Issues for Ethnic Minorities and Women in Science and Engineering

last update 16 February 2009

Reading Assignments

• Read the following:
  

• Article by Anne MacLachlan, "The lives and careers of minority women scientists,"  Published in "Making Strides", newsletter for Directorate for Education and Human Resources Programs, AAAS, 3(3), 1-5 (2001).  Available on line here.
  

• Read stories of individual scientists.  Below are two stories written by black women on their experiences as scientists thirty years ago that the entire class should read:
  

• "An Interview with Evelynn Hammonds," by Aimee Sands, in The Racial Economy of Science (1993), pp. 239-248.  Available through ebooks via the UW library (take this link, click on "view this ebook" and type 239 into the page selection).
  
• "Subcutaneous Scars," by Vanessa Northington Gamble, in Health Affairs 19(1), 164-169 (2000).  Available on line through the UW library.

• Use the web to find biographies of minority and/or women scientists.  Pick three individuals, at least one of which is a minority, and be prepared to tell the class about a) this person's main scientific accomplishment and b) the environment in which he or she worked.  Once you find a name from one of these overview sites, you can search to find more information.  One of your subjects should have made his or her major contributions before World War II.  Some useful links are (also on course links page):
• Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics
• 4000 Years of Women in Science
• The Faces of Science: African Americans in the Sciences
• SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) Biography Project.
• Women of NASA
• Women in Science and Medicine History page from World Book.
• Women Nobel Prize Winners at the Nobel web site.
• Changing the Face of Medicine from the National Institutes of Health on Women in Medicine, with emphasis on women of color.

• • Read these three overviews in the course reader:
    

  • Ambrose, S.A., Dunkle, K.L., Lazarus, B.B., Nair, I., & Harkus, D.A. (1997). Journeys of Women in Science and Engineering No Universal Constants. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.  Introductory Chapter:  pp. 1-31 
  • Rossiter, M. W. (1995),  Women Scientists in America.  Volume 2:  Before Affirmative Action 1940-1972.  Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.  Chapter 16: The Path to Liberation:  Consciousness Raised, Legislation Enacted, pp. 361-382.
  • Pearson, Jr. Willie (2005)  "The African American presence in the American chemistry community: A brief history"
    Ch. 1 (pp. 1-29) in  Beyond small numbers: Voices of African American PhD Chemists (Amsterdam: Elsevier).

  Browse the National Science Foundation statistics web site: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics.
  A selection data from the NSF and other sources compiled in 2006 is available as either powerpoint or 4-per-page printout in pdf format.

For Jan 15:  No Class

• Read through Fraga's report on UW Faculty [link to be added later] -- not available until late February.
  

• Main readings.  Here look for specifics of UW and putting the historical record here in context with that at large.
  
• "The feminist and the scientist: One and the same" by Angela Ginorio, Terry Marshall, and Lisa Breckenridge here in a passworded file.  Note: Prof. Ginorio was one of the authors of this study and Prof. Olmstead one of the interviewees.
• You many wish to look again at the UW Equal Opportunity Office web site.   Data on gender and racial distributions for faculty of various ranks, plus staff, for the past 8 years are available under "reports."  The UW Factbook gives student-centered data -- the population the faculty and staff are serving.
• Pick one of the following to read through for info on the national level: 
  
• The American Institute of Physics Women in Physics 2005 report (see also the FAQ about this report)
  
• "Promoting the Advancement of Minority Women Faculty in Academic Medicine:  The national centers of excellence in women's health," E. Wong et al, Journal of Women's Health and Gender-based Medicine 10(6), 541-550 (2001).  Available on line as a pdf file through the UW library (UW restricted access).
• National Academy of Science report Beyond Bias and Barriers:  Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering (executive summary may be downloaded as a pdf, the remainder may be browsed page by page)
• Browse Dual Career Academic Couples report from Stanford Clayman Institute for Gender Studies
• UW specific information
  
• Browse the UW Equal Opportunity Office web site.  In particular, click on reports.  The lower half of the page has a "utilization analysis," showing the numbers of female and minority faculty in various UW departments and a comparison to the available pool.
• Browse Assorted Statistics about the University of Washington.  Look for data related to minorities and women in science and engineering. Determine what additional information is required to draw conclusions based on this data
• Read section from Brianna Blaser's thesis "More than just lab partners: women scientists and engineers married and partnered to other scientists and engineers" [on the class GoPost]
• 
  
• National reports to browse:
  
• The NSF Women, Minorities and People with Disabilities in Science and Engineering  Report
• NSF's Science and Engineering Indicators 2008, in particular Chapter 5 on Academic R&D.

