Mercedes Pascual, University assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, was named one of "The 50 Most Important Women in Science" in the November issue of Discover magazine.

Pascual and other University faculty, as reported by the 2002 ADVANCE Study on Women in Science and Engineering, confront many obstacles in the advancement of their careers due to their gender.

The ADVANCE study found many barriers for female scientists at the University, including the unequal access to resources and advancement, which limits the recognition that women can receive.

Pascual has contradicted the study's findings. But even before Discovery's recognition she received several distinguished fellowships from the U.S. Department of Energy and the James S. McDonnell Foundation. She did however admit to discrimination at her former place of employment.

"The institution hired me but not in a tenured position, so I had to support myself with grants. There were no long-term positions available to me and much less recognition," Pascual said. "I was told 'If things go well' I could advance, but they didn't expect a woman to leave if things didn't change."

Pascual left and joined the University of Michigan faculty in 2001. Her current projects include modeling of planktonic food webs in the Western Equatorial Atlantic Ocean and continuing research in the area for which she was recognized.

Discover acknowledged Pascual for her discovery of the relationship between cholera and the weather cycle created by the El Nino- Southern Oscillation. Her research found the connection to be especially strong in the last few decades.

Pascual said her success is partly due to her background. She attended high school in South America where math and science were never seen as off-limits to women, and said that she has only "heard" about how the stereotypes are different in the United States.

As for her working climate at the University, Pascual said her peers are very supportive. But she agreed that the low number of women in the field is a problem.

"I don't know to what degree my experience is representative (of most women in science)," Pascual said. "I've been extremely lucky."

Deborah Goldberg, a colleague of Pascual's, agreed that both male and female peers within her department at the University are very supportive. She added that her luck, like Pascual's, resulted from her unusual undergraduate experience.

"I attended a women's college in the '60s, where I always had women role models. It never occurred to me to be a scientist (growing up), but in college I found I was good at it and was never discouraged."

Goldberg studied at a university in Arizona, where the faculty was 40 percent women. She agreed with the ADVANCE study's findings that a critical mass of females in the field - optimally at least 25 percent - encourages women to stay.

"If just one of these women had gotten fed up and quit - as many do - the history of science would have been impoverished," wrote Discovery's associate editor Kathy Sviti in an introduction to the "Top 50" article.

Pascual said that scientists predict stronger and more variable climate changes in a global warning situation, in which case predicting how human diseases will react is invaluable.