Why are Women and Minorities Still Underrepresented in STEM Careers?

1. Why are Women and Minorities Still Underrepresented in STEM Careers? Susan Metz Founder and Past President Women in Engineering Proactive Network (WEPAN)

2. Electrification Automobile Airplane Water Supply and Distribution Electronics Radio and Television Agricultural Mechanization Computers Telephone Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Highways Spacecraft Internet Imaging Household Appliances Health Technologies Petroleum and Petrochemical Technologies Laser and Fiber Optics Nuclear Technologies High Performance Materials Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century

3. Why do we need to encourage students to study engineering and science? • In the last 50 years, more than half of America’s sustained economic growth was fueled by engineers, scientists and advanced-degree technologists, a mere 5% of America’s 132 million-person workforce. • Twenty-five percent of our scientists and engineers will reach retirement age this year.

4. Why do we care if women & minorities become engineers and scientists? • As a consequence of a lack of diversity we pay an opportunity cost, a cost in designs not thought of, in solutions not produced. Dr. William Wulf, Past President, National Academy of Engineering • By the year 2050, 85% of the entrants into the workforce will be people of color and women. In 2006, women were 26%, African Americans 3.9% and Hispanics 4.4% of all STEM occupations. • If we do not engage women and minorities in the engineering enterprise, we are ignoring more than 52% of America’s intellectual talent.

5. The Changing Domestic Talent Pool

6. What mathematics courses are U.S. high school students taking? 2005

7. What science courses are U.S. high school students taking? 2005

8. Intended College Major of High School SAT Test-Takers

9. Little Change in Mathematics SAT Scores by Sex

10. Mathematics SAT Scores Increased for Most Minority Groups

11. Women and Girls in IT • Girls comprise fewer than 17% of AP computer science exam-takers. (Physics 35%, Chem 47%, Calc 42 & 49%, Bio 59%) • Between 1985-2008, the share of computer science bachelor’s degrees awarded to women dropped from 37 to 18 percent.

12. Males Far More Likely to Plan to Major in Technical Fields Than are Females Source: CPST, data derived from Higher Education Research Institute

13. Freshman Engineering Enrollments: No Progress for Women

14. Progress Slows for Underrepresented Minority Freshmen in Engineering

15. The Decline of Women in Engineering Evident for all Races/Ethnicities

16. U.S. Undergraduate Engineering Enrollment by Sex & Race/Ethnicity

17. Women Still Earn Few Bachelor’s Degrees in Some Engineering Disciplines

18. Women in Selected Occupations 2007

19. Minorities in Selected Occupations 2007

20. Role of Community Colleges • A 2004 report from the National Science Foundation found that almost half of the more than 740,000 science and engineering graduates with bachelor’s degrees in 1999 and 2000 attended a community college at some point.

21. What impacts student interest in STEM and IT? • Engineering courses are not integrated into K-12 education. • Cultural and individual stereotypes persist. • A lack of awareness about what engineers and scientists contribute to the world. • Influential people in students’ lives are unfamiliar or uneasy with math, science and STEM fields.

22. Are girls disproportionately affected by issues relating to interest in STEM? Study: Female Teachers’ Math Anxiety Affects Girls’ Math Achievement. (Beilock et. al., 2009) Finding: By end of school year, the more anxious 1st and 2nd grade teachers were about math, the more likely girls (not boys) were to endorse commonly held stereotypes (boys are good at math, girls are good at reading). And, these girls’ exhibited lower math achievement .

23. Are girls disproportionately affected by issues relating to interest in STEM? Study: National Differences in Gender-Science Stereotypes Predict National Sex Differences in Science and Math Achievement. (Noseka et al.,2009) Finding:70% of more than half million Implicit Association Tests completed by people in 34 countries revealed expected implicit stereotypes associating science with males more than females. Nation-level implicit stereotypes predicted nation level sex differences in 8th grade science and math achievement.

24. Are girls disproportionately affected by issues relating to interest in STEM? Study: Gender, Culture, and Mathematics Performance. (Hydea and Mertz, 2009) Finding: In US, girls and boys have reached parity in math performance at all grade levels. Among mathematically gifted, boys favor girls 4 to 2 but gap is closing and differences correlate with countries gender equity, indicating that the gap is due in large part to socio-cultural not biological issues.

25. FROM THIS… Nerd Math and science geek Must be brilliant White male Primarily works with machines Communicates poorly Boring/Rigid Irrelevant TO THIS… Creative Enjoys and does well in math and science Likes to solve problems Works in teams Improves people’s lives Curious Makes the world work The Challenge: Convert Perceptions of Students, Parents, Educators

26. What can we do to encourage students to consider STEM and IT careers? • Dispel the stereotypes that persist. • Provide resources and information to students, parents and educators. • Urge educators who are uneasy with math and science to encourage students to explore the field (and hide their discomfort!). • Broaden perspectives about the profile of students (male and female of all demographics) who might be interested in or benefit from studying these fields. • Suggest that students investigate programs at colleges designed to introduce students to these fields.

27. Barbie’s 125th Career Computer Engineer "As a computer engineer, Barbie will show girls that women can turn their ideas into realities that have a direct and positive impact on people's everyday lives in this exciting and rewarding career."

28. What else can we do to encourage students to consider STEM and IT? • Remind students that taking math and science courses is important since so many careers in the 21st century require this knowledge. • Integrate engineering and IT activities into existing math and science courses. • Organize a career program at your school and invite students and professionals involved in these fields to talk about what they do.

29. Career Challenges for the 21st Century • Energy • Environment • Healthcare • Information Systems • Security • Communications • Transportation

30. Resources to Help Students and their Parents to Explore Engineering • Center for Innovation in Engineering & Science Education: www.stevens.edu/ciese • ASEE Engineering K-12 Center: www.engineeringk12.org • Engineer Girl!: www.engineergirl.org • Sloan Career Cornerstone Center: www.careercornerstone.org • Engineers Week: www.eweek.org • Society of Women Engineers: www.swe.org • National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity www.napeequity.org • National Academies CASEE Virtual Support Network eees.nae.edu • WEPAN: Making the Connection http://www.wepan.org