Women are greatly underrepresented in STEM fields. Forbes found that there has hardly been any growth in women joining the field since 2000. On their recently released top 100 innovators and creators list, there is only one woman. This needs to change, and it needs to change now.

Generally, men are seen as the default, which perpetuates harmful gender stereotypes for both men and women. A woman is hardly ever named just a chemist but is usually referred to as a female chemist. This gender marking makes it difficult for women to enter a male-dominated field and makes recruitment for male-dominated jobs harder to do. Women are compared to men, and called, for example, the female Albert Einstein.

To solve this, we need to show young girls and women that men are not the standard to base their achievements off of. Also, adopting gender-neutral terms in everyday life, like just simply chemist or mail carrier instead of mailman, will show that men are not the standard, and will enable women to see that they can, in fact, join male-dominated fields like STEM.

People also like to say that young girls and women aren’t interested in STEM jobs, and that is simply not true. In the K-12 education system, young girls are often overshadowed and forgotten when it comes to these types of subjects. But if necessary steps are taken to change that, schools could play a crucial step in leading more young girls and women into STEM fields.

One solution to this is mentioned in the video “Closing the Gender Gap in STEM Education,” made in part by the Teaching Channel. The video shows a school that has created separate STEM classes for boys and girls in seventh and eighth grade and then joins the classes together starting with ninth grade. This lets students who were intimidated at first get their foot in the door for STEM-related subjects.

Additionally, it is vital for more women to be seen in STEM fields because young girls need role models to look up to. Young girls look up to Serena Williams crushing it in the tennis world, and we need that same thing in the STEM fields. Women in these fields should come and talk to female students at schools, and job shadowing should be made readily available. There are many books devoted to women in science, such as “Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World” by Rachel Ignotofsky, as well as movies like “Hidden Figures.”

Certain programs have also been designed to encourage young girls to join STEM fields. Programs like StemPower Inc., Girl Geek Academy, and Million Women Mentors, give young girls the resources they need to explore these fields.

Along with programs, there are many camps at colleges that are specifically for female students to participate in. CURIE Academy and G.R.A.D.E Camp are just a few of the programs that help young women interact with all things science, technology, engineering, and math-related.

Incentives like scholarships could be used as well. Many scholarships are available specifically to women who wish to pursue a career in a STEM-related field, including the Virginia Heinlein Memorial Scholarship, the Aysen Tunca Memorial Scholarship and the National Society of Black Engineers Scholarships. More scholarships can be found here.

Parents are intertwined in this gender divide too. If a parent gives a microscope to their son and dolls to their daughter, it sends a certain message even if not done purposefully. Parents should try to notice what their children are interested in, and go from there. If your child likes to build with Legos or draw buildings, they might be interested in an engineering career. Discouraging young girls from participating in certain activities that might seem boyish could keep them from reaching their full potential and help perpetuate male dominance in STEM fields.

Most of the solutions I’ve mentioned require hardly any huge changes or large amounts of money, but they could make all the difference. Young girls belong in STEM fields, they just need to be given a fair chance. In the near future, Forbes’s top 100 innovators and creators list could include 50 men and 50 women or even 100 women.

Sam Fulte, senior biochemistry major who is engaged in research about the human gut microbiome, described that attending conferences enables students to develop networks and learn about opportunities beyond Jewell.

“One of the cool things about conferences for undergraduates is that they normally have a networking session or a graduate school information session. Conferences are a good place to explore different graduate schools or career opportunities after college,” said Fulte.

Fulte recently attended the annual “Out in STEM (oSTEM)” conference in Houston, TX, along with Alexis Mann, senior Oxbridge: Molecular Biology major, and Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe, junior chemistry and communication major.

(From left to right) Alexis Mann, Sam Fulte and Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe at the oSTEM conference in Houston, Nov. 2018.

Mann, who focuses on trying to better determine the mechanism behind axonal degeneration associated with Alzheimer’s disease as well as potential pathways that could rescue (or slow the degenerative process) said degeneration, noted that attendance at this conference was made possible only through support and funding from faculty and staff at Jewell.

