UHCL experiences growth in female enrollment in STEM-related degrees

At the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL), the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field is one of interest because of the university’s history with NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Although a male-dominated field, STEM-related degree enrollment at UHCL amongst female students has increased.

Based on the Office of Institutional Effectiveness’ May 2018 “Facts at a Glance” publication, in 2013 there were a total of 639 female students in the College of Science and Engineering (CSE). By 2017, this number raised to 932 female students being enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs within CSE.

“It is important to increase the number of women in STEM in order for the nation, and the world, to be able to meet the ever-increasing demand for STEM-related jobs,” said Sharon Andrews White, associate professor of software engineering. “Due to an increasing amount of jobs in the STEM field, there are more and more opportunities for women to be employed.”

With increasing female enrollment of women in STEM classes, the Common Reader Program search committee at UHCL decided to have the common reader for the 2017-2018 school year be “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly. The book is about the true story of women who were “computers” for NASA during the space race.

“[The committee] always gives a preference to texts that focus on the struggles and lived realities of marginalized populations,” said Wanalee Romero, director of the First-Year Seminar Program and member of the common reader search committee. “So we were eager to work with a text that focused on the lives of women, people of color, and NASA.”

Anton Dubrovskiy, assistant professor of chemistry, notices that it is a lot harder for women in the STEM field to take a leading position, as opposed to men.

“As far as women in STEM professions, after-college realm, it is, unfortunately, NOT easy for women, compared to men, to be in leading roles of STEM careers,” Dubrovskiy said. “As far as college realm, STEM, in general, is facing some hard times now.”

Dubrovskiy said that the STEM field is having a hard time gaining student interest because of a stigma attached to the STEM field, labeling it as a challenging experience.

“More students, it seems like, get terrified whenever words like ‘differential equations,’ ‘binomial theorem,’ ‘Ohm’s law,’ ‘transesterification,’ ‘titration’ are even mentioned,” Dubrovskiy said. There’s a lot of work to be done here by the educator, to help overcome this cultural fear.”

White echoes this sentiment and takes it a step further by suggesting ways to improve STEM education.

“Women need positive and encouraging exposure to STEM in grade school and junior high,” White said. “[They also need] exposure to successful STEM women role models to provide motivation and guidance for them to form an interest in STEM fields.”

White said that while times are changing and the future for women in STEM is bright, there is still a lot of work to be done.

“Until women in STEM are truly treated equally, and paid equally, the progress will continue to be slow,” White said.

Liwen Shih, professor of computer engineering, said in her personal experience, her career as a woman in the STEM field “draws a lot of attention, which can be an opportunity or an annoyance.”

Shih said that bringing more women into the STEM field is crucial for science technology advancements.

“Without the collaboration of diverse/gender thinking, sci-tech advancement would not have happened,” Shih said.

Shih gives examples such as the advancements made by Albert Einstien and his first wife, Mileva Marić, in creating the theory of relativity, as well as the discovery of DNA by Rosalind Franklin and James Watson.

“STEM is vital for the world, and excluding one gender would greatly reduce the talent pool for advancements,” Shih said. “Excluding women in design ideas/consideration would compromise the effectiveness, performance and utilization of technology.”

Jessica Kunzat, mathematics major, believes that it is crucial for the drastic underrepresentation to stop.

“[Women] offer a different perspective that can contribute to the overall conversation,” Kunzat said. “Not to mention, it is always very important to be able to show the women of future generations that we CAN do it.”

CORRECTION: 7/16/18 – This article has been updated for clarification with quotes provided by Anton Dubrovskiy.