Our vision is to improve the exposure of undergraduate and graduate female students to female tenure-track professors in the Brown School of Engineering and Wiess School of Natural Sciences. The goal of the Partnership of Women in Science and Engineering is to create an infrastructure that creates for opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral and faculty women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) to interact.

We believe that this vision is important because, despite that fact that representation of women in the faculty ranks of STEM field departments is on the rise both here at Rice and nationally, many female undergraduates do not have any exposure to faculty women.  This lack of interaction is of particular concern for those interested in pursuing a career in research. Even where a significant number of women are present in departments, access to direct interaction may be challenging for undergraduates.  For example, even though 33% of the tenure track faculty is female in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, over the past four years none of the 200-300 level core lecture courses have been taught or co-taught by female tenure track professors.  Similarly, in the Department of Bioengineering, where 40% of the tenure-track faculty is female, only 19% of the 200-300 level core lecture courses have been taught or co-taught by female tenure track professors[1].

Across all departments, the female faculty in both the School of Natural Sciences and School of Engineering are incredibly high achieving.  In the Biochemistry and Cell Biology Department, Dr. Kathleen Matthews served as the Dean of the School of Natural Sciences for 10 years.  In the Bioengineering Department, Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.  Junghae Suh of the Bioengineering Department, Marcia O’Malley of the Mechanical Engineering and Materials Sciences,  and Lisa Biswal of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department have all been recipients of NSF CAREER Awards.  Bonnie Bartel (BCB), Rebecca Richard-Kortum, and Jennifer West (BIOE) have been Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professors.  Sometimes distinguished achievements in research and/or administrative duties result in these excellent professors not being engaged in teaching large undergraduate lecture classes.  We hope that the Partnership of Women in Science and Engineering will allow more female undergraduate students to learn from and meet a broad range of potential role models.

The Importance of the Partnership of Women in Science and Engineering

Many organizations at Rice provide a community for different constituencies, but few provide a venue to bring together women in different academic fields.  For example, the Society of Women Engineers at Rice organizes opportunities for students to explore different career opportunities and has recently started a mentorship program between underclassman, upper classman, and graduate students.  A Rice University Chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics aims to provide a community for women in the mathematical sciences.  Many different majors have specific organizations such the America Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers.  Furthermore, many of the departments of in the Schools of Natural Sciences and Engineering have specific graduate student associations.  The Women’s Resource Center has also been involved in organizing graduate school panels in the past.

None of these numerous organizations, however, serve the specific purpose that our proposed Partnership of Women in Science and Engineering will fulfill.  None of these organizations focus on research across all STEM departments and including all levels of researchers.  Our organization will provide a unique opportunity for women interested in research in the STEM fields to form a supportive and resourceful community.  Also, none of the existing organizations have aimed to publish video interviews of women faculty members that discuss the development of their careers as well as their research passions.

So far we have discussed our plan with Dr. Kathleen Matthews, the Stewart Memorial Professor in Biochemistry and Cell Biology and former Dean of the School of Natural Sciences, and Jan Rinehart, the now-departing Executive Director of the Advance program.  We have also set up a meeting with Dr. Paula Sanders, Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs.  We also plan to contact the Dean’s Offices of both the School of Natural Sciences and the School of Engineering and the Office of Fellowships and Undergraduate Research for input and support.

An Envision Grant will provide resources to create the reality envisioned by this proposed project and make it successful, primarily because it will provide the funding that will allow us to produce professional videos in a timely fashion and to support the gatherings that will cement relationships among the women involved.  Also, we believe that the name credential of having successfully procured an Envision Grant will be important to our ability to recruit female professors for both our video profiles and our Partnership of Women in Science and Engineering panels.

Our project will foster leadership development for the project proposers because the successful production of the videos and creation of the Partnership of Women in Science and Engineering will require extensive planning, collaboration, and follow-through.  In particular, starting the Partnership of Women in Science and Engineering will require the proposers to gain the support of many different subsets of the Rice population.  The on-going leadership positions required to ensure the future for the Partnership of Women in Science and Engineering will give graduate and undergraduate students leadership opportunities.  Students interested in graduate school are often under the impression that the development of leadership skills in not necessary for success in academia.  However, research, especially in the STEM fields, involves directing a research group, chairing committees, both at Rice and in professional societies, and other types of leadership roles.  We hope that the future leaders of the Partnership of Women in Science and Engineering will be students that are not only passionate about research but also about becoming effective leaders in their future research communities.