By Cecilia D. Craig, Druai Education Research
Why is Diversity Important?
WEPAN was formed 23 years ago to help grow the numbers of women in the male-dominated engineering profession and support those women engineers already in the field. Focusing on enrollment and retention and working with many universities and partners, WEPAN summarized its first ten years in a report, ending with a story adapted by Karan L. Watson from Jamie Sams' "The Thirteen Original Clan Mothers." This moving story matched WEPAN's vision for its future as captured in this quote: "Everyone alive today must take the responsibility for the needs of the next seven generations."
Today, that challenge still demands our attention. As Setting Sun Woman found in "The Cradleboard" story mentioned above, learning about our history helps us prepare and build our future. With this in mind, consider this first data on diversity in engineering for the United States graduates and peruse a partial list of firsts in the world of women in Science, Engineering, Technology, and Mathematics (STEM). We hope by sharing these inspiring role models and trailblazers and links to find others, that engineering can become a more diverse world for all of us.
In 2013, the American Educational Research Association (Ancheta, 2013) submitted an amici curia brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (UTA) et al. supporting the respondents (i.e., UTA). This unusual, though not unprecedented, step by a professional organization was made after deliberation and consensus building within AERA and with other related organizations. How does this relate to diversity? UTA had implemented a plan to promote student body diversity and "the Fisher lawsuit claimed that affirmative action was unneeded to achieve diversity, and discriminatory against a White student" (Orfield, 2013, p. 179). The first point made by AERA in its brief (Ancheta, 2013), "diversity leads to important educational benefits" (p. 187) highlights why diversity is an important topic for WEPAN. Student characteristics and interests, leadership skills and higher self-efficacy, benefit from a diverse student population. Moreover, both minority and non-minority students benefit.
Where is engineering positioned in diversity?
The graph below is from 2010 National Science Foundation (NSF) data and shows a picture of diversity for female engineering graduates.
Graph created from data in Table 5-7, (NSF, 2013)
Next are two sets of graphs also developed from NSF data. The left graph of each set shows what percentage of total female engineering population (enrollment & graduates) are from different diversity categories; the right graph shows what percentage females are within their own diversity category. Both metrics are instructive and thought provoking.
Graphs created from data in Table 5-7, (NSF, 2013)
Graphs created from data in Table 2-10, (SF, 2013)
Below are key resources for additional information:
Role Models & Trailblazers: Female Firsts
The women noted below represent only a partial list of firsts. Numerous other women have stepped forward as the first in their family, field, university, or corporation: we respect them and recognize the importance of helping lead the way for future generations of women engineers.
Women Engineers as Professional Organization Leaders
Florence Sabin (1871-1953) became the first woman elected to the National Academy of Science in 1925. She began her career studying medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1896, where she became its first female full professor, doing work on histology of the brain and the understanding of tuberculosis (NAS, 2005, "Florence Sabin"). Barbara McClintock (1902-1992), a bioengineering pioneer and a Cornell University researcher in genetics, was the third woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 1944, and the first American women to win an unshared Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983 (NAS, 2005, "Barbara McClintock"). The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) followed suit years later, electing Lillian Gilbreth (1878-1972) as the first women engineer in the NAE in 1965. She was followed by Grace Hopper (1906-1992) in 1973, Mildred Dresselhaus in 1974, setting the stage for more female representation in the following years. The first year the NAE elected more than one woman was 1987.
In 1986, Nancy Fitzroy, chemical/mechanical engineer, helicopter pilot, long-term General Electric employee, became the first female (and 105th) President of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. She was also elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1995. Thelma Estrin, known as a biomedical engineer, earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering (1951) from the University of Wisconsin. She became the first woman elected to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Board of Directors in 1982, serving as Executive Vice President. Working both in industry and academia, she retired from being a professor in Computer Science at UCLA in 1991 (IEEE, 2012b). Martha Sloan, electrical engineering and Stanford University Ph.D., now a professor at Michigan Technological University, became the first IEEE President in 1993 (IEEE, 2012a).
Diversity of Women in STEM
Native-American, First Nation, Aboriginal women
Both Mary Ross and Karen Decontie shared a level of curiosity they attributed to their heritage. An early Native-American female engineer, Mary Golda Ross (1908-2008), was great-great-granddaughter of Chief John Ross of the Cherokee Indian Nation. Mary Ross earned an M.S. in Mathematics from University of Northern Colorado, and had a career in aerospace at Lockheed. She was active in Society of Women Engineers at the local northern California and national levels. Karen Decontie (b. ~1967), P. E. and structural engineer, was the first Canadian aboriginal woman, an Algonquin, to earn a master's degree in civil engineering (Rampage, 1994). Both her parents encouraged her interest in building things, though she speaks to how "the educational odds are stacked against Native women" (Rampage, 1994, para. 10).
Asian-American women
Many women in engineering and computer science today are from Asian-American background. However, few were present in earlier times. A notable Chinese-American scientist, Chien-Shiung Wu (1912 - 1997), was an experimental physicist at Columbia University. She led experiments that "disproved the principle of conservation of parity" (Gale, 2004, para. 2) though her male colleagues were awarded a Nobel prize for proposing the idea, but not for confirming it as she did. Both of her parents supported her education in China; in 1936, she came to the United States to study physics at University of California at Berkeley. It was there she built a reputation that brought her eventually to be part of the Manhattan project. With her Ph.D. in physics and landmark nuclear fission research, today she would have been offered professor roles. Unfortunately, not at that time, when bias and prejudice towards technical women, in particular Asian-American women, was more overt. During World War II, her knowledge became an asset to the War Department. After WWII, she ended up at Columbia but was not made full professor until 1958. In 1964, the National Academy of Science recognized her with the Comstock award; in 1975, she became the first female President of the American Physical Society; the same year her work was recognized with the National Medal of Science.(Gale, 2004). Another early technology pioneer was Katherine Sui Fun Cheung, aviatrix, known as the Chinese Amelia Earhart: "Obstacles didn't matter to her. She wanted to do something and she went and did it" (Philip, 2009, para. 2). She studied music, but wanted to fly. Marrying, but keeping her maiden name, she was recognized by the Smithsonian as the first Asian-American Aviatrix (Aldrich, 2013). These are only two women with Asian heritage who pursued unusual careers for their times. While many Asian-American women have followed them, each of these women can be a role model for many.
