Send us who you want to see featured next!
The AWIS Chicago “New Questions” zine focuses on historical women in STEM, following their career paths and how they overcame obstacles in their era. This quarterly series was launched in 2024.
Do you know about an awesome historical woman in STEM and want to see her featured in the zine? Email awiscommunications@gmail.com with her name and any relevant details!
- New Questions Pride 2026: Neena Schwartz
10 Dec 1926 – 15 April 2018 Neena Schwartz was an American endocrinologist and William Deering Professor of Endocrinology at Northwestern University. She was a founding member of the Association for Women In Science, co-founded Women in Endocrinology, and organized the founding of the Program for Reproductive Research at Northwestern, which would evolve into the Center for Reproductive Science. In 2010, she published her memoir, A Lab of My Own, in which she came out as a lesbian and encouraged queer people to persevere in science. - New Questions Winter 2025: Chi Che Wang
3 Oct 1874 – 10 Oct 1979 Chi Che Wang (王季茝), also known as Wang Chi-Lian, was born in Suzhou, China. She came to the United States during the Chinese Exclusion Act as a member of the first group of women students that the Chinese government ever sent abroad. She is considered the first Chinese woman faculty member in US higher education. Among several other faculty positions, she served as an assistant professor of physiology at Northwestern University. - New Questions Fall 2024: Gertrude Elion
23 Nov 1918 – 21 Feb 1999 Gertrude Elion was born in New York. When, as a teenager, she watched her maternal grandfather die of cancer, Elion decided to devote her life to fighting the disease. She studied chemistry at Hunter College and New York University, but, as a woman, had difficulty finding work as a chemist. During World War II a lack of chemists arose because many men had joined the war, which led Elion to find work at a laboratory.