12 Women Are Elected to the National Academy of Sciences

Of the 72 members newly elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), 12 are women. In 2005, a record number of 19 women were elected. NAS Membership is one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive. Many members are tapped to provide advice on important policy issues. According to this article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, when the newly elected members are included, 199 (about 10 percent), of the academy's 2,013 active members are women, up from about 7 percent in 2001. The academy has not set any quota or special preferences for admitting women; however they are making an effort to increase the number of women members. A list of the new members and foreign associates is available from the Academy, and more information is available from The Chronicle for Higher Education and from Inside HigherEd.

NRC Releases a New Report on Women in Science and Engineering

The National Academies’ National Research Council recently released a report, "To Recruit and Advance: Women Students and Faculty in U.S. Science and Engineering." The study committee was charged with preparing "a guide that will identify and discuss best practices in recruitment, retention, and promotion for women scientists and engineers in academia." For information, the committee reviewed existing literature on programs and policies and made site visits to four universities recognized for successfully advancing and retaining women students, faculty, or leaders. The issues that the guide addresses are: (1) recruitment of undergraduates and graduate students; (2) ways of reducing attrition in science and engineering degree programs in the early undergraduate years; (3) improving retention rates of women at critical transition points—from undergraduate to graduate student, from graduate student to postdoc, postdoc to first faculty position; (4) recruitment of women for tenure-track positions; (5) increasing the tenure rate for women faculty; and (6) increasing the numbers of women in administrative positions. The report (including a free executive summary) is available at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11624.html. Other reports relating to women in science in engineering can be found on the website of the NAS Committee for Women in Science and Engineering.

AWIS Chapter Featured in Nature Magazine

In this article, “Mass uprising of women in science: Women scientist group benefits from some bad news” the authors, Joanne Kamens, MASS AWIS chapter president, and Karen Yee, a MASS AWIS administrator describe how their dormant chapter was revived. The authors admit to receiving some unintentional help from Harvard University President Larry Summers who publicly questioned women’s inherent science capabilities. The chapter has grown to more than 80 members (including men!). MASS AWIS has plans for many new activities including a series of leadership workshops for undergraduates, graduates and postdocs, organizing mentors for school-age girls, and a developing a scholarship fund. This article can be found in the April 13 issue of Nature or at http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060410/full/nj7086-966b.html.

Societies Spurn Women Editors

Nature magazine reports that Theresa Markow, president of the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE), has stepped down to protest that women were not adequately considered for the editorship of its journal. Markow has served as this journal’s only female editor, from 1995 to 1999. Some point out that this is not a problem unique to this society, while others who try to rectify the situation state that it is difficult to find qualified women who are willing to serve. You can find this article* at http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060417/full/440974a.html.

Ask and You Might Receive

While the issues of a glass ceiling or a systemic failure in the tenure process to account for a woman’s maternal obligation are often described as issues that face women as they advance in their careers, Sharon Block, an associate professor at the University of California at Irvine, focuses on the pay gap and other obstacles that women face as their careers progress. According to Block, “Women wind up underselling themselves.” In her career, she has found that being assertive has made a positive difference in the negotiation of her compensation package. The full article can be found at http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/04/25/equity.

Progress on Hiring Women Science Faculty Members Stalls at MIT

Here is another discussion of the MIT report on the number of women faculty (see the April 15, 2006 WashWire). “The number of women faculty members at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge has declined or remained flat in five of its six science departments since 2000, whereas the number of women in other areas, such as engineering and architecture, increased significantly during the same period," according to a report released last week. The findings, say academics researching the issue, "underscore the difficulty in removing obstacles for female scientists, despite high-level attention by some deans and administrators.” The full article* can be found at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/312/5772/347a.

Now it’s Time for Women to Get Even

Tuesday, April 25 was “Equal Pay Day” and marks the number of days into the year the average woman must work to earn as much as a man earned by the end of the previous year. In 2006, as has been true for about a decade, women earn only 77 cents for every dollar men make. While the reasons for the wage gap continue to be debated, the article argues that the ability to find a solution lies within a company and with women themselves. Solutions like the payroll assessment and the correction of the systematic underpayment of salaries by individual companies, and the establishment of “wage clubs” to talk about wage issue and provide support were mentioned. To view the article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/22/AR2006042200134.html?referrer=emailarticle.

