Science, engineering depts. lack female faculty

A national study released last week confirmed the significant underrepresentation of female faculty in the departments of science and engineering at the top 50 research universities in the country.

The study was conducted by Donna Nelson, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Oklahoma and her student, Diana Rogers.

Nelson and Rogers concluded that the percentage of women among full professors in science and engineering ranges from 3 percent to 15 percent across the universities. Of that percentage, there were very few tenured or tenure-tracked female faculty members.

The study also addresses the lack of female professors as role models for female students. Across the universities, in 2002, only 8.3 percent of the mathematics faculty was female, but 48.2 percent of the students graduating with a bachelor's degree in math in 2000 were female.

"A cycle is perpetuated. Women are less likely to enter and remain in science and engineering when they lack mentors and role models," the study concluded.

The underrepresentation of female faculty in the sciences, engineering and math is true at Penn as well. The mathematics faculty currently has one tenured female associate professor, Antonella Grassi, who is currently on sabbatical in Europe. Additionally, the department has one lecturer and two new female tenure-track assistant professors who will be starting on July 1.

This gender gap continues over to the faculty and students in the School of Engineering and Applied Science as well. Females account for only roughly 30 percent of the undergraduate engineering majors and roughly 20 percent of the graduate students.

"It's a national problem that's been going on for quite some time," said Joe Sun, academic affairs director for the Engineering School. "It continues to be the problem of the [small] pool of applicants in math and science who are women."

The math major, although significantly smaller than the Engineering School, also demonstrates a gap in the male to female ratio of student majors. Of the 72 undergraduate math majors, 16 are female, and of the 61 graduate math students, again only 16 are females.

Experts attribute this underrepresentation to a variety of factors, including the educational systems in elementary schools and a lack of role models.

"Historically women were discouraged from doing math and science in general," said Dennis DeTurck, former chairman of the Mathematics Department. "Not that they don't have the mathematical talent, but the way it is emphasized in school doesn't attract many girls to the field."

Current chairman of the Mathematics Department, Julius Shaneson, agreed. "I am inclined to think that there may be something in the 'system' that pushes women away frommath and science, but I also think it happens mostly before young women get to college or university," he said.

The same is true when it comes to attracting female majors to the math and science departments. "The nation's pipeline of students who even wish to go for a Ph.D. and then a faculty position is narrow," said Associate Engineering Dean Norm Badler. "But the gender distribution is changing for the better."

To combat this trend, Penn administrators say they have been actively pursuing female students and faculty in the fields of math and engineering in an attempt to change the poor distribution.

"I think the Math Department has been pretty aggressive in recruiting women faculty," DeTurck said. "We've just hired a pair of assistant professors coming next year and we went out of our way to attract them even before they were ready to move."

Programs are also in place for attracting female students to the math and science majors, as well as encouraging those who are already within the department.

"Within SEAS we constantly seek ways to attract and retain women in engineering so that they stay in the pipeline for future Ph.D.'s and academic positions," Badler added. "Our Society for Women Engineers is very active and proactive in career and academic programs."

However, though the progress has been positive, the gender gap remains. "It's getting better but very slowly," DeTurck said. "It takes a long time to filter through the academic ranks and it's a slow process."

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