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Physics for All: Ethnicity , Gender, and the Physics Community. Featuring results from the Statistical Research Center of the American Institute of Physics Reported by Keith Clay of GRCC. What do physicists look like?. What do physicists look like?. What do physicists look like?.
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Physics for All: Ethnicity, Gender, and the Physics Community Featuring results from the Statistical Research Center of the American Institute of Physics Reported by Keith Clay of GRCC
don’t What do physicists look like? Is this true? Is it a problem?
Reasons to celebrate Sylvester James “Jim” Gates is a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Maryland. He was the first to extend the concept of Super-symmetry into more than two dimensions. He currently serves on the National Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Sylvester James GatesUniversity of Maryland
Reasons to celebrate “Professor Hau's group recently reduced the light speed to 17 meters per second (the speed of a racing bicycle) - and ultimately completely stopped a light pulse - by optically inducing a quantum interference in a Bose–Einstein condensate.” Harvard website, 2007 LeneHau, Harvard University
Reasons to celebrate “Juan Martín Maldacena is a theoretical physicist. Among his many discoveries, the most famous one is the most reliable realization of the holographic principle - namely the AdS/CFT correspondence, the conjecture about the equivalence of string theory on Anti-de Sitter (AdS) space, and a conformal field theory defined on the boundary of the AdS space.” Wikipedia Juan MaldacenaPrinceton University
Reasons to celebrate “Vera Rubin is an American astronomer who pioneered work on galaxy rotation rates. She uncovered the discrepancy between the predicted angular motion of galaxies and the observed motion, by studying galactic rotation curves.” Wikipedia “Vera Rubin is the American astronomer who established the presence of dark matter in galaxies.” American Museum of Natural History Vera Rubin, UCLA
Reasons to celebrate TRANSLATION: Very Rubin discovered Dark Matter So where is her Nobel Prize? Vera Rubin, UCLA
Reasons to celebrate TRANSLATION: Very Rubin discovered Dark Matter So where is her Nobel Prize?
Reasons to celebrate??? In 2011, three men shared the Nobel Prize for the discovery of Dark Energy. “Only the Nobel Committee really knows why Vera Rubin has been passed over for so long…” ThePhysicsBuzz, 2011
Reasons to celebrate??? NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS IN PHYSICS 193 2
Reasons to celebrate??? NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS IN PHYSICS 194 1
The reality of life in Physics: GENDER: UNIVERSITY PHYSICS PROFESSORS
The reality of life in Physics: ETHNICITY: BACHELOR’S DEGREES IN PHYSICS
DISCLAIMERS • I am a white male. • I am not a statistician. • I did not collect any of the following data. • I have served as an advisor to the Statistical Research Council of the American Institute of Physics. • Statistics tell us about correlations. • Statistics can only hint at causes.
GENDER: Part OneDo women have less aptitude? In a speech given in 2005…Harvard President Lawrence Summers: Perhaps differences in women’s performance in math and science could be due to a "different availability of aptitude at the high end." (paraphrased: the exact quote is not available)
Jan. 2005:Summers makes bizarre statement! The next day:Time, Newsweek, NYT, Washington Post, and NPR descend on AIP GENDER: Part OneDo women have less aptitude? Consider the case of Rachel Ivie • Becomes Experimental Sociologist. • Emphasizes statistical research. • Takes a job with SRC at AIP. • Dec. 2004:Authors study on women in physics. • Prepares for long winter’s nap.
GENDER: Part OneDo women have less aptitude? Physics is “math intensive.” Physics is not math. GRE Physics scores are more closely correlated with SAT Verbal scores than they are with SAT Math scores
GENDER: Part OneDo women have less aptitude? GRE Physics scores are more closely correlated with SAT Verbal scores than they are with SAT Math scores So explain this...
GENDER: Part OneDo women have less aptitude? • Our heroes: Rachel Ivie Susan White Statistical researchers at the American Institute of Physics
GENDER: Part OneDo women have less aptitude? • The best conclusion of the SRC@AIP... • … based on all available data… • … after months of investigation… “no”
GENDER: Part TwoAre women less successful? • Do women fail or drop-out more than men? • Is there conscious discrimination? • Is there unconscious discrimination? • … and by whom? • Is discrimination statistically visible? • Are women choosing other careers? • Are women “less ambitious”? • What about those Nobel Prizes?
GENDER: Part TwoAre women less successful? “Could it be that, even as policy makers have been supporting efforts to increase the representation of women in physics and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, those judging the merits of scientific work have been guilty of unconscious bias? The dearth of women winning the top prize in physics suggests this may be the case.”
GENDER: Part TwoAre women less successful? What about more “ordinary” folk?
GENDER: Part TwoAre women less successful? Between 1987 and 1997 the proportion of girls in high school physics classes increased from 40 percent to 47 percent, where it has remained fairly consistently since then. However, in AP classes, girls make up only 41 percent in Physics B and 32 percent of the Physics C classroom. AIP SRC Report, July 2011
Percent of Bachelor’s Degrees Earned by Women in Selected Fields, 1966-2001.
GENDER: Part TwoAre women less successful? Small numbers of women in university physics departments do not provide statistically significant evidence of hiring bias due to conscious discrimination against women. Rachel Ivie and Susan White, 2013 “We believe the issue of gender equity in physics is complex and nuanced. It is unwise to try to simplify it by examining whether or not a department has a woman among its faculty.” Rachel Ivie, 2013
GENDER: Part TwoDo women discriminate against themselves? Female college students “demonstrated negativity toward math and science …Group identity (self = female), and gender stereotypes (math = male) were related to attitudes and identification with mathematics. Strong ... “math = male” stereotypes corresponded with … negative … math attitudes for women but more positive attitudes for men. Associating the self with female and math with male made it difficult for … women who had selected math-intensive majors, to associate math with the self.” Brian A. Nosek and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Yale Anthony Greenwald, UW Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2002
GENDER: Part TwoAre women less successful? They have fewer numbers, but… • On average they succeed (about) as often • All trends are positive (except comp. sci.) • “Upper levels” mirror earlier “lower levels” • The “Leaky Pipeline” doesn’t leak much • We’re now at 46% in high school
ETHNICITY: Yes, there is an achievement gap Preamble: • Using self-identified ethnic classifications… Observations on math and science: • Average performance of Caucasian and Asian Americans is at one level. • Average performance of African and Latino Americans is at another.
ETHNICITY: Yes, there is an achievement gap Education Week, 2005
ETHNICITY: Yes, there is an achievement gap The Atlantic, 2011
ETHNICITY: Yes, there is an achievement gap Bachelor’s Degrees Awarded by Field and Race, Class of 2001 (NSF & AIP)
ETHNICITY: Yes, there is an achievement gap Huge complication: INCOME INCOME
ETHNICITY: Yes, there is an achievement gap Huge complication: FAMILY
ETHNICITY:Do equal skills lead to equal success? • Key question: If students come to college equally prepared, are they equally likely to succeed?
ETHNICITY:How can we judge equal skills? Likelihood of Earning a Bachelor’s Degree vs. Mathematics Scores in Senior Year of H.S. Standardized Math % Earning a Bachelor’s Scores Test, (decile) within the next 8 years =============== =============== Highest 79 9th 63 8th 47 7th 40 6th 32 Lower 8 Average 32
