More men than women graduate from N.C. State with degrees in STEM fields. According to University Planning and Analysis data, that imbalance has held steady for years.
In the 2012-2013 school year, 147 women and 259 men graduated with degrees from the College of Sciences, and 408 women and 1,751 men graduated from the College of Engineering.
A recent article published in The New York Times fo und physicists, chemists and biologists at six major universities more likely to favor a male scientist over a woman with the same qualifications when reviewing job applications.
According to Jamila Simpson, assistant dean for Diversity and Student Services, both male and female students at N.C. State have an unconscious bias against women majoring in science. Simpson, who gives presentations about diversity to undergrad students, said that students don’t typically think of women when it comes to science.
“I asked N.C. State students in a College of Sciences class to think of ten scientists, and we wrote their list on the board,” Simpson said. “Afterward, I pointed out that every single scientist they listed was a white male.”
Simpson said that although students later recalled women scientists to name as well, the initial reaction was certainly telling.
Simpson also tells her students about the Draw-a-Scientist Test, an experiment in which children told to sketch a scientist reveal unconscious bias.
“Students describing a scientist often include characteristics as white, male, old, nerdy and wears glasses,” Simpson said.
Simpson said that these stereotypes aren’t malicious in nature.
“It’s not intentional,” Simpson said. “It’s due to conditioning.”
According to Vicki Martin, assistant dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Sciences, N.C. State needs to eliminate this bias and increase the number of women majoring in science.
“People turn on T.V.’s and constantly hear about the need for engineers and scientists in the workforce,” Martin said. “We need to make women a part of this workforce.”
Jo-Ann Cohen, associate dean of academic affairs in the College of Sciences, said that women majoring in science can be deterred from doing so by a lack of other female scientists as role models.
“Women deciding to go into science often struggle finding role models in their fields,” Cohen said. “We want to provide them with a supportive environment so that they take greater risks. They need to see people like themselves in these disciplines at N.C. State.”
Martin said that the upper ranks of female professors with tenure are generally low compared to the number of women who complete graduate school. However, in the College of Sciences, all of the associate deans and assistant deans are women with the exception of one.
Cohen co-formed the Women in Science and Engineering village at N.C. State in 2003. Katherine Titus-Becker, the current WISE director, said that the goal of the WISE village is to increase the retention rates of women science majors.
“The historical perception is that women don’t go into the science and engineering fields,” Titus-Becker said. “Our program exists as an enrichment program for these underrepresented students. WISE gives women in these fields a place where they can live and study with others in a supportive community.”
Spencer Williams, a freshman in first-year engineering, said the WISE community offers many benefits that make the program a valuable asset to young women majoring in STEM fields.
“A lot of women drop out of engineering without a support group like WISE because it’s such a male dominated field,” Williams said. “It’s a little intimidating to go to the career fair and see so many men and so few women with the same major, but I like to think of it as a challenge.”
WISE attends a number of recruiting events to encourage women to come to N.C. State and to major in science and engineering fields. It also works with K-12 outreach programs to encourage young interest in the science fields.