{"id":2124,"date":"2015-10-06T16:49:19","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T20:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/ebuckhor\/?page_id=1777"},"modified":"2015-10-06T16:49:19","modified_gmt":"2015-10-06T20:49:19","slug":"gender-balance-makes-better-stem","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2015\/features\/gender-balance-makes-better-stem\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender Balance Makes Better Stem"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rhea Hirshman<\/em><\/p>\n

Susan Thomas Schlett \u201984 remembers excellent support from Trinity\u2019s faculty and administration for her decision to study engineering. But, as the only woman in her graduating class to obtain an engineering degree, she also remembers feeling isolated from her male classmates. During her 15 years as a mechanical test engineer for Sikorsky Aircraft, she noticed how the company consistently lost female engineers because of its insistence on a 40-hour week. \u201cAnd then,\u201d she says, \u201cthere were the posters inviting employees to \u2018bring your wife\u2019 to this or that event.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to gender disparities, all STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields are not created equal. Even as women continue to challenge old assumptions, engineering remains one of the most male dominated. While math, chemistry, and biology attract a substantial proportion of female undergraduate majors,\u00a0the\u00a0National Science Board reports that, in 2012, women received just 18 percent of undergraduate engineering degrees and 19 percent of undergraduate physics degrees.<\/p>\n

\"STEM1\"<\/a>
Elena-Marie Pedro \u201917 and Griffith Scholar Paul Handali \u201918 work with a mass spectrometer under the guidance of Professor of Chemistry Tim Curran.
Photo by Richard Bergen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition, some STEM majors have seen a decline in the number of women. According to the National Center for Women and Information Technology, while women in the United States earned 37 percent of bachelor\u2019s degrees in computer and information sciences in 1985, that proportion has dropped steadily, down to 18 percent in 2012.<\/p>\n

Similar patterns appear in the workforce. While about half of those working in the life sciences are women, a 2015 American Association of University Women (AAUW) study reports that \u201cwomen made up just 26 percent of computing professionals in 2013, a substantially smaller portion than 25 years ago and about the same percentage as in 1960. \u2026 (Women were) just 12 percent of working engineers in 2013.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madalene Spezialetti, associate professor of computer science, knows firsthand about the declining number of women in her field. She notes that when she was an undergraduate in the early 1980s, there were almost as many female as male students in her major. \u201cMy students are always startled when I tell them that,\u201d Spezialetti says. \u201cThey want to know, \u2018What happened?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Spezialetti suggests that the larger proportion of women in computer science early on may have reflected the fact that, in such a new discipline, stereotypes had not yet become entrenched. The AAUW report says that hiring practices for computer jobs began to favor men and that \u201cthe creation of professional organizations, networks, and hierarchies that encouraged and facilitated the entry of men\u201d helped to push women out. The study also notes that \u201cwomen in engineering and computing fields often report isolation, a lack of voice, and a lack of support.\u201d They are more likely than men to leave their jobs altogether.<\/p>\n

SCIENCE IS A TEAM SPORT<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"STEM3\"<\/a>
Sydney Doolittle \u201917 and Bobby Tella \u201917, right, take part in a summer engineering lab rotation with Professor of Engineering John Mertens.
Photo by Bob Handelman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Addressing factors that keep women out of STEM fields is not a matter simply of fairness. The gendering of science and technology as \u201cmale\u201d affects research itself, and lack of diversity means a loss of talent vital for the health and integrity of the science workforce.<\/p>\n

As noted by Gendered Innovations, a project housed at Stanford University: \u201cThirty years of research have revealed that sex and gender bias is socially harmful and expensive.\u201d For example, \u201cIn basic research, failing to use appropriate samples of male and female cells, tissues, and animals yields faulty results,\u201d the project notes. \u201cIn city planning, not collecting data on caregiving [done primarily by women] leads to inefficient transportation systems. \u2026 It is crucially important to understand how [gender bias] operates in science and technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sue Kemalian \u201999, who chairs the Math Department at Noble and Greenough School, an independent school in Massachusetts, says we have to move past the idea that scientists are \u201cbrilliant, lonely hermits making discoveries on their own \u2013 the \u2018great man\u2019 model. The reality,\u201d she says, \u201cis that most problems are solved through sharing ideas; examining a problem through the lenses of different backgrounds and experiences can be the key to solving it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spezialetti adds, \u201cTeams, not individuals, conduct most of today\u2019s science and technology research. Diversity and collaboration matter because science and technology issues affect everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

