Encouraging the Participation of Female Students in STEM fields

Opening Statement By Chairman Daniel Lipinski

Good morning and welcome to this Research and Science Education Subcommittee hearing on Encouraging the Participation of Female Students in STEM Fields.

Over the past few decades, girls and women have made substantial gains in breaking down barriers in both education and the workforce. However women’s participation rates in certain STEM disciplines remains disproportionately low. According to the NSF, although women earned more than half of all science and engineering bachelor’s degrees in 2006, they earned only about 20 percent of degrees in engineering, computer science, and physics. Although this is an improvement from the time I was earning my mechanical engineering degree from Northwestern University 20 years ago, more can be done to encourage women in these fields.

We have heard time and time again that, as a nation, we are not producing enough scientists and engineers for the increasing number of technical jobs of the future. We need to make sure that we have the scientific and technical workforce we need if we are to remain a leader in the global economy, and it is not possible do this without developing and encouraging all the talent in our nation. We must have women engineers, computer scientists, and physicists. By broadening the STEM pipeline to include more women and other under-represented groups, we can strengthen our workforce.

In the last Congress, Chairman Baird worked with Ms. Johnson to focus on issues for women in academic science and engineering. Today we look back to the beginning of the pipeline, and examine what factors impact women in STEM fields from kindergarten through the end of college.

The issue of female students in STEM fields hits close to home for me. My wife is a fully credentialed actuary. I asked her what led her down this path. For her it was her college advisor and a math professor.

We know that women can face unique challenges throughout the STEM pipeline, and we invited today’s witnesses to help us understand what those barriers are and how we can break them down. It is important for the Federal government to do its part in supporting research and programs that encourage best practices to attract and retain women in STEM, but there is a role for disciplinary societies, formal and informal educators, non-profits, businesses, and other stakeholders. Fortunately, there is a lot of good work already underway to address some of these challenges, and I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about what is working, what obstacles remain, and where we go from here.

I thank all of the witnesses for being here today and I look forward to your testimony.
 

Witnesses

Panel

4 - Ms. Barbara Bogue
Associate Professor Engineering Science and Mechanics and Women in Engineering Penn State College of Engineering Engineering Science and Mechanics and Women in
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3 - Dr. Sandra Hanson
Professor of Sociology Catholic University Catholic University
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2 - Dr. Marcia Brumit Kropf
Chief Operating Officer Girls Incorporated Girls Incorporated
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5 - Ms. Cherryl Thomas
President Ardmore Associates LLC Ardmore Associates LLC
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1 - Dr. Alan Leshner
Chief Executive Officer American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
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