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October 2013    

  

Diversity

 

This edition of WKC Connections focuses on the theme of diversity.

Corporations, educational institutions, and organizations can improve workforce productivity and competitiveness by capitalizing on the skills and creativity of a diverse population. However, achieving parity of representation has been more difficult for some industries and organizations; engineering industry-with women representing no more than 10% of all practicing professionals-and engineering education-where women still represent no more than 25% of the undergraduate engineering student body-have yet to achieve gender parity. Among the least represented are women of color.

With the U.S. on track to become a majority-minority country by 2043 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012), racial-ethnic differences in academic achievement and skills continue to be a matter of national concern. Embodying the qualities and attitudes that pave the way for real change are women whose experiences and actions have encouraged other women to succeed. These pioneers took risks or were "first" in their family, institution, or corporation to enter a field that continues to be seen as "off limits" to most women. Their passion for the profession enabled them to overcome stereotyped norms. WKC Connections celebrates these extraordinary women and their accomplishments.
  
Leading the Way...

A Conversation with Carmen Sidbury     

Carmen Sidbury

Carmen Sidbury wants you to join her! "To do this work [of encouraging students to take ownership of their STEM learning] you have to engage others and meet people where they are. There is a role for all of us and we have to take the knowledge we have and change lives." Sidbury, Associate Provost for Research at Spelman College, spoke to us about how she found engineering, how she progressed in her career, and how she knows that, although she "can't do it all," she can recruit others to her important work of bringing diverse students into STEM.

 

Why Engineering?

 

Sidbury discussed her first experience with engineering, which came when her high school physics teacher recommended her for a "life-changing" summer program at Clemson University. Up until then, she was following a track to become a high school math or science teacher, because "they were my career role models" at her small high school in rural North Carolina. About the experience at Clemson, she said that she "might have studied engineering in college" without the experience of the summer program, but that the program really introduced her to engineering and "motivated her to consider studying" it, so she applied to North Carolina A & T University and earned her degree in mechanical engineering. After graduation, she worked at AT&T-Bell Labs before returning to graduate school at Georgia Institute of Technology to earn the first Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering by an African-American female.

 

Transitioning from Industry to Academia

 

Although now in an academic leadership role at Spelman, Sidbury's career has spanned both industry and academia, and she stepped into her current role as she transitioned from industry to higher education. Along the way she received great advice from her peers and mentors, who encouraged her to "consider an alternative career track." Her own advice to others is "be prepared" for changes in your personal or professional life as well as changes in the world and technology. As she moved into an academic leadership position at the University of Washington, she got the opportunity to lead a reorganization of diversity programs in the College of Engineering, and it "became clear that the impact would be far greater than working in telecommunications." She also realized that, as an African-American woman engineer with corporate experience, she brought many unique aspects to her new position and found it "powerful and meaningful" to be able to bring her varied experience and background to her new work.

 

There are many challenges to sustaining diversity programs, whether they are scholarship programs or other recruiting efforts. Sidbury continually asks herself what her role is in this important mission. She says "I've benefitted from much of this work," and thinks about "what do we do to sustain this?" Despite legal and other challenges to increasing diversity in STEM higher education, she feels "charged with ensuring that others who come later will continue to have access." Leaders need to have a "finger on the pulse" of what is happening in the political world of higher education and "have a strategy to not be paralyzed" by barriers to operation. This is where Sidbury sees a key role for WEPAN; to provide networks for "sharing and creating strategic plans for sustainability" of these programs despite the adversity involved in running them.

 

Advice and Future Visions

 

Sidbury wants "all young women to think about STEM as a career, whether they stay in it or use it as a launching pad." She believes that STEM is a useful tool that can engage students regardless of their life's passions and wants students to know that "STEM is a broad area they can use to make the world a better place." Her recent work focuses on ensuring that pedagogies in STEM classrooms are inclusive, the information presented is engaging, and students are encourage to commit to lifelong learning. Sidbury wants students to keep honing their skill sets and be aware of changes in technology and the world around them. She sees her current job as an opportunity to be a role model and finds it highly rewarding. "I try to not take it lightly, recognizing that some days the message won't resonate, but I can get lucky and it will help a student." She says "I've been fortunate that others have stepped in for me," in regards to her personal network of peers and mentors. "I just hope I can offer something to help someone else." She hopes others will offer the same thing. "There are a lot of people to engage, including corporate partners," those in secondary or higher education, and individuals at federal agencies. "There is a message and a role for many" in bringing about change in STEM pedagogies, classrooms, and fields. Although there is work left to be done by all of us, "we're definitely headed in the right direction." Sidbury adds that new interdisciplinary programs lend themselves nicely to bringing diverse populations into STEM, and women's engineering programs such as those at Spelman and Smith College can share some of their best practices in promoting inclusive pedagogies and behaviors. "Although there is no silver bullet," Sidbury comments, "there are many ways to move forward."

 

WEPAN Knowledge Center Connections is a quarterly publication of the WEPAN Knowledge Center, helping to fulfill the mission to connect, equip and empower a network of advocates with premier online resources for research, practices and professional communities dedicated to advancing women and other underrepresented groups in STEM.

 

The WEPAN Knowledge Center (WKC) is a flagship project of WEPAN, Women in Engineering ProActive Network, the nation's leading organization and catalyst for transforming culture in engineering education to promote the success of all women.

 

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Resource Showcase

Female Diversity in Engineering

 

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

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Development of the WKC was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, #0648210. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the funder.