“Jewell was willing to fund those of us that attended oSTEM this year which was really nice since the conference took place in Houston,” said Mann. “Additionally, many of the science faculty, especially Dr. Wetmore and Dr. Reynolds, are really good about encouraging us to go to different conferences to both get in practice presenting and to begin networking within the field we want to go into after graduation.”

At the oSTEM conference Arthurs-Schoppe, Fulte and Mann each presented their research to students and professionals in the STEM field. Approximately 1,000 students were in attendance of the conference and representatives from companies including Boeing, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) were present.  

Emily Dema, senior Oxbridge: Molecular Biology major, has spent the past few years studying the genetics of innate immunity in model organisms. This research has potential application in the field of medicine and is particularly relevant in response to the global rise in antimicrobial resistance.

Dema was recently able to take this knowledge abroad to participate in a mentorship program at the Women Leaders in Global Health (WLGH) Conference hosted at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Emily Dema (second from left) at the WLGH conference in London, Nov. 2018.

Participation in this conference enabled Dema to develop a strong network and attain insight into her field of choice.

“[At the WLGH conference] I was able to meet researchers, policymakers, and students involved in the field of global health. Individuals represented organizations including the World Health Organization, United Nations, Centers for Disease Control, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, International AIDs Vaccine Initiative, Medicins sans frontier, and academic research institutions,” said Dema. “I really enjoyed speaking with people from all over the world about their involvement in the field, including the challenges and successes that come with the job.”

Many Oxbridge students utilize the opportunity to present to international audiences while abroad in their junior year.

Haley Hart, senior Oxbridge: Molecular Biology major, has been researching cancer treatment options by working to design and create a nanoparticle drug delivery system combining positive aspects of different types of treatments to eliminate the negative side effects of current treatment options.

Hart’s research has widespread potential for application across the globe and she was able to develop her knowledge base by attending diverse conferences while abroad.

“Most of the conferences I have attended were in Oxford. I took advantage of some memberships there and attended as many relevant conferences as I could. A few examples are Oxford University Psychology and Neuroscience seminars and workshops, Society of Spanish Researchers in the UK Neuroscience Symposium, Oxford Nuffield Clinical Neurosciences Symposium,” said Hart.

Fulte, Hart and Mann all presented their research at the Heartland Undergraduate Biochemistry (HUB) Forum hosted at the Kansas University Medical Center this November. There Mann was given an award for the best presentation of an undergraduate poster.

Haley Hart presenting at the HUB conference, Nov. 2018.

Mann attributes her win to practice and advises students to invest time into honing their presentation skills.

“In my opinion, doing these poster presentations [at] conferences is just something people need to practice to prepare. Understanding your research and being comfortable talking about it is the first step, but when you talk to different audiences about your work you need to learn and adapt to the audience so that everyone that talks to you at least has some level of understanding of your work,” said Mann.

This was Mann’s second time presenting at the HUB Forum – both Dema and Mann presented at the Nov. 2016 Forum where Jewell students were awarded first, second and third place in the poster presentation category, Mann was a member of the team who placed second.

Fulte, Dema, Hart and Mann are all planning to present their research at the Tribeta District Conference in April 2019. Tribeta is the national biology honors society and students must fulfil strict academic standards in order to be initiated and awarded the opportunity to present at conferences.

Fulte will also be attending the Keystone Symposium over the Microbiome in Montreal, Canada, in March 2019. Her application to present at this conference is in the review process.

After receiving sponsorship from an alumnus, the chemistry department at Jewell is able to send some students to present at the national American Chemical Society meeting in Orlando, Fl, in Spring 2019.

Approximately 14,000 people are expected to attend this conference and Arthurs-Schoppe, Travis Colpitts, Zach Hand and Nick Hartwig will be there to represent Jewell.

STEM is the term used to describe the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. At Jewell some of the most popular majors in these fields are chemistry, biology, biochemistry and physics.

Biochemistry, biology and chemistry majors at Jewell are required to conduct two years of research under the mentorship of a professor. Physics majors are required to complete one year of research.

