Twenty scientists and engineers at the 91探花 are among the 38 new members elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences for 2021, according to a July 15 . New members were chosen for 鈥渢heir outstanding record of scientific and technical achievement, and their willingness to work on behalf of the Academy to bring the best available science to bear on issues within the state of Washington.鈥�

Current academy members selected 29 of the new members. An additional nine were elected by virtue of joining one of the National Academies.

New 91探花members who were elected by current academy members are:

• , professor and Port of Tacoma Chair in Environmental Science at 91探花Tacoma, director of the and science director of the , 鈥渇or foundational work on the environmental fate, behavior and toxicity of PCBs.鈥�
• , professor of psychology, 鈥渇or contributions in research on racial and gender inequality that has influenced practices in education, government, and business鈥� and 鈥渇or shifting the explanation for inequality away from individual deficiencies and examining how societal stereotypes and structures cause inequalities.鈥�
• , professor of chemistry and member faculty at the , 鈥渇or leadership in the innovative synthesis and chemical modification of nanoscale materials for application in light emission and catalysis.鈥�
• , professor of global health and of environmental and occupational health sciences, and founding director of the , 鈥渇or work on the health impacts of climate change, on climate impact forecasting, on adaptation to climate change and on climate policy to protect health.鈥�
• , professor of environmental and forest sciences and dean emeritus of the College of the Environment, 鈥渇or foundational studies of regional paleoenvironmental history and sustained excellence in academic leadership to catalyze and sustain transformative research and educational initiatives.鈥� Graumlich is also president-elect of the American Geophysical Union.
• Dr. , the Joseph W. Eschbach Endowed Chair in Kidney Research and co-director of the , 鈥渇or pioneering contributions and outstanding achievements in the development of the novel wearable artificial kidney, as well as numerous investigator-initiated clinical trials and multi-center collaborative studies.鈥�
• , professor of environmental chemistry and chair of the Physical Sciences Division at 91探花Bothell, 鈥渇or leadership in monitoring and understanding the global transport of atmospheric pollutants from energy production, wildfire, and other sources, as well as science communication and service that has informed citizens and enhanced public policy.鈥�
• , professor and chair of psychology, 鈥渇or contributions demonstrating how psychological science can inform long-standing issues about racial and gender discrimination鈥� and 鈥渇or research that has deep and penetrating implications for the law and societal efforts to remedy social inequities with evidence-based programs and actions.鈥�
• , the Leon C. Johnson Professor of Chemistry, member faculty at the and chair of the Department of Chemistry, 鈥渇or developing new spectroscopy tools for measuring energy flow in molecules and materials with high spatial and temporal resolution.鈥�
• , professor of astronomy, 鈥渇or founding the and leading the decades-long development of the interdisciplinary modeling framework and community needed to establish the science of exoplanet astrobiology鈥� and 鈥渇or training the next generation of interdisciplinary scientists who will search for life beyond Earth.鈥�
• , professor and chair of aeronautics and astronautics, 鈥渇or leadership and significant advances in nonlinear methods for integrated sensing and control in engineered, bioinspired and biological flight systems鈥� and 鈥渇or leadership in cross-disciplinary aerospace workforce development.鈥�
• , associate professor of chemistry and member faculty with the Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute, 鈥渇or exceptional contributions to the development of synthetic polymers and nanomaterials for self-assembly and advanced manufacturing with application in sustainability, medicine and microelectronics.鈥�
• Dr. , Associate Dean of Medical Technology Innovation in the College of Engineering and the School of Medicine, the Graham and Brenda Siddall Endowed Chair in Cornea Research, and medical director of the 91探花Eye Institute, 鈥渇or developing and providing first class clinical treatment of severe corneal blindness to hundreds of people, for establishing the world premier artificial cornea program in Washington, and for leading collaborative research to translate innovative engineering technologies into creative clinical solution.鈥�
• Dr. , professor of medicine and director of the , 鈥渇or global recognition as an authority on drug and vaccine development for viral and parasitic diseases through work as an infectious disease physician and immunologist.鈥�
• Dr. , professor of pediatrics and of anesthesiology and pain medicine, and director of the , 鈥渇or outstanding leadership in pediatric anesthesiology and in the care of children with traumatic brain injury鈥� and 鈥渇or internationally recognized expertise in traumatic brain injury and direction of the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center for the last decade as an exceptional mentor and visionary leader.鈥�

