Advocating for Women in STEM at Trinity

Women's History Month posters in CSI, showing important female scientists (Photo by Victoria Abad)

Frances Stone. (Photo courtesy of Frances Stone)

By Victoria Abad

Frances Stone is just 20 years old but already a legend at Trinity, as “the pinnacle of women in STEM.”

Stone is a junior studying physics, heavily involved in dance, community service and academic extracurricular activities (she is an algebra tutor). She is also the only female student in her major in the class of 2019. However, without facing many adversities of being a minority in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), she has found support and encouragement in the Trinity community.

As the only woman in some of her classes, she has witnessed first-hand the under-representation of females in STEM fields. “It’s something I’m definitely always aware of,” said Stone. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, in 2017 only 30 percent of STEM degree holders were women.

Nevertheless, Stone feels motivated by the female scientists at Trinity. “We have quite a few professors who are really aware of this problem and do their best to combat the diversity issues in science,” she said.

Sarah Fordin, a junior computer science and biology double major, also feels the supportive environment of the science departments here. “I talked to a few of the men and the women computer scientists before coming, and this feels like a safer environment than some of the other schools I toured,” said Fordin. “[The gender gap] doesn’t feel like an overwhelming barrier, at least here.”

First-year engineering student, Hannah Whitney, also mentioned a professor who really stresses the value of female engineers and actively tries to encourage them to stay in the major.

But faculty members are not the only ones who help build this culture of support. Student organizations play a major role in building a network where women in STEM fields can help each other academically, professionally and socially. For example, Trinity Women in Science and Technology (TWIST) is an organization focused on promoting and supporting women in science fields by connecting female students from different major.

Dr. Niescja Turner, physics and astronomy professor, finds student organizations for women in STEM particularly important. “[Being] isolated in a field or a profession could be a very negative experience,” she said.

She has given talks about the gender disparity and how to deal with it, but says that at Trinity this is not a big issue. “These things happen in pockets. It really has to do with the overall culture of the place where you are, and a lot of it comes from leadership. That is why Trinity is as welcoming as it is,” said Turner.

Trinity University Women in Computing (TUWIC) is another organization that encourages women in computer science, and makes them feel welcome in the major. They also host tech camps at Trinity, where they introduce and teach young girls about the field. “Trinity makes sure there are these organizations where women can feel safe in and feel accepted within their major, and I think this is critical,” said Sarah Zbidi, junior computer science major and treasurer of TUWIC.

Some male students also show their support by participating in these student organizations, which are in no way limited to women. For example, William Farner, senior majoring in physics and minoring in astronomy and mathematics, got involved in TWIST when it was re-established in his first year at Trinity. “I believe that diversity in any field is important, and there are clearly systemic problem with gender representation in the sciences,” said Farner.

Likewise, engineering majors have the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Laura Wilson is a senior engineering major and president of the club. She remembers older members of the club encouraging her to join when she was a first-year, and now she tries to do the same with younger engineering students. “The reason why we flock together is because it’s really hard. If the classes were easier there would be no need to have a support group,” said Wilson.

Even though Trinity has done a good job at creating a supportive space for women to select any major, the difficulty of the courses might discourage students to keep pursuing STEM majors. Academic Success has been trying to work with academic advisers to help specific students who feel they are not inherently good at the field or don't actively seek help.

“A lot of times the women, in at least computer science, tend to be less likely to reach out for help. [Then] they feel like they’re not doing as well and they don’t pursue the major any further,” said Sarah Zbidi, the computer science major.

“Girls definitely need encouragement after the first time they fail a test in STEM,” said Wilson. “You really might think you are not cut out for the STEM major you’ve selected.”

The gender gap in STEM is a multi-faceted problem. Some like to emphasize the cultural discouragement women face when they grow up, but there are other factors that cause a fall-off of women when they are already in the field. “Some of that is going to be related to sexual harassment and some of that is going to be about less malicious things, like an implicit bias,” said Turner. “Implicit bias is the process by which we devalue contributions by women or people of color. It’s a programming that is really hard to shake; the little things that accumulate and make a big difference in a woman’s career.”

Hannah Whitney only had eight female classmates in her 50-people first-year engineering class this past spring semester. Apparently, a lot of women dropped out of the major at the end of the fall semester. She said it was a different experience in the class, because they had to divide the women for the group projects so that every group had at least one female. “Sometimes it’s hard to get [men] to accept my opinions on what route to take for the project. Usually, it’s not a big deal but little things like that stick out to me. They might be more subtle to a man, and they don’t even realize they’re doing it,” said Whitney.

Other students feel the same. Sometimes males can unconsciously or consciously say off-hand comments or have immature attitudes that women consider micro-aggressions. Sarah Fordin, the computer science and biology double major, mentioned that there have been times in group projects where men assume that because she is a woman it would be better for her to not do the technical parts, just the photos or the presentation.

Therefore, students and faculty see two main areas to make Trinity an even more supportive place for women in STEM: more active and personalized support for students and more diverse hire.

Fordin remembers TUWIC had to step in a few years ago and ask the computer science department to pay more attention to the first-year students who were interested in the major. She said a lot of the people who took the principles classes lost their interest afterwards. It seems like the department and faculty then started to reach out more to people who were struggling. Since then students have noticed there has been a significant increase of women in computer science.

“There’s research in physics even on which courses are the ones where women after that point split, and we’ve talked before on focusing on those courses and doing certain really targeted things for specific majors,” said Turner.

Dr. Michele Johnson, biology professor and widely recognized at Trinity as an advocate for women in STEM, is one of the few female faculty members in her department. However, biology is not a field that tends to have large gender disparities at a national level. “Diversifying the faculty will go a long way towards changing the community and the culture in ways that benefit everyone, students in particular,” she said.

Turner and Stacy Davidson from Academic Success have both pointed out the changes in Trinity’s hiring practices. Davidson mentioned there has been an effort from the administration to make sure there is an understanding of implicit bias; they call it inclusive excellence.

The gender disparity is not an issue in every STEM field, of course. The Department of Chemistry, for instance, has a lot of females and students say it’s not out of the ordinary to see the same number of males and females in their classes.

Nevertheless, implementing changes for the majors where women do need extra support is an important aspect that the Trinity community has noticed, and the administration, departments and students have worked to improve it.

“There is no reason why your humanity needs to be separated from your job as a scientist,” said Stone.