For January 22:  Status of Minorities from High School to College and beyond

• 
  
• Browse the National Center for Education Statistics with emphasis on minorities in high school and university. 
  
• Browse the race-disaggregated data for Math and Science from the Nations Report Card.
• Browse the NCES Condition of Education reports, for example "Poverty and Student Mathematics Achievement" or the race and gender disaggregated data for math and science.
  
• Browse the Preface and Chapter 3 from The Shape of the River by Bowen and Bok (1998) copied here in the passworded file. While reading the preface and chapter 3 may be useful, pay particular attention to the section on "Academic Underperformance" (pg 72-86).  This is now 10 years old, but there isn't much new we could find.  The file is also uploaded on the class GoPost.
  
• Also relevant are the readings on minority women from January 10, including the Article by Anne MacLachlan, "The lives and careers of minority women scientists,"  Published in "Making Strides", newsletter for Directorate for Education and Human Resources Programs, AAAS, 3(3), 1-5 (2001).  Available on line here.

For January 27: Status of Minority and Women Faculty Nationwide

• Read the Executive Summary, and browse the rest of the report on the 2007 Nelson Diversity Surveys (linked from here), and browse Donna Nelson's Diversity Survey Data, comparing faculty and Ph.D. diversity at the top 50 institutions in math, computer science, electrical engineering, physics, chemistry, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering.  Choose one field to examine in detail.  Make sure you look at the "utilization tables" that also list the number of female department chairs at the top 50 departments (note all the zeros!).  Think about what conclusions you may draw.
  
• Scan through the AAUP report on gender in academia AAUP Report on Faculty Gender Equity Indicators.  Other interesting reports on women in academia compiled by the AAUP are listed here.
• Read one or more of these studies relevant to gender differences in evaluating faculty candidates
  
• D-Zero Post-doc Study:  "A Case Study of Gender Bias at the Postdoctoral Level in Physics, and its Resulting Impact on the Academic Career Advancement of Females," Sherry Towers, posted on  arXiv:0804.2026v3 [physics.soc-ph] April 2008 [link]  In addition to reading the paper (which may be too detailed for the non-physicist), you can check out the various blog links on the arXiv page.
  
• A study on orchestral tryouts:
  "Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of "Blind" Auditions on Female Musicians," Claudia Goldin and Cecelia Rouse, The American Economic Review 90, 715 (2000)
  link to html through UW subscription
• Swedish Postdoc Study:  "Nepotism and sexism in peer-review," Christine Wennerås and Agnes Wold, Nature 387, 341 (1997).
• Letters of Recommendation:  "A Linguistic Compatison of Letters of Recommendation for Male and Female Chemistry and Biochemistry Job Applicants," T. Schmader, J. Whitehead and V. H. Wysocki, Sex Roles 57, 509-514 (2007).  link via UW subscription.
• Use of word "leader" in reviews for tenure has gender implications:  "Can the Language of Tenure Criteria Influence Women's Academic Advancement?" Angela Marchant, Abhik Bhattacharya, Molly Carnes. Journal of Women's Health. September 1, 2007, 16(7): 998-1003. doi:10.1089/jwh.2007.0348. link via UW subscription
  

• copies of the viewgraphs used in class in 2006, which summarize results from Nelson, give tables from the AAUP report, and assorted tables from the Gender Differences in Salary chapter of J. Scott Long's 2001 book  "From Scarcity to Visibility: Gender Differences in the Careers of Doctoral Scientists"
• Nelson/Long graphs
  
• AAUP tables
• A long list of references may be found at "References on Chilly Climate for Women Faculty in Academe," Jeninfer Freyd (U. of Oregon) [link]
  

•   For January 29:  Changes in a Lifetime (Irene Peden).

