Paper ID #14771Oral History Project of Underrepresented Leaders in Science, Technology,Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)Ms. Kelsey Morgan Irvin, Washington University in St. Louis Kelsey Irvin is a senior at Washington University in St. Louis double majoring in the Cognitive Neuro- science track of Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology and Psychology and hopes to pursue a career in clinical psychology. She is currently working on her honors thesis, which involves using neural measures to research reward processing in preschoolers with depression.Miss Elizabeth Hiteshue, University of Pennsylvania Elizabeth Hiteshue
females in science and engineeringIntroductionThe concerns of low numbers of women in STEM have led to studies on the attrition1 and theimplementations of programs for the female students2. Studies found that students who withdrawfrom STEM majors are less involved in extra-curricular engineering activities, have lowerengineering self-efficacy and career expectations, but higher anxiety1, 3. However, the averageGPA of women who withdraw from STEM is no different than that of others1. To increase theretention of women in STEM, solutions have been proposed by many studies such as facilitatingcommunities for females4-5, involving peer mentors6-9, and mentoring by faculty and/or womenengineers10.According to the American Association of University
stereotyping predictions [11]. Gottfredson’s Theory ofCircumscription and Compromise 12] notes that career choice is often an effort for an individualto prescribe themselves into a social order; social elements such as gender, affluence, andintelligence often play a key part in career selection. Interestingly Gottfredson’s research alsonoted that at a very young age, youths begin associating prospective career options with genderand furthermore that gender appropriateness for career choice was a significant motivating factorin later years [13]. Additional research by Glick, Wilk, and Perreault [16] further bolsteredGottfredson’s position noting that when asked to define attributes for specified jobs universitystudents commonly listed gender as the
retention is a challenge for all students, it isparticularly apparent for women and minority students whose representation in engineeringdecreases at every education and career milestone.1,2 As a result, women and minorities stillmake up a small fraction of those earning engineering degrees. At our institution, a publicuniversity in the state of Colorado, the undergraduate population is about 20% women and 8%underrepresented minorities (compared to 20% and 11% nationally). Moreover, only about 15%of practicing civil engineers in some subdisciplines, like structural engineering, are women.3 Incontrast, women now make up over 30% of lawyers and physicians, and over 70% ofpsychologists. Since no evidence exists that significant gender or racial
perception of littleopportunities for advancement. Conversely, a positive workplace climate also helps to explainwhy women stay in the engineering workforce.3,5For women in engineering careers, those who persist were found in one study to possess highlevels of self efficacy, to describe themselves in terms of their identity as an engineer, and to bemotivated by the innovations and challenges afforded by engineering. This study also reasonedthat those who persist possess an ability to adapt and thrive “despite working in a male-dominated culture characterized by difficulties associated with the workplace, includingdiscrimination”. In contrast to this, women who left the engineering profession were “less likelyto recognize options in navigating the
Adrienne Minerick is the Associate Dean for Research & Innovation in the College of Engineering and Assistant to the Provost for Faculty Development at Michigan Tech. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame and B.S. from Michigan Tech. Adrienne’s research interests include elec- trokinetics, predominantly dielectrophoretic characterizations of cells, and the development of biomedical microdevices. She earned a NSF CAREER award and was nominated for Michigan Professor of the Year in 2014. Research within her Medical micro-Device Engineering Research Laboratory (M.D. – ERL) also inspires the development of Desktop Experiment Modules (DEMos) for use in chemical engineer- ing classrooms or as
in Chemistry & Chemical Biology and Chemical En- gineering at Northeastern University. During his academic career at Carnegie Mellon University, Boston University, and Olin College he has been the recipient of the first Whitaker Young Investigator Award from the BMES, a Searle Scholar Award, and an Early Career Development Award from the NSF as well as a three-time recipient of the Omega Chi Epsilon Outstanding Faculty Award from the North- eastern Student Affiliate of AIChE. He also has led industrial R&D teams at Organogenesis Inc. and Polymerix Corporation developing tissue-engineered medical products and drug- generating biodegrad- able polymers, respectively, and has co-founded Automated Cell, Inc. In
surgery after attending MSOP program𝛽0123 Percentage MSOP alumnae who are 57% 67% [8] “Very Interested” in pursuing orthopaedic surgery a priori the program 𝛼323 Percentage POP alumnae who matriculate 93% 93% [8] to 4-year college and major in STEM 𝛽323 Percentage POP alumnae who intend to 56% 56% [8] attend medical school 𝛾323 Percentage POP alumnae who are “Very 23% 13% [8] Interested” in pursuing careers in orthopaedic surgery We used our mathematical model (see Equations 1-4) to conduct two unique simulationsaddressing critical issues
to improve learning outcomes. A large body of research oncollaborative learning points to the benefits of students’ learning from one another (Lave andWenger, 1991; Mentkowski & Associates, 2000; Seymour and Hewitt, 1997; Prince and Felder,2006). Prince (2004), in his review of literature on active learning, found that team-basedapproaches to learning can increase students’ skills, positive attitudes, and retention.How, then, can we make student teams more equitable, over-coming well-documented trendswhere women have fewer opportunities than men to gain and demonstrate technical competence?How can we persuade women to persist on teams—and in their engineering career paths morebroadly—despite interpersonal interactions that may make them
College of Engineering and Assistant to the Provost for Faculty Development at Michigan Tech. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame and B.S. from Michigan Tech. Adrienne’s research interests include elec- trokinetics, predominantly dielectrophoretic characterizations of cells, and the development of biomedical microdevices. She earned a NSF CAREER award and was nominated for Michigan Professor of the Year in 2014. Research within her Medical micro-Device Engineering Research Laboratory (M.D. – ERL) also inspires the development of Desktop Experiment Modules (DEMos) for use in chemical engineer- ing classrooms or as outreach activities in area schools (see www.mderl.org). Adrienne is past