Biophysical Society Bulletin | November 2023

Communities

Vera Moiseenkova-Bell Committee for Professional Opportunities for Women (CPOW)

Vera Moiseenkova-Bell

participate and witness how the committee’s efforts and work through the years changed the outcome of the Society awards for women in biophysics. The percentage of Society awards presented to women has increased, and I think a lot of effort from CPOW helped to achieve these. Do you have advice for others who might be thinking about volunteering? If you love volunteering, find out about BPS committees or volunteer work at the Society through the webpage (https:/ www.biophysics.org/About-BPS/Governance/Committees), talk to the members of different BPS committees and see which of the missions of the committees align the best with your passion, and join. I promise it is a rewarding experience and you will not regret it! When not volunteering for BPS, what do you work on? I recently became Director for the Institute of Structural Biology at University of Pennsylvania. Together with my colleagues, we are working on establishing a new institute that will catalyze novel advances in the areas of structural biology and promote collaborative studies across the biomed ical community at the university.

Is this your first volunteer position for BPS? If not, what other positions have you held? My first volunteer position was with the Early Careers Com mittee at the Biophysical Society, on which I served from 2005 to 2012. I was a first-year postdoc and I joined the committee during the Annual Meeting as I wanted to help others to have a good and productive time at the meeting, help the Society, and help postdocs and students to navigate the academic environment. Why do you volunteer? I like to give back to the community that has been very instru mental in my career development, and I also love that these opportunities allow me to meet different people and under stand their needs so that we can improve their experience as a member of the Society. What has been a highlight from your volunteer experience? I became a member of the Committee for Professional Oppor tunities for Women (CPOW) in 2018. I was fortunate to join the committee when it was under the leadership of current BPS President-Elect Gabriela Popescu and was able to

Give the Gift of Membership Looking for the perfect gift for a colleague or aspiring biophysicist? To give the gift of BPS membership, visit biophysics.org/giftmembership.

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The Find a Biophysicist global network has 1,594 mem bers who have signed up to be mentors, K–12 classroom visitors, speakers, science fair judges, student chapter sponsors, and more.

November 2023

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