• Dr. Peden was the first (and for a long time the only) female Professor of Engineering at the University of Washington, having joined UW in 1962.   Note from the statistics we reviewed the first week -- 1966 is the earliest year the NSF publishes statistics for the number of female Ph.D.'s in engineering -- 8 in the entire US.  Rossiter (Vol 2, p. 55) quotes a statistic of 145 female bachelor's degrees in engineering in 1959-60 and 25 female Ph.D.'s from 1948 through 1960 -- that is TOTAL, not each year (Vol 2., p. 80).  Dr. Peden's bio is here.
• Recommended by Dr. Peden:
  
• An article written by Dr. Peden on the status of women in her subfield of engineering:
  "Thoughts on a Committee on Women in Antennas and Propagation," I. C. Peden, Antennas and Propagation Magazine, IEEE, Volume 45,  Issue 1,  Feb. 2003 Page(s):188 - 190.
  Link to UW online subscription.
• A one-page editorial on women in physics:  “Physics: For Women, the Last Frontier,” S.Tobias, M.Urry, and A.Venakatesn, Science, vol. 296, pp. 1201, May 17, 2002.
  Link to UW online subscription.
  
•  Browse the 1999 MIT Report on the status of women in the sciences at MIT (or its update in 2002)  and the 2002 MIT School of Engineering report.  Read the intro and recommendations.  This will also be part of the reading for Jan 31 class.
  
• Other background reading:
  
• "Faculty at Major Universities: The Antinepotism Rules and the Grateful Few" from Maragaret W. Rossiter's Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action 1940-1972. Available here as a passworded file.
• A poem written in honor of Dr. Peden's retirement, and published in the IEEE journal in her subfield
  Poet's Corner to Irene Peden on her Retirement
  Felsen, L.; Antennas and Propagation Magazine, IEEE; Volume 37,  Issue 5,  Oct. 1995 Page(s):92
  link to UW subscription.
  
  

For Feb 3:  Introduction to Climate and how to measure it

• Review the rest of the syllabus, and decide which topic (whether listed as student presentation, or other) you would like to present on.  We will take a few minutes at the beginning of class to choose groups.
• There are a number of papers and articles below -- scan through them thinking about what are measures of climate and how might climate impact the participation and status of minorities and women in science and engineering.  You should all take the IAT and look over the Larry Summers speech and its responses; then pick a couple of the  other articles to read in detail and scan the others.
  
• Take the implicit assumption test for gender/science.  You might also want to take another (e.g., skin-tone or race).  Remember your results and we'll discuss them in class.
• Read through (then) Harvard President Lawrence Summers address of 2005, and browse through the publicity it generated.  A nice compilation of links is on the  Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute web page.  Harvard took down the link to the original speech -- a copy is posted on GoPost.
  
• Scan the Executive Summary of the 2008 UW Leadership, Community and Values Survey, and read the last few pages on diversity issues. Browse the LCVI web page.  This was given to the whole campus, and not specifically relevant to STEM.  As you read, think about what surveys of climate can or cannot determine.
  
•  Scan this Boston Globe article on a recent study showing that women with more choice choose not to be scientists.  If you want to read more -- The link to the Harvard Business Review article referred to is by Hewitt, Luce and Servin in the June 2008 HBR (linked here).  The Rosenbloom article referred to is Journal of Economic Psychology, 29 (2008) 543-554.  The Benbow and Lubinski 30-year longitudinal study on Mathematically Precocious Youth is here on their Vanderbilt website (Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1 (2006) 316-345).  Both are also on GoPost.
  
