Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)
@arielsteele.bsky.social
postdoctoral associate | DBER | equity in science pathways for undergraduate and graduate STEM students | avid fantasy reader & gamer | views are my own | she/her
I am two weeks away from starting my new faculty position - any advice for new faculty?
August 5, 2025 at 4:51 PM
I am two weeks away from starting my new faculty position - any advice for new faculty?
Reposted by Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)
If you're teaching Scientific Writing this fall (especially if it's new to you!) and are getting worried about just how close the fall is getting: reminder that I share my syllabus and all my course materials. Here: scientistseessquirre...
Steal this (updated) syllabus for Scientific Writing
I’ve just finished the 3rd go-around of my Scientific Writing course. When I first signed up to teach it, I was very scared, but now that I’ve been through it a few times, I’m quite pleased with h…
scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com
July 31, 2025 at 2:17 PM
If you're teaching Scientific Writing this fall (especially if it's new to you!) and are getting worried about just how close the fall is getting: reminder that I share my syllabus and all my course materials. Here: scientistseessquirre...
Reposted by Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)
And “hard science” careers are also WRITING INTENSIVE jobs! Want to be an astronomer, biologist, or chemist? You’ll spend years writing reports, grants, papers, reviews, reference letters, etc. Writing is never easy, but it’s much *easier* if you’re trained how to outline and structure text.
Decades of mechanistic talk about university degrees as if they were bundles of 'skills' and 'prep' are about to be proved completely wrong (obviously). Want to get a real boost? Do History or English.
July 13, 2025 at 3:29 PM
And “hard science” careers are also WRITING INTENSIVE jobs! Want to be an astronomer, biologist, or chemist? You’ll spend years writing reports, grants, papers, reviews, reference letters, etc. Writing is never easy, but it’s much *easier* if you’re trained how to outline and structure text.
Reposted by Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)
Thinking about description, analysis and interpretation in social science research.
(I may have one too many coloured fineliners)
(I may have one too many coloured fineliners)
July 13, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Thinking about description, analysis and interpretation in social science research.
(I may have one too many coloured fineliners)
(I may have one too many coloured fineliners)
Reposted by Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)
I've wanted to write this article for years. About my and other's struggles to even survive sometime in #academia. Thank you to the amazing editors at @plosbiology.org that gave me the forum to write this piece. #science
Too poor to science: How wealth determines who succeeds in STEM
From student to researcher, a career in science can come with a high price tag. This Perspective explores how persistent financial barriers limit who can succeed in science, revealing how wealth shape...
journals.plos.org
June 24, 2025 at 6:09 PM
I've wanted to write this article for years. About my and other's struggles to even survive sometime in #academia. Thank you to the amazing editors at @plosbiology.org that gave me the forum to write this piece. #science
Reposted by Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)
Birds have an excellent ability to learn to discriminate harmless insects from those that they mimic on the basis of subtle differences in appearance, according to a study in Nature. go.nature.com/44yj4M5 🧪
July 3, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Birds have an excellent ability to learn to discriminate harmless insects from those that they mimic on the basis of subtle differences in appearance, according to a study in Nature. go.nature.com/44yj4M5 🧪
Reposted by Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)
Several mammal species live in cold-water environments thanks to adaptations like blubber and large size. A notable exception is the sea otter—so how does it stay warm?
A 2021 Science study found an answer: skeletal muscle thermogenesis.
Learn more on #WorldOtterDay: scim.ag/4jjvMDL
A 2021 Science study found an answer: skeletal muscle thermogenesis.
Learn more on #WorldOtterDay: scim.ag/4jjvMDL
![Fig. 2 Whole-body estimates of sea otter metabolism scaled to body mass.
Estimated scaled whole-body metabolic rates include predicted [BMR; predicted on the basis of scaled rate for eutherian mammals], sea otter resting metabolic rate, and whole-body skeletal muscle leak capacity.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vqgovau5gkirnk3ss5qwjdmz/bafkreifqng4uadol3gghmq6ktpvj5vksaptsqxdfvtenfsgubbfr2l6ani@jpeg)
May 28, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Several mammal species live in cold-water environments thanks to adaptations like blubber and large size. A notable exception is the sea otter—so how does it stay warm?
A 2021 Science study found an answer: skeletal muscle thermogenesis.
Learn more on #WorldOtterDay: scim.ag/4jjvMDL
A 2021 Science study found an answer: skeletal muscle thermogenesis.
Learn more on #WorldOtterDay: scim.ag/4jjvMDL
Reposted by Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)
You've got ~a week left to pre-order our collab w/@franzanth.bsky.social, Bigger Than Binaries!
I'll order some extras in orange in a limited size range because I lack a warehouse, I have only a room full of lizards.
Printed locally on 100% cotton.
Get 'em while you can! squidfacts.bigcartel.com
I'll order some extras in orange in a limited size range because I lack a warehouse, I have only a room full of lizards.
Printed locally on 100% cotton.
Get 'em while you can! squidfacts.bigcartel.com
May 23, 2025 at 6:55 PM
You've got ~a week left to pre-order our collab w/@franzanth.bsky.social, Bigger Than Binaries!