New Take on the Gender Gap

Increasingly, colleges are observing that their applicant pools and student bodies are lopsidedly female. A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that the enrollment patterns colleges are seeing today result from much longer term shifts. The study examines gender-based enrollment trends over the last century and attributes them to economic, political, and social factors. For example the authors noted influences such as the increase in bans on married women working, the importance of the GI Bill as a source of funds for college for veterans — the vast majority of them men — returning from World War II, and the desire of a subsequent generation of men to avoid the Vietnam War draft by enrolling in college. They also note that current high female enrollment rates may be partially explained by the wage differential between college-educated and non-college educated woman which has always been greater than that for men. An abstract of the report is available on the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Web site, where the full report may be purchased online for $5 and the article is available at http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/04/26/gender.

Introducing Women's Adventures in Science books

The National Academy of Sciences has announced a new book series called, “Women's Adventures in Science”. They describe the books as “a fresh and engaging biography series about contemporary women scientists and their fascinating careers. The ten-volume series shows that the path from intellectually curious girl to talented innovator is as unique as the personality and circumstances of each scientist.” You can also look at the biographies, enjoy videos, games and other activities on the website. Please visit www.iwaswondering.org.

Interesting Resources
From the The National Girls Collaborative Project which brings together organizations that are committed to informing and motivating girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The goal of the project is to encourage organizations from K-12 education, higher education, government, professional organizations, business, and community-based organizations to collaborate with other girl-serving organizations to increase their capacity for continuation and broader impact.
The Project is currently operating in California, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Wisconsin, and the South Central area of the United States (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas). Visit http://www.pugetsoundcenter.org/ngcp for more information.

PBS Stations Partner with Community Organizations to Encourage Girls in Science Programs: DragonflyTV SciGirls is based on DragonflyTV, a half-hour, weekly television series broadcast on over 200 PBS stations nationwide. Now in its fourth season, the program features real kids doing real science and is designed to appeal to children from diverse backgrounds. The series is made possible by NSF and the Best Buy Children’s Foundation. www.dragonflytv.org

Latina Girls: Voice of Adolescent Strength in the United States, Edited By: Jill Denner and Bianca L. Guzman:  Latina Girls is the first book to pull together research on the overall strengths and strategies that characterize Latina adolescent lives in the U.S. This book brings together research that challenges the stereotypical perceptions of the largest minority group of girls in the country. The volume offers solid data and suggestions for practical intervention for those who study and work to support this population. It highlights the challenges these young women face, as well as the ways in which they successfully negotiate those challenges. www.nyupress.org

Great Science Site:  Windows to the World in Spanish and English, http://www.windows.ucar.edu

ACE Publication Sheds New Light on Minority Students Who Pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Majors: African American and Hispanic students begin college interested in majoring in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields at rates similar to those of white and Asian-American students, and persist in these fields through their third year of study, but do not earn bachelor’s degrees at the same rate as their peers, according to a new analysis conducted by the American Council on Education (ACE).  "Our analysis seems to dispel the commonly held belief that African American and Hispanic students aren’t interested in majoring in STEM fields," said Eugene Anderson. "We find that these students do pursue these majors and persist beyond the third year, but are not earning enough credits each year to attain a degree within six years."  http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=leadership&TEMPLATE=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=15622

ADcouncil.org advertisement for girls in April 2006 Oprah magazine: http://www.adcouncil.org/files/mathgirls_rosie_mag.jpg

Wanted: Girls Interested in Computers:  For three years, Norm Messa has not had a single female student in the high school programming classes that he teaches at the Seacoast School of Technology in Exeter. Messa has begun hosting free game programming nights for middle school girls, hoping to catch them at a time when many girls are still undecided about math and science.  Messa walked the students through a tutorial for Gamemaker and had them program a simple maze game. The girls enjoyed editing the games, creating their own characters, and telling stories, aligning with Carnegie Mellon researcher Caitlyn Kelleher's theory that girls are more interested in the applications of technology than they are in the technology itself. Kelleher is developing the next version of Alice, an object-oriented Java platform featuring elements from Electronic Arts' "The Sims," the most popular computer game of all time. After a short instruction session, the girls got to try their hands at Alice, building worlds and creating characters to tell stories while still learning some of the basics of programming in a non-threatening environment.  http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/exeter/04232006/news/99295.htm

The Simpsons "women in math" episode aired on Sunday April 30.  For more information and an interview with one of the writers,  visit http://www.mathsci.appstate.edu/~sjg/simpsonsmath//sums.html

Joanne Kamens, Ph.D. Group Leader Molecular and Cellular Biology	Abbott Bioresearch Center 100 Research Drive Worcester, MA 01605	508-849-2655 joanne.niewood@...