• An interesting snapshot of climate may be found in the reaction to the Inside Higher Ed article by Shirley Malcom and Daryl Chubin on "Making the Case for Diversity in STEM Fields."  Read the article AND the responses it generated.
• Read this summary (link) of the "Do Babies Matter?" study by Mary Ann Mason (currently UCB Dean of the Graduate School) written up in UC Berkeley Graduate Magazine in 2007.  Mason's web page links to the original 2-part series in Academe: pdfs of  Part I and Part II.
• A link on the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine website to numerous gender studies on faculty at Research 1 Institutions may be found here (over on the right side of the page).
• Browse the UW Diversity Appraisal -- Typical departmental reports are only 1-2 pages -- pick a couple to read, including at least one in science and/or engineering.
• Meanwhile, sometime this week -- check the links page for suggestions and pick the program on which you will write your intervention program report.  Please don't pick one with which you have been personally involved.
  
• some examples:
• 
  
• UW ADVANCE web site, 
• Center for Workforce Development web site, including the program for Women in Science and Engineering
  
• School of Medicine Office of Multicultural Affairs web site.
  
•  UW Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity, 
  
• MESA (Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement), 
• GO-MAP (Graduate Opportunities & Minority Achievement Program),  
• MSEP (Minority Students in Engineering Program),
  
•  Diversity in Computer Science and Engineering,
• UW's website for K-12 outreach
  
• Search the web for others!!

• Panel of UW Program Directors for various intervention programs:
• Janice De Cosmo, Director of the NASA Spacegrant Consortium
  
• Victoria Gardner, Associate Director, UWSOM Office of Multicultural Affairs
• Sarah and Jill -- Pre-MAP (Premajor in Astronomy Program)
  

• Readings TBA.
  
• Older (10 years ago) References:
•  WEPAN PILOT CLIMATE SURVEY:  Exploring the Environment for Undergraduate Engineering Students by Suzanne Brainard, Susan Staffin Metz, and Gerald M. Gillmore, available here on the web.
• "The Loss of Women from Science, Mathematics and Engineering Undergraduate Majors: An Explanatory Account," Science Education, V79, 437-473 (1995).  pdf file  The article is based on the book "Talking about leaving : why undergraduates leave the sciences", by Elaine Seymour and Nancy M. Hewitt. (LC148.2 .S49 1997).
• If you didn't get to it for Tuesday,
  
• Browse the UW Diversity Appraisal -- Typical departmental reports are only 1-2 pages -- pick a couple to read, including at least one in science and/or engineering.
  

• Read the articles by Mary Good (page 300) and Daryl Chubin (page 345) in the Science Policy in the US book section posted on the class GoPost.
• Browse the Science Magazine blog, Science Insider, that keeps fingers on the pulse of both the Administration and the Congress:  http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider
  
• Browse the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) budget and links to agencies and coverage of them, is the AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program:  http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/
• A recent example of policy changes is that of paid maternity leave for science grad students, as in this article in C&E News:  http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/87/8702sci1.html
• An example of how a group of practitioners can get to gether to try to influence policy is the Women in Astronomy group.  This is perhaps more relevant for Feb 19, but worth scanning through now, as well.
  
• Read the 1992 Baltimore Charter and the browse the web sites of the associated 1992 and 2003 Women in Astronomy Meetings
• Read Meg Urry's article "The Baltimore Charter and Women in Astronomy" in the June 1999 AAS Status
• Read the article "Status of Women in Astronomy" by Meg Urry and Patricia Knezak in the October 2003 AAS Newsletter
• The CSWA Equity Report from the 2003 meeting of Women in Astronomy is available through the CSWA web site.
• Old copies of Status may be reached there, as well.
• More links TBA.

• For February 12:  Perspectives of a Minority Scientist, Professor and Administrator:  Guest: Warren Buck

• Reading:  TBA
• Prof. Buck has a wide-ranging career and interests.  The following websites catch a bit of it:
• http://www.warrenbuck.com/ -- the artist
• UW-Bothell web page:  http://www.uwb.edu/IAS/faculty/wbuck.xhtml
• UW-Seattle web page:  http://faculty.washington.edu/wbuck/WWBindex.html
  
• an interview as he stepped down from Chancellorship at UW Bothell [link]
• his resume
  

• Browse the GAO study on women and minorities at the 6 big Department of Energy National Laboratories.  Read the summary and then look at the pdf of the actual report reachable from the top of the page.
  
