Attracting More

Young Women to STEM Careers

Mention the word "engineer" and some people are likely to think of a geeky guy with a plastic pocket protector. That perception is one of the reasons girls and young women still shy away from academic courses that open the doors to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professions. While women make up 45 percent of the U.S. workforce, they hold just 12 percent of the science and engineering jobs in business and industry.

A unique program, The Northwest Girls Collaborative Project, is working to change that statistic by linking girl-serving STEM organizations in Washington and Oregon. Funded by a National Science Foundation grant, the project provides a platform for networking, collaborating, and sharing resources. The Puget Sound Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology (PSC) in Bothell, Washington, manages the project in partnership with NWREL.

According to Karen Peterson, PSC’s Director of Diversity in Technology, there are at least 50 different gender equity programs serving girls in the two states. Not only were many unaware of each other, but often they were competing for access to the same young women and the same scarce resources. The project was created to supply much-needed coordination through a rich Web site, an annotated resource guide, a matchmaking service, and a series of videoconferences.

NWREL’s role in all this has been to provide "a gateway to Oregon" as well as expertise in important areas like training and assessment. "Without the Lab, I don’t know how we would have had an entrée to connect in the way we have," says Peterson. "NWREL’s strengths in mentoring, after-school programs, and K–12 education are all vital to the project."

At a spring videoconference, NWREL’s Brenda Britsch walked program directors through "myths" about evaluation and offered practical steps in crafting their own assessments. One project board member, Amy McKinley of the Oregon Institute of Technology, thought that the advice was right on target. "Companies like Intel and IBM are very results-driven, so being able to show the value of these (STEM) programs is critical," she said. McKinley added that given the current economic climate, evaluation becomes even more important in building a case for corporate funds.

By providing almost two dozen "mini-grants" of $1,000 each, the project expects to nurture new collaborations that will flourish long into the future. "Once we get these partners together, we hope they’ll sustain their efforts by seeking out additional sources of funding," says NWREL’s Francie Lindner. She notes that the project itself plans to go back to NSF for funding to replicate the Northwest network across the country.

Unfortunately, the need for such programs is expected to continue for a long time. Project board member Glenna Chang of the University of Washington-Tacoma Institute of Technology observes that it’s an "uphill battle" luring young women into STEM careers. "The shortsightedness of middle and high school kids is hard to combat," she says. "In Tacoma public schools, students don’t have to take more than two years of math to graduate, so they don’t. They yield to peer pressure and don’t see that they’re closing doors." She should know. Chang says she’s one of those girls who thought art and science were mutually exclusive. "Today, though, you can see how things merge together and math, science, and the arts all intersect."

For more information about the Northwest Girls Collaborative Network, visit www.pugetsoundcenter.org/ddivide/ditg_nwgcp/resource_center/index.html.