Transcript Document

NSF: Programs and Plans
Increasing the Number of Women in
Science and Engineering
Kathleen McCloud
Physics Division
National Science Foundation
Broadening Participation
A General Definition for NSF
NSF defines broadening participation in terms of
individuals from underrepresented groups
as well as institutions and geographic areas
that do not participate in NSF research programs
at rates comparable to others.
 Includes women, underrepresented
minorities, and persons with disabilities
 Can depend somewhat on scientific
community
NSF Programs and Activities
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NSF perspective
MPS Gender Equity Workshops
ADVANCE
From the NSF perspective
Provide training for staff on NSF priorities
and mechanisms for broadening
participation and workforce development,
including topics such as outreach
approaches, reviewer selection, and
mitigation of implicit bias in the review
process.*
* "A Framework for Action"
Broadening Participation in
Proposal Review
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Solicitation language
Review criteria
Implicit bias and panelists
Panel and reviewer selection
Overhaul of the internal panelist system to
address BP
Solicitation Language
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Integrating Diversity into NSF Programs,
Projects, and Activities Broadening opportunities
and enabling the participation of all citizens -women and men, underrepresented minorities,
and persons with disabilities -- is essential to the
health and vitality of science and engineering.
NSF is committed to this principle of diversity
and deems it central to the programs, projects,
and activities it considers and supports.
Criterion 2
How well does the activity advance discovery
and understanding while promoting teaching,
training, and learning? How well does the
proposed activity broaden the participation of
underrepresented groups (e.g., gender, ethnicity,
disability, geographic, etc.)? To what extent will
it enhance the infrastructure for research and
education, such as facilities, instrumentation,
networks, and partnerships? Will the results be
disseminated broadly to enhance scientific and
technological understanding? What may be the
benefits of the proposed activity to society?
Dear Colleague Letters
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CHE, DMR, and DMS all have Dear
Colleague Letters that specifically address
BP in their communities
These letters can be found on the Division
Websites
NSF, DOE, NIH-sponsored workshop Jan. 2006
Building Strong Academic Chemistry
Departments through Gender Equity
A key recommendation to funding agencies is to
develop policies to ensure gender equity in
proposal review through:
 instituting procedures for training of
reviewers and grantees on diversity issues
 modifications of peer review processes
where necessary to ensure gender equity
Sept. 2006 NAS study Beyond Bias and Barriers
reiterates these recommendations
Informing Panelists
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Implicit bias toward a group
 Non-conscious hypotheses/stereotypes, often about
competence
Lack of critical mass a greater reliance on implicit bias
 Few women and minorities in sciences
Accumulation of disadvantage
 Small bias in same direction has large effect over time
 Very small differences in treatment can have major
consequences in salary, promotion and prestige Valian
(1998)
Information from a slideshow on implicit bias developed
for all panelists by the CHE Division, now available NSFwide
Minimizing Bias in Evaluation
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Implicit bias toward a group (“schemas”)
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Lack of critical mass a greater reliance on schemas
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Non-conscious hypotheses/stereotypes, often about
competence
Few women and minorities in sciences
Accumulation of disadvantage
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Small bias in same direction has large effect over time
Very small differences in treatment can have major
consequences in salary, promotion and prestige
Valian (1998)
Schemas are…
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Widely culturally shared
 All people, even members of under-represented
groups, hold schemas about these groups
 People are often not aware of them
Applied more under circumstances of:
 Lack of information
 Stress from competing tasks
 Time pressure
 Lack of critical mass
Fiske (2002). Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 123-128.
Impact of Blind Auditions
When orchestra auditioners were
behind a screen, the percentage of
female new hires for orchestral jobs
increased 25 – 46%.
Goldin & Rouse (2000) The American Economic Review,
90, 4, 715-741.
(14,133 auditioners over 25 years)
Evaluation of Identical CVs: Race
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“Jamal” had to send 15
resumes to get a callback,
compared to 10 needed by
“Greg.”
“Greg” yielded as many more
callbacks as an additional eight
years of experience for “Jamal.”