91探花members who will join the Washington State Academy of Sciences by virtue of their election to one of the National Academies are:

• , professor of biostatistics, 鈥渇or the development of novel statistical models for longitudinal data to better diagnose disease, track its trajectory, and predict its outcomes鈥� and 鈥渇or revolutionizing how dynamic predictors are judged by their discrimination and calibration and has significantly advanced methods for randomized controlled trials.鈥� Heagerty was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021.
• , the Bill and Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science and Engineering, 鈥渇or foundational contributions to the mathematics of computer systems and of the internet, as well as to the design and probabilistic analysis of algorithms, especially on-line algorithms, and algorithmic mechanism design and game theory.鈥� Karlin was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.
• , professor emeritus of applied mathematics and data science fellow at the , 鈥渇or inventing key algorithms for hyperbolic conservation laws and transforming them into powerful numerical technologies鈥� and 鈥渇or creating the Clawpack package, which underpins a wide range of application codes in everyday use, such as for hazard assessment due to tsunamis and other geophysical phenomena.鈥� LeVeque was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.
• , the Benjamin D. Hall Endowed Chair in Basic Life Sciences and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 鈥渇or advancing our physical understanding of cell motility and growth in animals and bacteria鈥� and 鈥渇or discovering how the pathogen Listeria uses actin polymerization to move inside human cells, how crawling animal cells coordinate actomyosin dynamics and the mechanical basis of size control and daughter cell separation in bacteria.鈥� Theriot was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.
• , professor and chair of biological structure, 鈥渇or elucidating cellular transformations through which neurons pattern their dendrites, and the interplay of activity-dependent and -independent mechanisms leading to assembly of stereotyped circuits鈥� and 鈥渇or revelations regarding the fundamental principles of neuronal development through the application of an elegant combination of in vivo imaging, physiology, ultrastructure and genetics to the vertebrate retina.鈥� Wong was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.

New members to the Washington State Academy of Sciences are scheduled to be inducted at a meeting in September.

Women who are young, 鈥渃onventionally attractive鈥� and appear and act feminine are more likely to be believed when making accusations of sexual harassment, a new 91探花-led study finds.

That leaves people who don鈥檛 fit the prototype potentially facing greater hurdles when trying to convince a workplace or court that they have been harassed.

The study, involving more than 4,000 participants, reveals perceptions that primarily 鈥減rototypical鈥� women are likely to be harassed. The research also showed that women outside of those socially determined norms 鈥� or 鈥渘onprototypical鈥� women 鈥� are more likely perceived as not being harmed by harassment.

鈥淭he consequences of that are very severe for women who fall outside of the narrow representation of who a victim is,鈥� said , a graduate student in psychology at the 91探花and one of the study鈥檚 lead authors. 鈥淣onprototypical women are neglected in ways that could contribute to them having discriminatory treatment under the law; people think they鈥檙e less credible 鈥� and less harmed 鈥� when they make a claim, and think their perpetrators deserve less punishment.鈥�

The , published Jan. 14 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, is co-led by , a former postdoctoral researcher at the 91探花now at Colby College, and of Princeton University.

The researchers said the idea for the study came from the #MeToo movement, founded by Tarana Burke and popularized in 2017 after a number of actresses accused movie producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment and abuse. #MeToo and related movements empowered individuals to come forward about their experiences with sexual harassment, which the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines as gender discrimination and/or unwelcome sexual behavior that can affect a person鈥檚 job performance and work environment. The movement also encourages people to name perpetrators and in some cases pursue legal action.

But as the study鈥檚 authors reflected on the celebrities who stepped forward, they wanted to explore further the notion of credibility. They set up a series of experiments to be divided among the 4,000 participants to address three research questions: who we think is sexually harassed; what constitutes harassment; and how claims of harassment are perceived. The experiments largely consisted of written scenarios and digitally manipulated headshots.

The team started with the research-supported premise that more . They employed a psychological framing of group membership, whereby a behavior 鈥� in this case, sexual harassment 鈥� is linked to a specific group, in this case women. Each group has prototypes for who is considered part of it: has identified characteristics perpetuated in pop culture and society of the prototypical woman: young, feminine, conventionally attractive, and even weak and incompetent.