Photos courtesy of Dr. Lori Wetmore, Emily Dema and Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe

Jewell students have been volunteering at Primitivo Garcia since 2014 and travel to the school weekly to read to the students. Incorporating a STEM component into this collaboration began in Jan. 2015.

This collaboration has resulted in the construction of an aquaponics lab at Primitivo Garcia, the development of lesson plans for the 4th and 5th grade students and a comprehensive strategic plan for the school.

The outreach initiative has been coordinated by Dr. Lori Wetmore, director of the Village Partners Project and chemistry professor at Jewell, who explained that one of the project’s strengths has been bringing together different departments at the College.

“The goal of the grant was to create an interdisciplinary, service learning project,” said Wetmore. “I think what makes this project cool is that it was really Jewell student designed.”

To date, students and faculty from the biology, business administration, education and physics departments have been involved in developing the project’s framework.

Students from the Meeting Facilitation and Strategic Planning class offered in the spring of 2016, as well as the Financial Development for Nonprofit Organizations and Marketing Principles classes, both offered in fall of 2017, were involved in the strategic planning stages and members of the Association of Chemistry Students, SUSTAIN and Tribeta have come together to teach the children.

Emily Dema, President of Tribeta and senior Oxbridge: Molecular Biology and Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry (ACT-In) major, has been involved in this project from the beginning and is excited to see people’s hard work pay off this year.

Catherine Dema, Emily Dema and Sam Fulte are all involved in starting these new programs at Primitivo Garcia.

“It’s exciting to see that previous work come to fruition this year. My hope is to provide an opportunity for these kids to get involved in and excited about science,” said Emily Dema. “Maybe not all of them will latch on to science, but I hope we will be able to spark an interest in a few of them. Even just exposing them to the career path is key.”

Around April of 2017, Lydia Sturges, senior elementary education and ACT-In major, was brought onto the project team to work with the teachers at Primitivo Garcia and create lesson plans teaching students to use the aquaponics system.

Sturges explained that she was very interested in writing the lesson plans and training the teachers to implement them but hasn’t been involved with the project much since.

“Right after the system got up and running at Primitivo Garcia, I went down and did a teacher training with the two main teachers who would be using the aquaponics lesson plans that I had created,” said Sturges. “I’ve made myself available to that team of teachers if they had questions, but it was kind of a weird place to be in. I was (and still am) a preservice teacher who was telling veteran teachers what they should be doing and how to do it.”

Sturges hopes that these lessons will inspire the students at Primitivo Garcia to pursue science later in life.

“I hoped that these plans would instill a love of learning and science with these kiddos. A lot of times kids get a preconceived notion about their own abilities. They think they’re stuck right where they’re at and they can’t go any further or be any ‘smarter,’” said Sturges. “I wanted kids to see that there are opportunities (particularly in science for this project) that they might have first dismissed because they didn’t think they were ‘good enough.’”

Primitivo Garcia is a diverse public school and Wetmore hopes that empowering students at this school will facilitate greater diversity within the field of science in Kansas City.

“The more that we can get students of color interested in science – especially young girls because there is even less representation in that demographic – the greater the chances are that you’re going to get more representation in the sciences,” said Wetmore.

Catherine Dema, sophomore Oxbridge: History of Ideas and physics major, is the SUSTAIN representative involved in this project and believes that this outreach will broaden the students’ perspectives about a variety of topics.

“STEM education goes hand-in-hand with sustainability education, especially about something like the aquaponics system. It’s really important for kids to learn not just about science, but also about how our (people’s) interactions with the planet affect us, plants and animals,” said Catherine Dema.

The first of these sessions was held on Sept. 18 and Sam Fulte, senior biochemistry major and Vice President of Tribeta, said that the Primitivo Garcia students were excited about the opportunity.

“It was exciting for us to see how excited the kids were about everything,” said Fulte. “Even some of the kids who have already been in the aquaponics lab were really excited.”

The construction of the aquaponics lab was funded by a $4,000 Kauffman Innovation Grant, a $1,000 Missouri Campus Compact Institution Mini-Grant and Jewell’s Village Partners Project.

Jewell volunteers will be returning to Primitivo Garcia on Oct. 9 and any students interested in being involved in the project – now or in the future – should contact Wetmore.

