Sophomore Stefanie Henry (right, with student Emilie Wille) leads a seminar discussion. Henry says that access to mentors could help narrow the gender gap in science and tech fields.
When UW-Madison sophomore Stefanie Henry and some of her classmates were told by an engineering professor to “cut their losses” after scoring poorly on a difficult exam, Henry knew she had two options.
“I could let him encourage me to get out of this class, or I can stay and prove him wrong,” Henry says, adding. “I haven’t dropped the class yet.”
But as an African American woman majoring in biomedical engineering, Henry knows that one careless comment can be the tipping point for students who feel like “there’s already so many things working against them” in the pursuit of a career in STEM, the acronym for science, technology, engineering and math. Women represent 47% of the national workforce, but only 27% of STEM jobs. Minority women are employed in fewer than 10% of these jobs, according to 2013 data from the National Girls Collaborative Project.
“The more you move up in engineering, the fewer women you see [and] less diversity in regard to race and ethnicity as well,” Henry says. “There may have been maybe 20 girls in my lecture of 300, and now [after that incident] there may be just 10 or 15.”
Fortunately, students like Henry have access to a resource dedicated to their success from the moment they arrive on campus. The learning community known as WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) places incoming students declaring STEM majors onto a designated floor in a residence hall, where they live, study and work together. It makes “this really big institution feel like a much smaller community,” says Kristyn Masters, WISE’s faculty director and an associate professor of biomedical engineering.
Housed in Sellery Hall, the program’s 64 residents create a communal space where they can build upon the common ground they share: an interest in science and technology that they hope will, in just a few short years, lead to a career.
Though passionate about their fields and with often higher grades than their male peers, female STEM students must cope with “a lot of messages” that can make them think they don’t belong. A supportive environment like WISE can help counter those messages and keep women on their path.
According to Masters, 74% of WISE women who declared STEM on their UW application graduate with a degree in a STEM field, compared to 52% of women in the general UW population with similar grade point averages. Along the same lines, 52% of “underrepresented minorities” living at WISE graduate in STEM, compared to 35% of minority women in the general population.
In overseeing the program’s weekly seminar course, Masters helps integrate students into the STEM community within and outside the university, connecting them with female mentors in their field of study for “one-on-one, personal attention.”
“The female STEM faculty on this campus are extremely generous with their time, because we’ve all gone through...difficult situations that really don’t let up,” Masters says.
Students are also paired with peer mentors who lived in WISE as freshmen. “Everybody has something to contribute,” says Julia Loosen, a 19-year-old sophomore studying neurobiology. “[WISE] really is a support system because if you’re doubting what you’re doing, you always have people there who [support] you.”
Students also benefit from research and outreach opportunities. The program provides two fully funded summer scholarships for incoming freshmen, allowing them to get a foot in the door in their chosen field. Students also conduct their own outreach projects — connecting with Madison-area schools and Boys & Girls Clubs, as well as community science institutions like the UW Space Place and the Geology Museum — to engage children in science at an early age.
“If you go into their high schools and elementary schools and have girls see [women] doing things [in STEM], they’re more likely to do it,” says Amanda Beltrame, a biochemistry senior who oversees WISE’s mentorship team.
The program is now 20 years old, but a renewed public awareness of gender inequality in the workplace has reinforced its importance. “For a couple years...among younger people, there was a feeling of, ‘Is WISE really still needed? Aren’t we over this sexism in science thing?’” Masters says. “It’s simultaneously depressing and motivating to see [it in] the news more and more, but at the same time I think it’s good for younger people to be hearing this because if you’re ignorant to it, you can’t tackle it.”
Fatima Nizamuddin, an 18-year-old freshman studying biochemistry, appreciates the honest approach.
“I wanted to join a community that...didn’t just show the good side of STEM, but also showed that it is difficult and you do have to put in a lot of work to stand out,” says Nizamuddin. “Hearing at the weekly [seminar] dinners that “[faculty members] also struggled as undergraduates and overcame that, was also really empowering.”
Next fall, WISE will relocate to Elizabeth Waters Residence Hall, where it began in 1995. Because Sellery tends to exclusively attract freshmen, Masters says she hopes the move will encourage residents to remain in WISE housing, where they can retain a sense of community while benefitting from partnerships and programming. While the program’s capacity will decrease to 60 women in Waters, WISE program coordinator Ann Haase-Kehl says they expect to expand into adjacent parts of the building the following year.
“We’re very excited about moving back to [Waters], because we feel that we will rebuild a very robust upper-year student program and really support students much longer through their STEM career,” Haase-Kehl says.
Henry is looking forward to the move and recently submitted her application to serve as the program’s live-in house fellow next year.
She says strong support from family and the university community is crucial to moving the needle on racial and gender disparities. ““Having those mentors from when you’re small, and then [continuing] to surround yourself with people who want to see you do well, I think that’s how you get the change.”