African-American women
The first female black engineer in space (1992) was Dr. Mae Jamison; a chemical engineer and physician. Euphemia Lofton Haynes (1890-1980) was the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1943 at the Catholic University of America (Riddle, 2009). Evelyn Boyd Granville (b. 1924) earned her Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale University (O'Connor & Robertson, 2001). She spoke of her accomplishments, "showing that women can do mathematics," adding, "Being an African American woman, letting people know that we have brains too" (Williams, 2008, final paragraph). Wanda M. Austin, a systems engineer (B.S. in math; M.S. and Ph.D. in systems engineering), is President and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, one of very few female, black heads of Fortune 500 corporations (The Root, 2011). Ursula Burns, a mechanical engineer, has been Chairman and CEO of Xerox Corporation since 2007, and is Vice-Chair of the United States Export Council. (The Root, 2011). Before them came Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, with a Ph.D. in theoretical elementary particle physics from MIT, who has been President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute since 1999.
Hispanic women engineers
A specialist in optical systems, Ellen Ochoa (b. 1958) was the first Latina women engineer in space. She received her Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University, and has spent over 978 hours in space from her first visit in 1993 to her most recent trip in 2002 (NASA, 2012). Another NASA luminary with 20 years at Langley, Debbie Martinez, an electronics and system engineer, is currently a deputy project manager for several NASA projects. She recently received the 2010 Hispanic Engineer Professional Achievement Award. In 2001, she founded WON, or Women at NASA, for connecting Hispanic women at NASA with young people as role models. In 2009, Irene Rico, BS and MS in civil engineering, became the head of the Virginia division of the Federal Highway Administration, the first Hispanic woman to hold that level position in the FHWA. She began in New Mexico as a Highway Engineer Trainee, later working in Texas and Virginia (Hecox, 2009). Patricia Romero Cronin was the first woman to receive the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference 2001 Executive Excellence Award acknowledging superior technical excellence. She earned her BS degree from Santa Clara University and spent over 20 years as an engineer with IBM.
Special Note: Check back in the Knowledge Center soon to see the recorded webinar Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Educational Practice that Embraces Diversity presented on October 29, 2013.
References
Aldrich, N. (2013). Katherine Sui Fun Cheung. 20th Century Aviation Magazine.com. Retrieved from http://20thcenturyaviationmagazine.com/o-capt-nancy-aldrich/katherine-sui-fun-cheung/
Ancheta, A. N. (2013, April). Brief of the American Education Research Association et al. as amici curiae in support of respondents. Educational Researcher, 42(3), 183-197. doi:10.3102/0013189X13487504
The Free Library. (2001, August 2). IBM engineers to receive 2001 Hispanic engineer national achievement awards; First woman engineer to win Executive Excellence award. Retrieved from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/IBM+Engineers+To+Receive+2001+Hispanic+Engineer+National+Achievement...-a076934060
Gale Group. (2004). Chien-Shiung Wu. Encyclopedia of World Biography. Retrieved from http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Chien-Shiung_Wu.aspx
Hecox, D. (2009). Federal Highway Administration names first Hispanic woman to lead division. Retrieved from http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pressroom/fhwa0935.cfm
IEEE Global History Network. (2012a). Martha Sloan. Retrieved from http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki6/index.php/Martha_Sloan
IEEE Global History Network. (2012b). Thelma Estrin. Retrieved from http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Thelma_Estrin
NASA. (2012). Biographical data: Ellen Ochoa (Ph.D). Retrieved from http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ochoa.html
National Academy of Engineering. (2013). Women elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved from http://www.onlineethics.org/Topics/Diversity/DiverseResources/NAEwomen.aspx
National Academy of Science. (2005). Barbara McClintock. Retrieved from http://www.nationalacademies.org/history/members/mcclintock.html
National Academy of Science. (2005). Florence Sabin. Retrieved from http://www.nationalacademies.org/history/members/sabin.html
National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. (2013). Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2013. Special Report NSF 13-304. Arlington, VA. Available at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/
O'Connor, J. J., & Robertson, E. F. (2001, October). Evelyn Boyd Granville. Available from http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/
Orfield, G. (2013, April). Affirmative action hanging in the balance: Giving voice to the research community in the Supreme Court. Educational Researcher, 42(3), 179-181. doi:10.3102/0013189X13486625
Philip. (2009, September 21). Original offenders: Katherine Sui Fun Cheung. Retrieved from http://youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily.com/original-offenders-katherine-sui-fun-cheung/
Rampage, N. (1994). Becoming an engineer: Despite the odds. Windspeaker, 11(21). Retrieved from http://www.ammsa.com/node/19765
Riddle, L. (2009). Euphemia Lofton Haynes. In Biographies of Women Mathematicians. Available from http://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/women.htm
The Root. (2011). Top black women techies. Retrieved from http://www.theroot.com/multimedia/black-women-techies
Williams, S. W. (2008). Black women in mathematics: Evelyn Boyd Granville. Retrieved from http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/PEEPS/granville_evelynb.html