Inside Iowa State

Oct. 6, 2006

Iowa State lands $3.3 million NSF grant to support women in science, math

by Annette Hacker, News Service

The National Science Foundation has awarded a five-year, $3.3 million grant to Iowa State to focus on advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

The grant will fund research, development and implementation of programs that help recruit, promote and retain women scientists at ISU.

NSF's ADVANCE program serves to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. Iowa State joins a select group of universities -- including the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Georgia Tech and the University of California at Irvine -- in receiving an institutional transformation grant.

Interim provost Susan Carlson is the principal investigator of ISU ADVANCE. Co-principal investigators represent four colleges: Agriculture, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Human Sciences.

"This grant recognizes Iowa State's leadership role in and commitment to improving the representation of women in STEM fields," Carlson said. "The project's innovative approach to institutional change will make ISU a model for other universities facing similar challenges. Our excellence in science and technology will be enhanced and sustained.

"A great team of researchers made this grant a reality, and we are thrilled to have this opportunity."

Bonnie Bowen, executive director of Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, adjunct assistant professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology, and of natural resource ecology and management, became the ISU ADVANCE program director Oct. 1.

The numbers

According to the National Science Foundation, women comprise only about 25 percent of the science and engineering workforce, and less than 21 percent of science and engineering faculty in four-year colleges and universities. Women from minority groups underrepresented in science and engineering constitute only about 2 percent of science and engineering faculty at four-year colleges and universities.

The environment at Iowa State mirrors the national trend. A 2001 study by the Office of Institutional Research found that, in 18 of 32 science, technology, engineering and math departments, women represented less than 16 percent of tenure-track faculty. And a 2002 report by the University Committee on Women found that newly hired, tenure-track women faculty had higher attrition rates than their male counterparts, particularly in the first three years of employment.

"The project's innovative approach to institutional change will make ISU a model for other universities facing similar challenges. Our excellence in science and technology will be enhanced and sustained. A great team of researchers made this grant a reality, and we are thrilled to have this opportunity."

Interim provost Susan Carlson