2002 Sigma Xi Forum Program Abstracts

Changing the Face of Science and Engineering

November 14-15, 2002
in conjunction with the Sigma Xi Annual Meeting
Moody Gardens Hotel
Galveston Island, Texas

AWIS Academic Project: A Web-based Tool Kit to Address Academic Climate
Catherine Didion, Executive Director, Association for Women in Science (AWIS)

In 2002, the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) received funding from the National Science Foundation to develop a web site, www.chillyclimate.org, that would serve as a guide for improving the academic environment for women in science. This web site will include 1) ONLINE ASSESSMENT KIT -- tools to initiate and provide a framework for institutional assessment of gender equity in science departments; 2) MODEL PROGRAMS AND POLICIES -- a list of institutional programs and policies that address faculty issues which can be replicated; 3) RESOURCES -- links to relevant sites and literature on topics relevant to women in academe. Much of this research was developed during the AWIS Academic Climate Project (funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation) which reviewed the climate for women scientists in a variety of academic institutions and designed solutions for the institutions to adopt. Given the results of this and similar projects, renewed attention has been given to the status of women in academia. Many institutions are trying to address climate issues and make academia a more productive environment for men and women. It is our intention to provide a variety of material and resources online to be used by faculty and their institutions. The AWIS Advisory Board has been active in the development of this site. Advisory Board members include: David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology; Judy Franz, American Physical Society; Susan Ganter, Clemson University; Judith Klinman, University of California, Berkeley; Phoebe Leboy, University of Pennsylvania;Roald Hoffmann, Cornell University, Debra Rolison, Naval Research Academy; Nancy Tooney, Polytechnic University; and Orlando Taylor, Howard University.

Kathleen E. Christensen, Family-Work Research Program, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has had a long standing commitment to removing barriers to success for women faculty in the fields of mathematics, science, engineering and technology. Across all disciplines, women are underrepresented in senior tenured positions and over-represented in secondary labor pools, including contract instructional and research staff. The problem of under-representation at the senior levels is particularly acute in the fields of interest to us. The problem of over-representation in the instructional and research staff in those fields is difficult to gauge precisely, but indicators show that women, relative to their numbers in those fields, are concentrated in these secondary labor pools.

In order to advance the status of women in the sciences, mathematics and engineering, the Foundation proposes a new program, entitled the Dual Ladder Program. The need for this program arose out of extensive interviews and focus groups with college and university administrators and faculty at a cross-section of U.S. academic institutions nationwide. Widespread support for this program currently exists, therefore, at both the campus level, as well as the national professional association level. The purpose of this program is to institutionalize two legitimate ladders for career advancement in the academy. First, it aims at creating professional career paths for research and instructional staff to ensure that people in these secondary labor pools actually have opportunities for advancement, equitable compensation, and consideration for tenure track lines. Second, it aims at rethinking the current rigid tenure track by promoting part-time tenure track and tenured career paths to increase the probability of women advancing to senior faculty positions.

The Role of Undergraduate Research in Attracting and Retaining Minorities and Non-Traditional Students

Three speakers will discuss the proposition that mentored undergraduate research especially benefits minorities and non-traditional students by showing them firsthand what scholarly research is, convincing them that they can do it, demonstrating the relevance of research to their lives, placing their coursework in a dynamic context, and developing in them the characteristics of a successful researcher.

• Elaine Hoagland will tell what the Council on Undergraduate Research has learned about undergraduate research for under-represented populations. Faculty mentors serve as role models and develop personal relationships that help students over rough spots. Undergraduate research is a leveling factor that frees students to think creatively even if they have had fewer academic opportunities in the past than other students.
• Joan Sieber will propose a new model of community-based undergraduate research for students with strong cultural identity who are powerfully motivated to serve the interests of their own culture but who may not have strong roots in the academic culture. The scientific gateway skills of research design, statistics, organizing and interpreting data, and presentation became meaningful and the students are motivated to develop them. The trajectory of learning is from their own culture into the Western scientific culture.
• Karen Oates will speak about programs that aim to increase the participation of underrepresented students in community based research projects. SENCER, the Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities, engages students in research that connects them to communities as well as the domains of scientific research. Another program will be discussed that places high potential, high-risk students with corporate and university mentors conducting community based research.
• Participants will also invite discussion with the audience of the assessment of undergraduate research, particularly as it applies to minorities and non-traditional students.

Who Will Do Science?
Shirley McBay, Quality Education for Minorities

The uneven distribution of research and development support, the long-term neglect of our public schools and preK-12 teacher workforce, myths about who can and cannot do science, and lack of serious public engagement have all contributed to the skewed composition and resulting inadequacy of the country's science and engineering workforce. Technological and scientific breakthroughs, rapid and broad dissemination of scientific results, demographic shifts, and homeland security call for deep change in policy, practice, and commitment if the Nation is to move beyond its historic reliance on a "talented few" to do science. This presentation will focus on why broadening participation in science is important to the Nation and on action that must occur at the national, state, institutional, and individual levels if we are to bring about the fundamental shift required.

Steps to Build an Institutional Culture, Both Formal and Informal, Supportive of Women and Science
Jeanne Narum, Director, Project Kaleidoscope

Measured and sustained success for under-represented groups will not happen without continued monitoring of how policies and practices- formal and informal- affect the climate and culture for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) on their campus. Having fundamental policies in place that have been developed by consensus and that are publicly visible speaks volumes about institutional culture. The culture within the science community also needs to be examined. Participants in this session will discuss various techniques and approaches that have been effective in producing friendly and supportive environments for women, students and faculty.