Researchers鈥� scenarios drew upon different ways that : coercion, with a quid pro quo expectation; unwanted advances, with no quid pro quo; and gender harassment, which are hostile comments and behaviors tied to a person鈥檚 gender. In one scenario, for example, a supervisor who puts his hand around a female employee鈥檚 waist; in another, a supervisor asks about a female employee鈥檚 boyfriend. Some scenarios were clear and egregious violations of the law, some were clearly benign, and some were appropriately vague.

To address the research question of who we think is likely to be harassed, some participants were asked to draw a woman who was harassed 鈥� or not harassed, depending on the assignment. This approach reveals people鈥檚 conceptions and biases at a basic, freeform level, explained senior author and 91探花psychology professor . It has been used in other well-known experiments such as 鈥渄raw a scientist,鈥� which often reveals gender bias.

Additional tests included presenting participants with digital headshots, in some cases manipulated to look more masculine or feminine, and asking them to choose, for example, which image best represented the woman in the scenario they read about. Some participants were asked to determine whether a scenario constituted harassment, to what degree a victim was harmed and whether the potential perpetrator deserved punishment.

The overall results were clear: Participants generally perceived sexual harassment victims to be prototypical women. In fact, the association between sexual harassment and prototypical women is so strong that the exact same woman was seen as more prototypical when people were told she was sexually harassed. In consequence, the exact same scenarios, presented with nonprototypical women, were less likely to be considered harassment, and nonprototypical victims are seen as less credible, less harmed by the harassment, and their harasser is seen as less deserving of punishment.

This is why the idea of a prototypical woman matters, Kaiser said. Sexual harassment most commonly happens to women. If only those women displaying certain characteristics are viewed as 鈥渨omen,鈥� then the belief persists that those without prototypical characteristics must not be subject to harassment.

鈥淲hen you make a perception of harassment, you also make a connection to womanhood, but the way we understand womanhood is very narrowly defined. So for anyone who falls outside of that definition, it makes it hard to make that connection to harassment,鈥� Kaiser said.

One area that merits further study of harassment prototypes, the researchers said, are the many other between-group variations among women 鈥� specifically, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity. Because white women are perceived as prototypical women, the researchers are currently exploring whether Black women are perceived as less credible and less harmed by sexual harassment. Such a finding would be consistent with Tarana Burke鈥檚 criticism that , such as white, conventionally feminine celebrities.

Overall, researchers believe their findings help illustrate how laws may not always protect the people they鈥檙e designed to. Accusations must be deemed credible, and the incidents harmful, for harassment claims to lead to legal resolution. By recognizing that harassment can happen regardless of a person鈥檚 fit within a prototype, the chances for justice are improved.

鈥淚f we have biased perceptions of harm for nonprototypical women, it will drastically change their legal outcomes,鈥� Bandt-Law said. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e not being believed, they鈥檙e effectively being silenced.鈥�

The study was funded by a National Science Foundation grant to Kaiser, and NSF Graduate Research Fellowships to Bandt-Law and Cheek. Stacey Sinclair of Princeton was also a co-author.

For more information, contact Bandt-Law at bandtlaw@uw.edu or Kaiser at ckaiser@uw.edu.

The National Science Foundation named , 91探花 associate professor of psychology, winner of this year’s . The Waterman Award is the U.S. government鈥檚 highest honor for an early career scientist or engineer, recognizing an outstanding scientist under the age of 40 or within 10 years of receiving a Ph.D.

As part of the honor, Olson receives a five-year, $1 million research grant.

Olson, who runs the at the UW, created the , which is the nation’s largest longitudinal study of transgender children, an effort for which she is renowned.

She is the first 91探花faculty member to receive the Waterman Award in its 43-year history. She is also the first psychologist to receive the award and the first woman to receive it since 2004.

“Winning this award was a true shock as I was unaware I鈥檇 even been nominated. I am truly humbled and honored to have even been nominated. More than anything, this award is a reflection of the hard work, dedication and brilliance of the staff, students and collaborators with whom I work. Only through their contributions am I even in consideration for this award,” Olson said.

According to the NSF, Olson is being recognized for “innovative contributions to understanding children鈥檚 attitudes toward and identification with social groups, early prosocial behavior, the development of notions of fairness, morality and inequality, and the emergence of social biases.”

, chair of the 91探花Department of Psychology, said Olson’s work “breaks tremendous new ground.” Examining how children view inequality, for example, can ultimately impact how they address such issues as adults.

