Women Excel in STEM Fields at CUI

传统上, in higher education, fewer women than men have gone into the so-called STEM fields of science, 技术, engineering and mathematics.

But not at Concordia University Irvine.

女性是科学和数学学院的重要组成部分，四分之三的全职数学教师是女性. 不仅如此, 但在康考迪亚大学欧文分校主修这些领域的女性人数持续上升.

“四名全职数学教师中有三名是女性，这是不正常的。. 阿曼达Croll, assistant professor of mathematics, 她在内布拉斯加州大学获得数学博士学位后，刚刚在尔湾康考迪亚大学完成了第一学期的教学. “A lot of departments in mathematics have many more men than women.”

As an undergraduate, 克罗尔每年都参加卡尔顿学院女性暑期数学项目, which encourages women who are gifted in mathematics to pursue higher degrees, “partly because there are so few women in STEM fields,克罗尔说.

“通过这个项目，我认识了一个了不起的数学女性网络，这对我很有帮助.”

Croll says in her experience, “I never felt a barrier because I was a woman, 但我确实遇到过一些女性，她们因为没有其他女性而感到沮丧，因为她们(在数学领域)不适合出现在那里。. 事实上，有些女性觉得自己做不好数学，因为她们所处的环境中女性太少了. It made me more aware that for some people that is still an issue."

作为一名教授, 我同样鼓励我所有在数学上有天赋的学生，让他们知道机会就在那里.

Concordia University Irvine mathematics professor Dr. Melinda Schulteis ’95 says she never felt discriminated against, but did “always feel people’s surprise: ‘Oh, you’re a woman in mathematics.’ It was a good motivator to continue doing what I loved already.”

她感谢欧文康考迪亚大学退休教授肯·曼格尔斯鼓励她主修数学, which has become her field of expertise.

“I felt very motivated when I came back to Concordia [to teach],她说。. “I didn’t care if students were male or female. 我想要的是将学生们与当地和国家的数学会议联系起来，这样他们就可以获得本科生的研究经验.”

她感到自豪的是，康考迪亚大学欧文分校现在定期带学生参加数学会议，作为参与者和演讲者.

“We’ve gone from not having any presence in that community — ‘Who is Concordia?’ — to regularly engaging with other colleges and their graduates. It’s fun to see,她说。.

其中一个机会是内布拉斯加州大学数学本科女生会议, where each year 250 undergraduate women in mathematics present research. 今年，康考迪亚大学欧文分校的四年级学生米歇尔·斯库恩和三年级学生凯尔西·斯韦德菲格, both mathematics majors, will present projects they have been working on with Dr. Croll.

“我真的很兴奋能有这个机会，因为我以前从来没有做过这样的事情,Schoon说。, 他正在介绍计算机如何使用线性代数来创建面部识别技术(就像在社交网站上使用的那种)的研究。. “It has definitely helped to have female professors at Concordia. Most of my math teachers in high school and grade school were males, but in college they’ve been all females except for Professors Taylor and Meyer. It’s definitely nice to have females leading the way.”

Another Concordia University Irvine student, Megan Sorenson ’15, 他最近在太平洋海岸本科数学会议上发表了关于分形的研究, 解释了虚数是如何让人们创造出具有复杂设计的电脑屏幕背景的，这些设计没完没了地重复，永远不会失去其复杂性. 索伦森从博伊西来到康考迪亚大学欧文分校打排球，并在舒尔泰斯的“传染性”影响下爱上了数学, 她说. “我一直都很喜欢数学，但现在我完全爱上了数学，这是我没想到的。”

索伦森说道. “The professors are really good. I love the problem-solving aspect of it and how there is always an answer. Math applies to almost everything in your life: music, art and so on. You can see math in everything once you get into it.”

目前，索伦森正在牛津大学的牛津留学项目中学习一个学期，并修满了数学课程. She hopes one day to work as an actuary for an insurance company.

朱莉Melberg, who has taught at Concordia University Irvine for seven years, believes a transition has taken place in the STEM fields in the last decade. Her sister studied veterinary medicine at UC Davis. In the hallway are photos of each graduating class by year. In the 1970s the photos contain mostly men. Today, of 110 students at the vet school, 105 are women, 她说.

“它几乎完全从男性主导的领域转变为女性主导的领域,梅尔伯格说。. “It really was very stark.”

Melberg says that by the time students are in college “it’s a pretty fair field.她曾让一些康考迪亚大学的女学生告诉她，在初中和高中时，一位老师告诉她们不能做数学，让她们感到气馁，但“作为康考迪亚大学的一名教师，我认为这两者都没有任何偏见。.”

Lindsay Kane-Barnese ’05, a Concordia alum with degrees in biology and chemistry and a PhD from UCLA, says she never experienced any barriers at Concordia University Irvine or elsewhere.

“I was always encouraged by my parents and elementary and high school teachers, and especially in college,她说。. “I don’t think it matters that there are fewer or more women in a department."

我认为重要的是，我们的教师鼓励每个人都做到最好，所有的学生都考虑在STEM领域从事职业.

"We need to motivate them to take on these challenging areas. They are our future.”

莎拉·卡拉姆04届, a newly hired assistant professor of biology, teaches Core biology, ecology and ocean science at Concordia University Irvine. 她刚刚完成了内华达大学里诺分校的硕士学位和博士学位. 本科时，她从哈维马德学院转到欧文的康考迪亚大学, where she earned her degree in biology.

卡拉姆说，她没有经历过直接的歧视，“也从不认为自己需要女性去效仿,” but is concerned about the so-called “leaky pipeline” in which women, feeling forced to choose between career and family, leave the field before reaching the higher echelons of research.

“我没有选择研究这条路，因为它与生活和家庭不太相容,卡拉姆说。. “在大多数高等教育中，研究是最重要的，教学是次要的，这是一个普遍的观点. That’s not my personal view. 我有很多同事选择来康科迪亚这样的机构，而不是(顶级研究)学校，原因类似:生活平衡，科学追求和教学之间的平衡.”

但她觉得女性比男性更需要平衡家庭和工作的责任.

“女性感到如此受约束的许多原因是因为历史上对谁来照顾家庭的假设,她说。. “如果期望女性为工作场所做出全面贡献，那么就需要双向的. Men need to be expected to fully contribute to the home.”

卡拉姆说，康科迪亚欣赏“整个人以及他们生活的所有其他方面”. “I think it could be part of women being on the faculty. It’s a reason for anyone to be attracted to Concordia Irvine.”

Whatever the complex reasons, 在尔湾康考迪亚大学的STEM领域有很多女性和男性, and no lack of encouragement for all students.

“对我们的学生来说，这是一件非常好的事情，我们有女性和男性的榜样, people they can look up to and say, ‘嘿, 那可能是我,’”克罗尔说.