I'll order some extras in orange in a limited size range because I lack a warehouse, I have only a room full of lizards.
Printed locally on 100% cotton.
Get 'em while you can! squidfacts.bigcartel.com
I'll order some extras in orange in a limited size range because I lack a warehouse, I have only a room full of lizards.
Printed locally on 100% cotton.
Get 'em while you can! squidfacts.bigcartel.com
Does anyone have any templates or guidance on writing letters of recommendation for undergraduate students? Especially for medical/dental school? I've gotten a bunch of requests since the end of the semester from students in my class and I've never written these before #academics #STEM #DBER
May 23, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Does anyone have any templates or guidance on writing letters of recommendation for undergraduate students? Especially for medical/dental school? I've gotten a bunch of requests since the end of the semester from students in my class and I've never written these before #academics #STEM #DBER
Reposted by Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)
🥳📣 Call for abstracts: Special Issue of JQTSIE:
"Critical Approaches to Queering STEM Education"
edited by @drjgutz.bsky.social & @ftmathteacher.bsky.social!
Abstracts are due SOON: May 30, 2025! 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
www.jqtsie.com
@kamdenstrunk.bsky.social @drantonioduran.bsky.social @sashelton.bsky.social
"Critical Approaches to Queering STEM Education"
edited by @drjgutz.bsky.social & @ftmathteacher.bsky.social!
Abstracts are due SOON: May 30, 2025! 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
www.jqtsie.com
@kamdenstrunk.bsky.social @drantonioduran.bsky.social @sashelton.bsky.social
May 19, 2025 at 5:07 PM
🥳📣 Call for abstracts: Special Issue of JQTSIE:
"Critical Approaches to Queering STEM Education"
edited by @drjgutz.bsky.social & @ftmathteacher.bsky.social!
Abstracts are due SOON: May 30, 2025! 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
www.jqtsie.com
@kamdenstrunk.bsky.social @drantonioduran.bsky.social @sashelton.bsky.social
"Critical Approaches to Queering STEM Education"
edited by @drjgutz.bsky.social & @ftmathteacher.bsky.social!
Abstracts are due SOON: May 30, 2025! 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
www.jqtsie.com
@kamdenstrunk.bsky.social @drantonioduran.bsky.social @sashelton.bsky.social
I'm grading final papers for my comparative animal physiology course and one group wrote in their conclusion a sentence that essentially said that physiology shows us there is more than one way to solve a common problem and THAT is such an important lesson!
May 14, 2025 at 5:53 PM
I'm grading final papers for my comparative animal physiology course and one group wrote in their conclusion a sentence that essentially said that physiology shows us there is more than one way to solve a common problem and THAT is such an important lesson!
Reposted by Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)
Thread with an email being sent to @asn-amnat.bsky.social @sse-evolution.bsky.social @systbiol.bsky.social members today calling for a Tri-society week of action for NSF:
Dear members:
The tri-societies (ASN, SSE,SSB) are running a ‘Week of Action for NSF’. Your engagement is crucial.
Dear members:
The tri-societies (ASN, SSE,SSB) are running a ‘Week of Action for NSF’. Your engagement is crucial.
May 5, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Thread with an email being sent to @asn-amnat.bsky.social @sse-evolution.bsky.social @systbiol.bsky.social members today calling for a Tri-society week of action for NSF:
Dear members:
The tri-societies (ASN, SSE,SSB) are running a ‘Week of Action for NSF’. Your engagement is crucial.
Dear members:
The tri-societies (ASN, SSE,SSB) are running a ‘Week of Action for NSF’. Your engagement is crucial.
Super excited to announce that I've accepted a Teaching Assistant Professor of biology position in the Lyman Briggs College at Michigan State University!
April 25, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Super excited to announce that I've accepted a Teaching Assistant Professor of biology position in the Lyman Briggs College at Michigan State University!
Reposted by Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)
If you, like me, had you NSF granted terminated, here’s what I learned from a hopeful meeting with my VP of research:
1. We have 30 days to act! Meet with your admin asap
2. APPEAL: Everyone can appeal! It must go through your institution, there’s a template, sent registered mail. My VP told me ⬇️
1. We have 30 days to act! Meet with your admin asap
2. APPEAL: Everyone can appeal! It must go through your institution, there’s a template, sent registered mail. My VP told me ⬇️
I’m so angry & heart broken. My NSF CAREER grant was stolen today; dream project supporting science teachers/students as climate justice action researchers, tackling urban heat. Truly transformative, the culmination of my life’s work, we won’t stop, not in this climate crisis. Gonna fight like hell!