The higher the resume quality,
the higher the gap between
callbacks for “Greg” and
“Jamal.”
Jamal
Bertrand & Mullainathan (2004) Poverty Action Lab, 3, 1-27.
Greg
Evaluation of Fellowship Applications
Wenneras & Wold (1997) Nature, 387, p. 341
3.00
Competence Score
“…the success rate of female scientists
applying for postdoctoral fellowships
at the [Swedish Medical Research
Council] during the 1990s has been
less than half that of male
applicants.”
Average rating of applicants as a function of
their scientific productivity
males
2.75
females
2.50
2.25
2.00
Women had to be 2.5 times more
productive to receive the same
competence score.
*Cited by Richard Zare, Stanford chemistry
professor and former NSB chair, editorial in
5/15/06 Chemistry and Engineering News
0-19
20-39
40-59
60-99
>99
Total impact*
One impact point = one paper in a journal
with an impact factor of one.
Similar findings:
GAO report on Peer Review
in Federal Agency Grant
Selection (1994); and
European Molecular Biology
Organization Reports (2001)
Ways to Mitigate Evaluation Bias
(1) Increase awareness of how schemas might bias
evaluation
(2) Decrease time pressure and distractions in evaluation
process
(3) Rate on explicit criteria rather than global judgments
(4) Point to specific evidence supporting judgments
Bauer & Baltes, 2002, Sex Roles, 47 (9/10), 465-476
Please incorporate (3) & (4) in your discussions
MPS-funded Workshops for
Department Chairs
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Chemistry Workshop on Gender Equity
Physics Workshop on Gender Equity (co-funded
AST, PHY, DMR)
Materials Science and Engineering Workshop on
Gender Equity
Chemistry Workshop on Under-represented
Minorities
Workshop on Excellence Empowered by a
Diverse Academic Workforce: Chemists,
Chemical Engineers and Materials Scientists with
Disabilities
1.To educate the chemistry departments about the value of diversity in their departments, the importance
of aggressively pursuing gender diversity in appointments and the need to eliminate gender related
barriers and biases that impair the appointment and advancement of women chemists.
2. To establish a set of goals for achieving gender equity in research active chemistry departments and
report annual progress towards these goals.
3. To make recommendations to funding agencies for how to assist in this effort.
Gender Equity Workshop for
Physics Chairs (PHY, DMR, AST)
Goal: To double the number of women in
physics in the next 15 years by informing,
educating and providing chairs of physics
departments and physics-oriented national
laboratory managers the tools to achieve
that goal.
Attendees: 50 major research-oriented
academic physics departments as well as
about 15 physics-related managers of
major national laboratories.
Physics Today, July 2007
May 2007
College Park Maryland
http://www.aps.org/programs/women/workshops/gender-equity/
Sponsored by NSF and DOE
Gender Equity in Materials Science
and Engineering
University of Maryland
Adelphi, Maryland
May 2008
Attendees:
~ 50 Chairs from Materials Science academic departments and government
laboratories.
Goals:
Similar to previous chemistry and physics chairs workshops.
http://www.mse.uiuc.edu/gender/index.htm
Sponsored by NSF and DOE
CHE Workshop on UnderRepresented Minorities
Excellence Empowered by a Diverse Academic Workforce: Achieving Racial
& Ethnic Equity in Chemistry September 24 – 26, 2007 Arlington, VA
•Funded by NSF, DOE, and NIH
With DOE and NIH
•Chairs of the top 50 chemistry
departments attended.
Chairs will report on action items
at the Workshop website.
workshop report http://chemchairs.uoregon.edu/urm/images/urmreport.pdf.
Common Agenda for Gender-Equity Workshops
Pre-workshop Survey
Opening Evening Session:
Defining the issues; data on demographics;
theatre group to illustrate issues.
Next 1.5 days:
• Presentations from experts on issues impacting the careers of women in STEM fields: Implicit
bias, gender schemas, family issues.
• Presentations highlighting best practices and challenges in academic institutions, national
laboratories and departments.
