Des Moines Register
02-06-07
$3.3 million grant to ISU aims to aid women in science, math
By LISA ROSSI
REGISTER AMES BUREAU
Ames, Ia. - Efforts to spend a five-year, $3.3 million grant on a program at Iowa
State University designed to support women in science, technology, engineering and math kicked off at a campus celebration Monday.
The National Science Foundation awarded the grant to the school.
"I'm very proud that ISU is one of the first recipients," said ISU Provost
Elizabeth Hoffman at Beardshear Hall, where the celebration was held.
The grant will pay for research, development and implementation of programs that will support the recruitment, promotion and retention of female scientists at
ISU.
The program serves to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers.
Iowa State joins the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
Georgia Tech and the University of California at Irvine in receiving the grant.
Bonnie Bowen, director of the program paid for by the grant, said Monday that it should help Iowa State measure the number of women at different ranks at the university.
"We know women are under-represented in higher ranks," she said.
Nationwide, women comprise about 25 percent of the science and engineering work force, and less than 21 percent of science and engineering faculty in fouryear colleges and universities, according to the National Science Foundation.
A 2001 study by Iowa State's 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.
Bowen said the grant will also be used to identify the barriers women face in the sciences, and will probably examine family friendly policies and the isolation women face when they are the only ones in a department.
Reporter Lisa Rossi can be reached at (515) 232-2383 or lrossi@dmreg.com