April 23, 2025 at 11:11 PM
If you, like me, had you NSF granted terminated, here’s what I learned from a hopeful meeting with my VP of research:
1. We have 30 days to act! Meet with your admin asap
2. APPEAL: Everyone can appeal! It must go through your institution, there’s a template, sent registered mail. My VP told me ⬇️
1. We have 30 days to act! Meet with your admin asap
2. APPEAL: Everyone can appeal! It must go through your institution, there’s a template, sent registered mail. My VP told me ⬇️
What are your most unhinged writing tips? For example, I wrote the first draft of my dissertation in Comic Sans because writing in Times New Roman feels permanent, and Comic Sans made it feel more like a draft. #academics #academicwritingtips #unhinged #dber #STEM
April 24, 2025 at 5:00 PM
What are your most unhinged writing tips? For example, I wrote the first draft of my dissertation in Comic Sans because writing in Times New Roman feels permanent, and Comic Sans made it feel more like a draft. #academics #academicwritingtips #unhinged #dber #STEM
Reposted by Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)
"But it didn’t take me long to look around me and realize that some of the most effective people doing DEI work weren’t “doing DEI work.” They’re just excellent mentors, do things equitably and fairly, support institutional transparency, and all that."
They can take away our DEI offices and grants, but they can't stop us from infusing DEI into every single thing we do. Which is what we need to have genuine equity, inclusion, and justice.
scienceforeveryone.science/p/what-theyv...
scienceforeveryone.science/p/what-theyv...
What they've taken and what they can never take away
Gains in equity and access can happen without DEI-targeted funding.
scienceforeveryone.science
April 22, 2025 at 6:33 PM
"But it didn’t take me long to look around me and realize that some of the most effective people doing DEI work weren’t “doing DEI work.” They’re just excellent mentors, do things equitably and fairly, support institutional transparency, and all that."
Reposted by Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)
Action Alert: Ask Your U.S. Representative to Support Investment in NSF by signing a Dear Colleague Letter. AIBS has this nice template that you can send to your Rep! www.congressweb.com/AIBS/3?frame...
Action Alert: Ask Your U.S. Representative to Support Investment in NSF
Congress has begun debating funding levels for federal programs for fiscal year (FY) 2026. Please show your support for the National Science Foundation (NSF) by asking your Representative to sign a De...
www.congressweb.com
April 22, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Action Alert: Ask Your U.S. Representative to Support Investment in NSF by signing a Dear Colleague Letter. AIBS has this nice template that you can send to your Rep! www.congressweb.com/AIBS/3?frame...
My paper titled "Am I Doing Enough?" Exploring how neoliberal discourses inform women doctoral students' experiences in biology has been out for a while, but finally has an issue assigned!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
“Am I Doing Enough?”: Exploring How Neoliberal Discourses Inform Women Doctoral Students’ Experiences in Biology - Innovative Higher Education
While women make up over half of doctoral students in the biological sciences, that number decreases as they progress through academic job rankings. The “leaky pipeline” and other metaphors have been ...
link.springer.com
April 22, 2025 at 8:27 PM
My paper titled "Am I Doing Enough?" Exploring how neoliberal discourses inform women doctoral students' experiences in biology has been out for a while, but finally has an issue assigned!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
What's currently happening to science funding and higher education in the U.S. feels similar to what happened in Hungary several years ago. I reread a paper I co-authored on this topic, and oof, this is basically the same thing www.proquest.com/openview/db0...
Institutional Autonomy and Academic Freedom in Hungary: A Historiography of Hungarian Higher Education - ProQuest
Explore millions of resources from scholarly journals, books, newspapers, videos and more, on the ProQuest Platform.
www.proquest.com
April 22, 2025 at 8:20 PM
What's currently happening to science funding and higher education in the U.S. feels similar to what happened in Hungary several years ago. I reread a paper I co-authored on this topic, and oof, this is basically the same thing www.proquest.com/openview/db0...
Reposted by Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)
🙏 We need your help 🙏
The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.
We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:
NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...
NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
w/ @noamross.net
The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.
We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:
NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...
NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
w/ @noamross.net
April 19, 2025 at 1:25 AM
🙏 We need your help 🙏
The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.
We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:
NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...
NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
w/ @noamross.net
The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.
We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:
NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...
NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
w/ @noamross.net
Reposted by Ariel Steele, Ph.D. (she/her)
Undergrad biology instructors! Paid opportunity to participate in research that tests the impacts of highlighting scientist role models in instructional materials. 🐌 🧪 🦋 🔬
Check it out and apply! docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Check it out and apply! docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Recruitment instructors_IUSE2.docx
Which elements of scientist role model stories are effective in improving equity and success in undergraduate STEM education? Interested? Fill out this poll! We are searching for undergraduate bio...
docs.google.com
April 8, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Undergrad biology instructors! Paid opportunity to participate in research that tests the impacts of highlighting scientist role models in instructional materials. 🐌 🧪 🦋 🔬
Check it out and apply! docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Check it out and apply! docs.google.com/document/d/1...
New paper published in CBE-LSE describes the challenges of dual-career couples seeking jobs in academia and provides recommendations. www.lifescied.org/doi/full/10....
Yours, Mine, Sometimes Ours: Uncovering the Experiences of Biologists Searching for Academic Jobs Together | CBE—Life Sciences Education
Biologists pursuing faculty jobs are often married to other biologists who may also desire faculty positions. This increases the complexity of the job search, with little guidance for early career res...
www.lifescied.org
March 29, 2025 at 5:04 PM
New paper published in CBE-LSE describes the challenges of dual-career couples seeking jobs in academia and provides recommendations. www.lifescied.org/doi/full/10....