Survey Data on Women and Minority Faculty in Science and Engineering
Donna Nelson, Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Oklahoma

A survey of faculty in NSF-ranked "top 50" departments in each of various science and engineering disciplines reveals under-utilization of females and minorities, compared to their PhD attainment in the analogous discipline. Diversity surveys of chemistry, physics, math, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, biological sciences, sociology, political science, economics, and psychology provide data useful for identifying, analyzing, and comparing status of and problems in these disciplines. Published survey data tables can be printed from her website at http://cheminfo.chem.ou.edu/faculty/djn/djn.html.

Impact of the Foreign-Born and Foreign-Educated on U.S. Science
Paula Stephan, Georgia State University
Much of the discourse concerning U.S. immigration policy occurs in the absence of hard evidence. At issue is (1) whether the foreign-born and foreign-educated are a source of strength, contributing disproportionately to U.S. science and engineering and whether (2) the foreign-born crowd out the native-born from the workforce, thereby increasing unemployment.

The Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program at the University of Michigan
Ann Sprunger, Assistant Director, Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, University of Michigan

The Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program creates research opportunities between first and second year students and faculty researchers. Begun in 1988 with 14 student/faculty researchers, the program has grown to 900 student researchers and 400 faculty sponsors engaged in research partnerships in all disciplines. The program, which was initiated as an effort to address retention issues of underrepresented students of color, is now open to all students but retains a strong commitment to students of color and women in science. This session will address the program mission, program components and assessment students in addition to program outcomes. Faculty appreciate the work that undergraduates contribute to their research environment and often comment that these students allow them to view their work with a new perspective. Students indicate that the program has facilitated their ability to communicate with faculty, helped to find their place on a large campus, and identified their academic and career choices.

Recruitment and Retention of Girls and Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) at the University of Arizona
Maria Reyes, University of Arizona

Among education and professional groups in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), the call for increased recruitment and retention efforts of underrepresented groups has fueled support programs under the rubric of Women in Science and Engineering (WIE or WISE) and Minority/Multicultural Engineering (MEP) Programs. Outreach efforts to K-12 populations have also increased in attempts to dispel myths about STEM as "geeky" or "a man's job". Many K-12 outreach programs listed in the National Council for Research on Women 2001 report "Balancing the Equation" link universities with community groups and local school districts to engage young girls through hands-on and fun activities. Such programs are in place through WISE at the University of Arizona (UA). For example the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded "Girls in the SYSTEM" a collaboration between five university departments and the Sahuaro Girl Scout Council that offers informal STEM activities to elementary school aged girls in predominantly Mexican American and American Indian communities. The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is currently funding after school computer clubs for middle-school girls in low-income areas of Tucson. In addition to K-12 efforts, UA's WISE program also works with community college and university women students. Futurebound (funded by NSF) is designed to recruit women in STEM fields, with a special focus on women of color, from Pima Community College and to support them through a mentoring community and internships in UA research laboratories. The Virtual Development Center is a collaborative effort between WISE and MEP at the UA to involve women engineering students with local communities in designing technology with social relevance. Parent and teacher involvement are of primary importance throughout all programs as we try to change the face and culture of science and engineering.

The Science-Trained Professional: A New Breed for the New Century
Shelia Tobias, Author, Science Education Consultant

Meeting the future needs of business and industry is the goal of a new ""professional"" masters's degree in the sciences and mathematics. Providing a non-thesis option for science/math majors, the PSM provides a means of staying connected to sicence without having to pursue the Ph.D. or M.D. The new degress, about one-third in the biosciences, have been developed in concert with business and industry, who recognize the need and value of the science-trained professional.

International Mobility: Age-old Values Confront New-age Realities
Dorothy Zinberg, Harvard

One million international students, 500,000 of whom are in the United States, move around the world to further their educations. Approximately half of them study science and engineering. In addition, thousands of senior scientists and engineers annually visit laboratories in universities and industries around the world. While some may spend a postdoctoral year abroad and consequently are documented by both the sending and receiving country, many more visit informally while attending conferences or simply, while tourists. Despite a number of underlying concerns about the export of critical technologies (particularly during the Cold War) that would negatively affect national security or economic competitiveness, the education and mobility of S&Es internationally has burgeoned, reflecting the values that govern science -- the open exchange of ideas and a belief in the academic community that knowledge should be generated for the benefit of all humanity.

Even before the shock of September 11th, the openness and easy exchange of information was coming under increasing scrutiny as concerns about bioterrorism, cyberwarfare, and nuclear proliferation were gaining momentum. But September 11th dramatically intensified the focus on foreign students, not just in the U.S.. but in Europe as well. Now new rules and regulations are tumbling out of governments, many of which are ill considered and potentially harmful to the very insitutions they are trying to protect. Nevertheless, the overreaction is readily understandable; national security is very much at risk and demands new practices to minimize catastrophic outcomes. This session will examine some of the new regulations in the U.S. (and elsewhere) as they might be affecting the mobility of scientists and engineers and the threats to the freedom of research and the very nature of universities ...and attempt to idenytify practices that will protect both age-old values and new-age realities.