. “We spend so much of our time working, so it should be something we can enjoy. [Even in a demanding field] there should be value, stimulation, and enjoyment.”
In addition to Thriving Through Adversity Coaching, Kallander co-founded Empowering Women in Organic Chemistry, an annual conference for female chemists. This gathering provides a “diverse, inclusive, and innovative environment for [these women] to feel a true sense of belonging, develop powerful networks, and know the opportunities available to them.”
A Collaborative Ethos at Simmons
In her experience teaching Simmons students, Kallander is particularly impressed by their collaborative spirit.
“This seems unique to Simmons. I have not seen this in most other places I have been,” she says. “For example, after I pass back exams, students will sit around and chat about them and help each other out . . . What I love about that is their growth mindset; they may have a final score or grade, but they continue to move forward with the class and want to really learn the material.”
Moreover, Kallander finds that Simmons’ women’s-centered learning environment nourishes STEM students’ confidence.
“I think there is an extra layer of people paying attention to everyone having their chance to belong and to shine,” she says. She also praises the innovative DREAM-WSTEM (Dynamic Research Education Academy for Mentoring Womxn in STEM) program at Simmons. Funded by NASA and supervised by Associate Professor of Chemistry Arpita Saha, this unique enterprise “is a great way for women in STEM to work together and to build their futures together,” Kallander says.
“Overall, I love being part of the Simmons community. It’s been such a nice way to connect to science and young women today. These young individuals have different needs than I did, so it is an evolving space,” Kallander expresses. “I am always excited to connect with new Simmons students and learn how to meet their needs.”
Kallander’s advice to aspiring scientists involves resistance and allyship. “Avoid stereotyping others in ways that you have been stereotyped. We are all individuals and, ideally, we will all support one another as colleagues.”
Above all, “find your allies,” she says. “There may be nobody else who is exactly like you [in terms of gender, race, ability, etc.], but you can still find people who will believe in you and champion you.”