Communications of the ACM
Math and Science Fields Battle Persistent Gender Gap
Summer camp participants photograph and shoot video of a crash test of a child car seat. The camp, at Kettering University in Flint, Mich., is designed to get high school girls interested in math- and science-related fields.
Credit: J. Kyle Keener / USA Today
Many colleges that specialize in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields have taken steps to increase female enrollment by creating opportunities for women to direct their studies to applications that appeal to them. For example, Harvey Mudd College recently overhauled a required introductory computer science course to allow students more choice in how they apply principles being covered. "Seeing the applications of computing to society is really important [for women], and seeing applications of computing to things they use in their day-to-day lives is important," says Harvey Mudd's Ran Libeskind-Hadas.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has placed more emphasis on team-based projects that solve global problems such as irrigation and health care. WPI also made SAT scores optional in admissions because they were not accurately predicting the success of its female students, says the university's Kristin Tichenor. The colleges' efforts appear to be working as female STEM graduation rates are rising. Thirty percent of WPI's 2012 graduating class were women, and WPI's 247 female graduates were its largest number of women ever.
The percentage of women at Harvey Mudd College who graduate with a computer science degree has climbed from 12 percent several years ago to 38 percent this year.
From USA Today
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