Tull virtual film, Q&A focuses on diversity in science field

The Tull Family Theater’s Science on Screen film and speaker series finale will be available online and include a Q&A.

According to a theater news release, “Picture a Scientist,” a documentary accepted for this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, follows scientific and social researchers who are creating a new chapter of equality.

Three female scientists — a geologist, chemist and biologist — who have risen above gender inequality in their fields are featured. They and the film’s science-trained directors will participate in a virtual Q&A on addressing diversity in scientific fields.

Co-director Sharon Shattuck said that what the scientists face in their careers is universal.

“I think every woman has experienced that needling feeling of knowing that you’re not getting a job or equal pay because you’re a woman, but not being able to prove it,” she said in an email. “For me personally, making this film was an affirmation that I’m not alone, and that even brilliant women at the highest levels of academia have faced these obstacles — and conquered them in their own way.”

The film will be available Friday through June 26 on Vimeo through the Tull theater’s website, www.thetullfamilytheater.org. The cost is $10 and benefits Tull and Science on Screen.

The Q&A will be held June 17 with geologist Jane Willenbring of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, chemist Raychelle Burks of American University, and biologist Nancy Hopkins of MIT. More on the film, the scientists and the filmmakers is available at www.pictureascientist.com.