WHAT\u2019S HAPPENING AT TRINITY<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"STEM2\"<\/a>
Swiss Reinsurance Company Scholar Yicheng Shao \u201916 discusses her research on expander graphs.
Photo by Richard Bergen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While Trinity\u2019s statistics mirror national averages for undergraduate STEM majors overall, the College produces more female engineering majors than the national average (23 percent versus 18 percent). In other STEM fields for Trinity\u2019s 2012-2015 graduating classes, women have been 62 percent of biology majors, 21 percent of computer science majors, and 13 percent of physics majors.<\/p>\n

Trinity has strong science programs, including a nationally accredited engineering program \u2013 rare for a liberal arts college \u2013 and a neuroscience program celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Alison Draper, lecturer in interdisciplinary science and director of Trinity\u2019s Science Center, notes that even more could be done to encourage women\u2019s interest in STEM, perhaps in the form of additional programming and more specific mentoring and peer-support programs. \u201cWhat matters to me,\u201d she says, \u201cis making all our systems work so that any student who wants to pursue STEM has the support needed to make that choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Draper says that introductory classes in biology, calculus, and chemistry have adopted supplemental instruction \u2013 an academic support program designed to improve academic success with study sessions led by trained upper-year students. \u201cEach person is different, but women tend to bring a different skill set,\u201d Draper says. \u201cWe\u2019ve found that when we use group work and study sessions that enhance social ties, we get especially positive responses from female students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Increasing emphasis on collaboration is now a major focus in physics education, says Brett Barwick, assistant professor of physics. \u201cRethinking how physics is taught,\u201d he says, \u201chas become so important that we have Nobel Prize winners doing physics education research.\u201d Instead of the traditional three weekly lectures plus a lab, an introductory course Barwick teaches now uses an interactive format emphasizing group problem solving, hands-on experimentation, and data analysis. \u201cResearch shows that this style of teaching and learning increases satisfaction and success for women and minority students.\u201d<\/p>\n

EARLY ENGAGEMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another component of opening STEM fields to women is engaging girls before they enter college. Pauline Lake \u201913, who majored in computer science and educational studies, says, \u201cWe want to ensure that young girls are not turned off by old ideas about what a computer scientist is \u2018supposed to\u2019 look like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lake currently works with Ralph Morelli, professor of computer science, as a teaching consultant on the Mobile CSP (Computer Science Principles) project. Funded by a National Science Foundation grant and headed by Morelli, the project trains Connecticut educators to teach CSP as an Advanced Placement-level course and aims to bring more girls and minority group members into computer science.<\/p>\n

\"STEM4\"<\/a>
Sophie Long \u201917, Elise Lasky \u201917, Jessica Voight \u201917, and Elfert C., Billie H. and Alfred C. Burfeind Memorial Scholar Maggie Curlin \u201917 collect macroinvertebrates they had just sampled from Trout Brook in West Hartford as part of an assessment of stream health. The four were teaching interns at the Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy summer science workshop and were learning the techniques so they could teach them to HMTCA students.
Photo by Diana Guay Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Trinity also hosts a variety of science, tech, and computer-related events for middle and high school students, including this past May\u2019s Tech Savvy. The daylong conference, sponsored by the Connecticut chapter of AAUW and chaired by Trinity alumna Donna Haghighat \u201989, brought 85 middle school girls to campus for workshops, mock college and career interviews, and skill-building sessions \u2013 and included sessions for parents. Draper played an instrumental role in planning the College\u2019s participation in the event, during which a video created by Donald L. McLagan Presidential Scholar Erin Barney \u201915 and Haley Baldwin \u201916 \u2013 Yes She Can: Girls in STEM<\/em> \u2013 was featured. Trinity President Joanne Berger-Sweeney opened the conference, sharing her own personal journey from being a girl who loved science to becoming a professional who performed breakthrough pharmaceutical research.<\/p>\n

Programs such as these help to bring girls together as they explore STEM fields. Barney, who was a co-valedictorian and majored in engineering and psychology, notes, \u201cGirls who might be interested in STEM sometimes feel like their friends don\u2019t understand them. They need opportunities to meet each other and to talk to people who can be role models.\u201d<\/p>\n

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