• Presentations from federal funding representatives on their current challenges and activities on
gender equity issues.
• Break-out sessions to identify issues and set of best practices for departments, research
centers and institutions.
• Develop goals for department chairs to implement.
Evaluation Survey
Post-workshop Survey
Presentation developed by Geri
Richmond, U of Oregon
Monitoring the Long-Term Impact
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All workshops developed a series of goals
and action plans.
All workshops have/are developing a
website for chairs to report their progress.
Presentation developed by Geri Richmond, U of Oregon
The ADVANCE Program
Program Goal: Increase the participation and
advancement of women at all levels in academic
science and engineering careers.
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Creative strategies to realize this goal should involve
and are sought from both men and women
There are three program components;
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Institutional Transformation
IT-Catalyst
Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and
Dissemination (PAID)
Institutional Transformation (IT)
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The IT component has been in all program
solicitations since 2001
5-year projects
$2 M to $4 M total
Comprehensive, institution-wide, projects to
transform the culture of the university or college
Examples of project activities:
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Reviewing, updating, and clarifying hiring, promotion
and tenure policies,
Developing dual career hiring policies,
Establishing mentoring programs,
Providing training for departmental leaders
Climate surveys and data analysis
IT-Catalyst Projects
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Previously “IT-Start” piloted in the 07-582
solicitation
Up to 2-year projects
$100 K to $200 K total
Planning and assessment activities to prepare
for transformational activities.
Examples of project activities:
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Climate surveys to establish baseline data
Data collection and analysis
Planning meetings with stake holders
Research on potential strategies
Partnerships for Adaptation,
Implementation, and Dissemination
(PAID)
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One year to five year projects
Funding depends on the scope of the project
Some projects adapt, implement and/or diffuse
exemplary ADVANCE IT strategies to increase the
participation of women in STEM academics.
Some projects are social science research
proposals related to gender in STEM faculty and
academic leadership positions
Other examples of projects may include:
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Workshop projects
Leadership development programs
Program Management
ADVANCE is a “NSF-wide” program
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The Assistant Directors (ADs) of each participating
directorate reviews and approves the program
solicitation and management plan
Program funds are located in the participating
directorates and offices
ADVANCE Implementation Committee (AIC)
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One or more representatives from each participating
Directorate and Office
Acts as an advisory committee
Meets monthly to discuss program management and
related issues
ADVANCE
Program Directors:
 Jessie DeAro - [email protected]
Integrative Activities Specialist:
 Pat Simms – [email protected]
ADVANCE NSF Website
 http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pi
ms_id=5383&from=fund
ADVANCE Web Portal
 http://research.cs.vt.edu/advance/index.htm
ADVANCE Lessons
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Implement standardized and transparent departmental
policies and procedures
Collect departmental data and relevant national data
and share it with the department
Support formal mentoring inside and outside the
department
Establish a culture and develop programs supportive of
work-life balance (for instance, daycare opportunities)
Focus on changing the department to achieve equity,
not “changing the individuals” to suit the environment
ADVANCE Lessons
Recruitment
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Establish group expectations for diversity
Require candidate pools that reflect the available pool
Create broader position announcements to widen the
pool of qualified candidates
Purposefully select diverse and knowledgeable search
committee
Train search committee chairs and members on implicit
bias, etc.
Require documentation be reported on each search
(e.g., committee composition, demographics of
candidates interviewed, reasons for hire decision, etc.)
Highlight work-life balance programs and policies to all
candidates
ADVANCE Lessons
Promotion and Tenure
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Publish tenure and promotion requirements
Mentor junior faculty (Include mentoring by department
chair and faculty inside and outside of the department)
Develop multiple mentors for faculty, a mentoring circle
Implement pre-tenure review
Actively encourage faculty to pursue promotion
Thoughtfully select P&T committee
Train P&T Committee on implicit bias, etc.
Assign service and teaching demands equitably
Encourage all faculty to take advantage of available
work-life balance programs (stop the clock policies, etc.)
and ensure P&T decisions are not negatively influenced
as a result
Questions?