In this book 15 inspirational personal accounts describe the challenges and rewards of combining motherhood with an academic career in chemistry. The authors also highlight  systems which could be improved to encourage and help future generations.

When is the "right" time? How can I meet the demands of a professorship whilst caring for a young family? Choosing to become a mother has a profound effect on the career path of women holding academic positions, especially in the physical sciences. Yet many women successfully manage to do both. In this book 15 inspirational personal accounts describe the challenges and rewards of combining motherhood with an academic career in chemistry. The authors are all women at different stages of their career and from a range of colleges, in tenure and non-tenure track positions. Aimed at undergraduate and graduate students of chemistry, these contributions serve as examples for women considering a career in academia but worry about how this can be balanced with other important aspects of life. The authors describe how they overcame particular challenges, but also highlight aspects of the systems which could be improved to accommodate women academics and particularly encourage more women to take on academic positions in the sciences.

Stacey Lowery Bretz: Equilibrium and Stress: Balancing one Marriage, a "Two-Body-Problem", and Three Children.- Pamela Ann McElroy Brown: If at First you Don't Succeed, Don't Give Up on your Dreams.- Amber Charlebois: My Circus: please note that I have no formal training in juggling.- Renee Cole: Planned Serendipity.- Elizabeth Dorland: Mother and Professor in a Community College.- Cheryl Baldwin Frech: Chemistry in the Family.- Megan L. Grunert: Safety and Motherhood in the Chemistry Research Lab.- Judith Iriarte-Gross: Upward Bound to a Ph.D. in Chemistry.- Nancy E. Levinger: The Window of Opportunity.- Cecilia H. Marzabadi: Wanting it All.- Janet Morrow: Taking the Unconventional Route.- Danielle Tullman-Ercek: From the Periodic Table to the Dinner Table.- Gail Hartmann Webster: The Long and Winding Road.- Catherine O. Welder: I finally Know What I Want to be When I Grow Up!.-Sherryl J. Yennello: Remarkable, Delightful, Awesome: It will change your Life, not Overnight but over Time.