Women make up less than 30% of the researchers worldwide and according to UNESCO, only about 30% of all female students select STEM-related fields in higher education.

In order to empower women and girls to participate in science, the United Nations declared Feb. 11 as International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Check out Fresno State's social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram on Tuesday for posts about our own women in science and research.

Here's is a look at some of the women we celebrate:

Dr. Katherine Waselkov who works with undergradudate and graduate students in her lab to investigate the genetic basis of adaptation, population genetics and phlogenetic systematics in several different wild and weedy groups of plants.

Melissa Garrett who has two major areas of research — inorganic chemistry and chemical education. With her students, Garrett synthesizes nickel compounds to try different reactions to better understand why nickel is toxic and why it does not have any known beneficial uses in humans. She also has a passion for sharing her love of chemistry and teaching and has worked to cut the failure rate of her CHEM 1B lecture by about half.

Dr. Chelsey Juarez is an assistant professor of anthropology and head of the Fresno State Forensic anthropology laboratory. Her research uses isotopes in human bone, teeth, hair and fingernails to estimate birthplace and migrational behavior in cases of forensic significance.