“Our childhood ideas about fairness can shape how we as adults understand injustice and whether we maintain or challenge inequity in society,” Kaiser said. “Kristina’s work is profound, and has implications for how children develop to become change-makers in the world.”

Olson was recruited to the 91探花in 2013, where she established the Social Cognitive Development Lab to explore three strands of child-focused research: the emergence of prosocial behavior, the development of bias and responses to inequality, and children鈥檚 reasoning about social categories. She launched the TransYouth Project to examine, over the course of 20 years, gender development and well-being among participants who were between the ages of 3 and 12 when they joined the study; to date, more than 300 transgender children have enrolled from 45 U.S. states. (Many of their siblings have been recruited, too, as a comparison group.)

The Waterman Award will help maintain and expand the study, Olson said. The research team is now recruiting children who identify as gender nonconforming 鈥� those who haven鈥檛 socially transitioned, as the current transgender participants have. Eventually, the study will include teenagers who are in the process of transitioning, she said, as well as intersex children.

Olson said the award also will support another of her goals: establishing a mentorship program aimed to include underrepresented undergraduate students interested in her and related labs鈥� research at UW: LGBTQ students, students of color, first-generation college students, and those from small colleges with fewer resources for research.

Olson grew up in a diverse college town 鈥� something she said made her keenly aware of differences in experience even as a child. She noticed who was treated differently, the groups that formed and the prejudices, and understandings, that revealed themselves over time. She remembers more than one gay classmate who fled an unwelcoming home, friends鈥� parents who expressed overt racial discrimination and the accepting teachers who provided support and celebrated student鈥檚 unique backgrounds.

Questions about how people relate to each other, and how their ideas and issues manifest in society, drove Olson’s initial career choice as a clinical psychologist. She didn’t think of research itself as a professional path; her only image of academic research was being alone in a lab hunched over chemicals, plants or soil.

“I was 100 percent certain I was not going to be an academic. To me, that was being alone in a lab! I wanted to work on teams and understand the struggles people had in the world.” Olson laughs.

But as she pursued her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, she realized that she could devote herself to studying what she was passionate about 鈥� the sources of conflict, how people see one another and how those ideas form early in life. She went on to earn her master’s degree and her doctorate in social psychology from Harvard University and her first faculty appointment at Yale University.

Olson has written about the encounter that led her to start the TransYouth Project: an invitation 10 years ago to a friend’s house for dinner, where she met her friend’s young son before this child transitioned to live as a girl. As she later delved into issues of gender identity, she found a “gaping hole” in research about such children.

“The questions I’m interested in have to do with the categories kids see themselves in, how children see themselves and the world. 鈥淭ransgender children鈥� is a category we have so little scientific knowledge about,” Olson said. “I’m interested in their experience of feeling you are in a social category that other people don’t think you’re a part of.”

What she’s found, so far, is that children in her study 鈥� children who have socially transitioned to the gender they identify with 鈥� firmly embrace their gender, just as children who identify as the gender they were born with. In addition, the first from the TransYouth Project showed in 2016 that transgender participants had normal rates of depressive symptoms, and only slightly higher rates of anxiety, than members of the control group.

People sometimes misunderstand the project, Olson said: No one is performing surgery on these young prepubescent children, for example. Also, she鈥檚 not the one instructing parents whether to support their children through a social transition. These children transitioned socially well before she met them, meaning they identify as a gender different from the one they were born with, perhaps with a new name, clothing, toys, activities and friends.

The study started small, but over time, as Olson traveled to interview families and word spread, interest grew. Participants come from cities like Seattle, where gender identity is a relatively familiar topic, to rural communities where transgender children are sometimes isolated or ostracized. The UW, the College of Arts & Sciences and the Department of Psychology helped fund Olson’s initial work, Kaiser said, recognizing the value in supporting early career faculty. Olson鈥檚 scholarship exemplifies Psychology鈥檚 vision of promoting healthy minds and society through psychological science, she said.

Olson’s research, in those early years, was a “striking act of bravery,” Kaiser added.

“It was unusual; it was different. She could have focused exclusively on her research on fairness and prosocial behavior and would have been incredibly productive and continued to be amazing,” she said. “But this was a project Kristina felt was critical for society to understand. This risk paid off as her trailblazing scholarship now has breadth and impact that is remarkable for a scholar at her career stage. She represents the very best of psychological science.”

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Olson may be reached through the 91探花News office.