Xiaomeng (Mona) XU nominated by bianca acevedo
Dr Xiaomeng (Mona) Xu was born in Fuling, China, and immigrated to the United States when she was five. Shortly after, she conducted her first-ever scientific experiment. Her parents, in an attempt to familiarise her with American culture, told her the story of the tooth fairy. But Mona found this implausible, so implausible that when one of her baby teeth fell out, she slipped it under her pillow without uttering a word to anyone. It was still there the next day. Then she told her parents about the tooth and the following morning she found some coins in its place. Her conclusion: the tooth fairy couldn’t possibly exist. And since that early show of inquisitiveness, she has risen to her current position as Assistant Professor of Psychology at Idaho State University. Her research focuses on cardiovascular and behavioural health – such as weight control, smoking and physical activity – close relationships, especially romantic ones, and fMRI neuroimaging. She conducted the first study of non-Western people in romantic love using fMRI. She took fMRI scans of Chinese couples at the beginning of their relationship and 40 months after, and found neural correlates of relationship longevity and happiness. I ask Mona if she is optimistic that there will be more women leaders in science in the future. She is. “More and more people are talking about gender imbalance, and that has changed considerably during my lifetime. One fascinating recent development is the research being done on gender bias. It’s really important to be aware that biases exist and that they might exist in you - even if you’re a woman or a minority. Are you doing well partly because you are buying into a culture that causes prejudice against women? If so, how do you address that?”
greatly influenced her decision to work there. “It certainly is discouraging when you go to a place and there are no women in leadership positions. You start wondering why that might be. It’s important to have women in power, who are not just doing the job, but have really strong vision and think big.” But Mona says that women as a minority are likely to be more cautious. “That’s not great for science because you have a lot of people who hold back. Women as a minority are less likely to negotiate for things they need, to speak up, to take risks in their work. And certainly that
Personal Influence
caution is understandable, but it makes a lot of difference in terms of how things come out,
When Mona decided to take her current position at Idaho State University, the fact that the Psychology Department had a female chair and the college had a female dean
who applies for grants, awards and leadership positions – even if you think there’s no chance – and who ultimately gets them.”
26