• Read one or two of the bi-annual reports of NSF's Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering [link]. Think about which issues are most important, how they would tackle these issues, and the advantages and challenges of independent advisory groups consisting of volunteers who serve 3 year terms.
• Look at the summaries of the three International Conferences on Women in Physics [link], The most recent conference (2008, Korea) has a resolution and press release worth reading, and the first conference (2002, Paris) did extensive surveys which are posted.  Think about the similarities and differences around the world and the potential applicability in the US and to minorities.
• Women and Minorities in Industry:.
• Browse the National Center for Women & Information Technology Best Practices [link]
  

• Browse the program [link] for the 2009 Physics Diversity Summit and Joint Annual Conference of the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP) and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSHP).  Also check out the NSBP and NSHP web sites.
  
• 
  
• Browse the web sites listed on the course-links page under professional organizations.
• another example of a focused conference:  [link] Anita Borg Institute workshop on: TechLeaders: Realizing Your Vision for Women of Color

• View this video of local math champ Daryl Wu on Live with Regis and Kelly, May 2008. [link]
  
• Click here for abstract and reading materials.
• 
  

• Reading suggested by speaker

• Read through the original Title IX to see what was important then (as opposed to the present fixation on athletics). 
  

• Additional Reading
• US Government Accountability Office 2004 report:  GENDER ISSUES:  Women’s Participation in the Sciences Has Increased, but Agencies Need to Do More to Ensure Compliance with Title IX  Go here to find links to both pdf and html versions.
• More on the current application of Title IX to Science and Engineering:  Inside Higher Ed, March 28, 2008.  [link]
  

•   For February 26:  Student climate and interventions

For March 3:  Impact of Federal Policy

• National Academy of Science Workshop Report:  Assessing the Role of K-12 Academic Standards in States:  http://books.nap.edu/catalog/12207

•   For March 5:  Academic Policy and its Influence on Climate:  Guest:  Kate Quinn

Kate Quinn was the lead person at UW for implementing a Sloan-funded program called Balance@UW, on work-life balance policies and their usage.  She suggests the following readings.  She would like you to think about how effective you think the sort of competition that Sloan organized is for changing policy and/or climate.  Also, does it matter is schools have policies if everyone is afraid to use them?  Is the benchmarking data from the Sloan study associated with the competition (we had to do this survey as part of the application, and only those who already showed a strong commitment would get funded) meaningful?  If so, what does it mean?

American Council on Education. (2005). An agenda for excellence: Creating flexibility in tenure-track faculty careers. Washington, DC
http://www.acenet.edu/bookstore/pdf/2005_tenure_flex_summary.pdf

• Please read the executive summary (full report is for those interested):
  Committee on Maximizing the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering. (2006). Beyond bias and barriers: Fulfilling the potential of women in academic science and engineering. Washington, DC: National Academies.  (posted on class GoPost under policy)

• More specific on the Sloan program

Please skim the following on the National program of which this was a part:
General info about the ACE-Sloan awards can be found here:
http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=5663

Research University info:
http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=HENA&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=18346

Comprehensives:
http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=25359

Please skim the Balance@UW website for an overview of UW’s projects:
http://www.washington.edu/provost/initiatives/balance/

Finally, please skim the benchmarking data of how UW compares to other competitors:
http://www.washington.edu/provost/initiatives/balance/ACE-Sloan_Benchmarking.pdf

• Read the presidential candidates responses to the Association for Women in Science regarding diversity issues in STEM fields:  [link]
  
• Pew Center State Education Report Cards -- original link to Pew; filtered by Education Week
  
• New Mexico Public Education Department Project 2012.[link]
  
• Please browse these older reports (circa 2000) and think about whether any of their recommendations happened.
  
• CAWMSET report, the Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering and Technology (also known as the Morella Commission)
• BEST report:  equivalent study, but with emphasis on minorities.

read each others' policy memo drafts.

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