Photos courtesy of Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe. 

Data science is a field in which professionals manipulate, interpret and create data sets in order to extract useful information and insights. Data scientists work in fields including technology, marketing, corporate work, consulting, pharmaceuticals and health-care, government, academia and more.

Dr. Maggie Sherer, professor of physics and the introductory data science course at Jewell, says offering the new major was prompted by asking students what they are interested in and analyzing industry needs.

“We’d for years been hearing students wanted more options for programming and computer science. But we were also looking at [what are] the industry needs for jobs? Data science is just a rising field where there are a lot of local as well as national companies that are looking for those data scientists. We talked to people at H&R Block and Cerner and a bunch of local industries to say what were those skills that they needed? They did need people who could program, but they also need people who can do statistics and interpret data,” Sherer said.

The major includes a core and an emphasis. In the core, students will take classes in programming, statistics, data visualization, data mining and modeling. The core also entails that students have an internship and take a final capstone course in which they will come back together and work on real-world problems. In addition to the core, every student in the major will choose an emphasis. They will choose from business intelligence, mathematics and modeling, bioinformatics, economics analysis or molecular design, which is a chemistry track. These emphases were chosen according to student interest and industry need.

Troy Williams, admissions counselor for STEM, said the major has been well received by prospective students and parents.

“There is excitement from prospective students and their parents.  We have also received positive feedback regarding the areas of emphasis: bioinformatics, business intelligence, economic analysis, math and modeling and molecular design.  This has resonated particularly well with high school counselors as they provide college and career guidance to students. They are better able to paint a picture of how data can be used across various industries,” Williams said.

According to the College’s course catalog, “Graduates of the program will be able to: 1. Construct data files using advanced statistical and data programming techniques to solve practical problems in data science and analytics; 2. Create predictive models using statistical, data mining and programming techniques, and evaluate and interpret such models to support fact-based decision making; 3. Communicate and interpret quantitative information, including appropriate use of written, oral and visual media; and 4. Translate analytic results into clear, actionable insights.”

The major is approaching data science from a liberal arts perspective. At other schools, students have to know two programming languages and data structures take mathematics through differential equations.

“We’ll certainly have those core requirements but they’re not going to be the people who do fundamental computer programming. They’re going to be the people who can do enough programming that they can communicate between the programmers, the data analysts, and the managers. So we’re hoping that we really focus on their ability to interpret and make decisions with data,” Sherer said.

Several other schools are also in the process of creating a data science major for undergraduates. Jewell is the first that Sherer knows of to begin offering it. Other institutions already had graduate work in data science but not undergraduate. At other undergraduate institutions, the major has developed out of the computer science department. Jewell’s liberal arts approach hopes to differentiate the skills and experiences of data science graduates. 

Sherer says student interest in the major is encouraging. There are, at the time of the interview, five declared first-year majors, which is promising for a new major. In addition to incoming student interest, several upperclassmen have displayed interest in the courses offered and in the minor. The first class of the major, the introductory data science course, has 17 total students. There has also been significant interest in certain parts or classes of the major, Sherer mentioned interest in data visualization specifically.

Data science is a fast-growing field which the Harvard Business Journal the “sexiest job of the 21st century.” Demand for professionals has surpassed supply, which has and still may lead to constraints on various sectors of industry. There is a predicated supply-demand gap of forty to fifty percent in 2018.

Data scientist was also named the “#1 best job in America” in 2018 for the third year in a row by Glassdoor’s annual report. Behind California and the Northeast, the Midwest region offers the third highest salaries for data scientists. Additionally, each year of experience in the field offers an average increase in salary of $2000 to $2500.

According to the department of data science to the University of Notre Dame, advances in data science are likely to come from the ability of data scientists to effectively communicate, empathize and think ethically.

They highlight specifically liberal arts skills as necessary, including a “strong foundation in math and statistics, and a deep understanding of the techniques they are using; the ability to communicate data insights to non-technical stakeholders; and strong critical thinking skills and a solid ethical framework that guides them in performing and managing their analytic activities.”

Photo courtesy of iStockPhoto.