Who Will Do the Science of the Future? A Symposium on Careers of Women in Science (2000) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Plenary III: Strategies and Policies to Recruit, Retain, and Advance Women Scientists
Plenary III: Strategies and Policies to Recruit, Retain, and Advance Women Scientists
Pages 43-56
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 43... ...
His work in particle theory has involved all aspects of the standard model, particularly QCD and the grand unified theories. He and Sheldon Glassow first constructed the latter in 1973, although they are not responsible for the name.
|
From page 44... ...
Following her doctoral studies, Dr. Dresselhaus spent 2 years at Cornell as an NSF postdoc and then 7 years as a staff member at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the Solid State Physics Division.
|
From page 45... ...
My simplistic theory is that in unconscious discrimination against women in science, the latter follows from the former. I will argue that unconscious
|
From page 46... ...
It is this very success that makes it possible to accept the system uncritically, and that makes unconscious discrimination easy. I hasten to add, however, that just because we have a system that produces good scientists does not mean that the system is not eliminating many others who could be equally good.
|
From page 47... ...
Those of us who are committed to increasing the participation of women in science find these pipeline issues incredibly frustrating. The small number of women in the pipeline makes it much more difficult to counteract the effects of unconscious discrimination in hiring.
|
From page 48... ...
Very narrow searches tend to exclude women just because of pipeline issues. And the more narrow the search, the easier it is to fall into the trap of making a single-ordered list without thinking carefully about the criteria.
|
From page 49... ...
At some schools, half the undergraduate mathematics majors are female although this statistic is variable. There are a number of national programs that target undergraduate women mathematics majors, but I am aware of only two or three that include either graduate or postdoctoral level mathematicians.
|
From page 50... ...
came about when a group of research mathematicians, who believed that the research community should be involved in educational issues, responded to a prospectus for vertical integration, specifically in geometry, put out by the National Science Foundation (1991~. Originally a group of five mathematics departments was involved, but, with great relief, the founders turned the Park City Program over to the Institute for Advanced Study, which under the direction of Phillip Griffiths has provided financial, staff, and intellectual support since the fourth year ( 1994~.
|
From page 51... ...
We try to keep participants in touch with each other through e-mail, Web pages, a reunion at the winter Joint Mathematics Meetings, and visits to the program in later years. We provide a little extra mathematics preparation and encouragement, but we also provide an opportunity for women students to hear lectures by women and to work with other women in a center of research activity.
|
From page 52... ...
However, in looking for long-term effects of the sort the scientific community values, I see our students moving up from undergraduate to graduate, picking out and using whatever mentors they found in the system, and coming back at a later stage, as graduate students or as junior mentors. And one should not discount the effect on the senior women mathematicians, invited to lecture.
|
From page 53... ...
Our program works because the Institute for Advanced Study, its Director Phillip Griffiths, the staff assigned to us, and permanent members Luis Caffarelli and Robert MacPherson, and an enthusiastic group of area women mathematicians have supported it, have helped it through political processes, and made it relatively easy to keep functioning at the highest scientific level. This is one arena in which the support of at least five members of the National Academy of Sciences has helped open locked doors for the next generation.
|
From page 54... ...
Biographical Readings on Women Mathematicians ..
|
From page 55... ...
During my tenure at MIT, the percentage of women undergraduates increased from 4 percent in 1967 to 40 percent today. Women graduate students have increased from 2 to 3 percent to 25 percent, and the women faculty from about 1 percent to 10 percent, the increase being an order of magnitude in each category.
|
From page 56... ...
The process of collecting data to assess the quality of life of the women faculty brought women in the School of Science together and helped us understand our personal and collective situations better. The assembled data provided the MIT administration with a clearer picture on how to improve faculty career development procedures.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.