Surviving And Thriving In Engineering And Science: A Woman’s Guide To Navigating The Ph.D.

This paper is based upon findings from the authors’ recent book , The Woman’s Guide to Navigating the Ph.D. in Engineering and Science . Here, we present some typical challenges that women may face in engineering and science doctoral programs, and share some insights, reflections and strategies from women who are working toward or who have completed doctorates in engineering or science. Introduction Depending on the field or the university, women sometimes comprise but a small minority of the doctoral students in engineering or science departments. But just over 100 years ago, women were not formally admitted at all to doctoral programs at any university in the United States. Although they weren’t officially accepted into graduate school at that time, many women did find ways to get in, usually as “special” or nondegree students. In 1870, for example, Ellen Swallow Richards applied to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a graduate degree in chemistry. She was admitted, but as a special student who was seeking a second bachelor’s degree (her first one was from Vassar). MIT, it was argued, didn’t want its first graduate chemistry degree awarded to a woman. 2 Even after being admitted, however, women still had to struggle to be awarded the degree for the work done. One of the most infamous examples of this discrimination was the case of mathematician Christine Ladd-Franklin, who completed her dissertation in 1882 at Johns Hopkins University but was not awarded her degree until forty-four years later. 2 By the early 1900s, women were being admitted to most graduate programs, 2 and, by 1940, were earning 13% of all doctorates. 3 In the past thirty years, numbers of women in graduate engineering and science programs have increased dramatically. In 1970, women earned just 13% of life science doctorates; 4 today, they earn more than 40% of those doctorates. 5 In 1970, women earned just 3.6% of engineering, physics and mathematics doctorates combined; 4 to ay, 13% of engineering doctorates are earned by women. Although figures are looking up, there is still concern that the number of engineering doctorates earned by women is still quite low. After all, for the past twenty years the United States has faced a critical shortage of scientists and engineers with doctoral degrees in a number of fields. P ge 618.1 Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright ©2001, American Society for Engineering Education Why aren’t more women earning their Ph.D.s in science or engineering? The answers are complex but have a great deal to do with the nature of doctoral education, the atmosphere and largely unconscious attitudes and cultural biases in many graduate programs in the sciences and engineering. In our recent book, The Woman’s Guide to Navigating the Ph.D. in Engineering and Science , 1 we provide an overview of what any doctoral student faces in an engineering or science doctoral program, but particularly focus on the unique situations female students may experience. In this paper, we present some of the major challenges women may face in engineering and science doctoral programs, and share strategies that have been used by current and former female doctoral students for overcoming them. The challenges that we present fall into three categories: • discovering the “hidden” rules for navigating the doctoral program • finding and working well with one’s advisors, mentors and friends • adapting to the environment Discovering the “Hidden” Rules Coursework, teaching, research, thesis-writing—the work that a student must accomplish in a doctoral program can be grueling. But the difficulty of these tasks can be exacerbated by not knowing what is expected to fulfill degree requirements or to “fit in” to the department or program. Women in particular may come up against such invisible barriers within the graduate school system. Many of these barriers are also invisible to the men in the environment, who may unwittingly participate in perpetuating the system. When questioned if they’re supportive of women in their departments, these men may answer “yes,” but unknowingly have access to information and contacts their female counterparts do not. The barriers—and the system—are unknown to most women because of their status in the environment. Whether by design or default, women may find that they are not privy to the secrets of successfully maneuvering the system, and too often blame themselves for faults that are part of that invisible system. In some cases, women are welcomed with open arms to academic departments but are still isolated by a system that was in place well before their arrival. Challenge: The first problem any doctoral student may run up against is a lack of uniform requirements and standards for completion of the program. Each college and department within the university may have different rules and requirements concerning its graduate students— everything from admission to funding to degree completion. In some cases, standards and requirements may even vary among students within a program or department. A study by Mary Frank Fox showed that this decentralization can be even more pronounced in engineering and science departments, where funding is dependent upon research grants awarded to individual faculty. Because of a university’s dependence on this income, faculty are given a great deal of latitude in advising their graduate students. 6 Strategy: Because of the freedom that advisors may have in interpreting thesisor degreecompletion requirements, it is very important that the student familiarize herself with all written requirements (both obtained from the department/program and from the advisor) to avoid any potential problems. P ge 618.2 Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright ©2001, American Society for Engineering Education (Interestingly, Fox found in her study that chemistry and computer science departments—two fields with higher proportions of women—were more likely to provide written guidelines for degree completion than electrical engineering and physics—the two fields in her study that had lower proportions of women. ) Challenge: In some departments, the requirements for completing the degree are passed down from person to person, advisor to student, and a woman entering a predominantly male arena may not necessarily be told the requirements and may be hesitant to ask what they are. A woman may find that she is not part of the same social and recreational environment as her male colleagues. The male students in the department may play tennis or racquetball or go out for beers with male professors or other students in the department and, through that interaction, learn more about “the system.” Strategy: Good data can level the playing field. Socializing is one method for gathering that data. Dr. Cinda-Sue Davis of the University of Michigan emphasizes the importance of attending social events for graduate students, not just for their “own sanity (which is probably the most important reason), but also because a lot of accessing unwritten rules happens in these social events.” (Socializing also helps the student adjust to her new environment and helps establish a set of friends who will be there for camaraderie, feedback and support throughout the doctoral program. See more under the next section, “Finding and Working Well with One’s Advisors, Mentors and Friends.”) Davis also suggests asking senior graduate students, “What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?” Finding and Working Well with One’s Advisors, Mentors and Friends When a student enters a doctoral program, it’s the beginning of a long and arduous—but exciting—educational adventure. Over those next few years, the student will work closely with both superiors and peers. She will form professional relationships with some and close friendships with others. And as she goes through this very important phase of her career, she will rely on that network of people to talk with, get feedback from and offer help to. The most important professional relationship a student will have in graduate school is with her advisor. Her success as a student depends on it—and the course of her career may depend upon it as well. The advisor is an indispensable resource. She or he suggests what courses to take, directs the program of study, supervises research and chairs the student’s dissertation and oral exam committees. At best, an advisor is a confidant, mentor, sponsor and major advocate in the department now and later in the student’s career. The advisor can be the launching pad for the student’s career by providing the opportunity to work on well-funded projects, by introducing the student to contacts and influential people in the field and by providing opportunities to exercise the student’s skills outside of the university. Ideally, the relationship between the student and her advisor will progress during her time in graduate school from that of teacher and research director to that of mentor and professional colleague. (Note: When applying to graduate school at a particular university, the student should learn how the advisor matching process works there. If a student is assigned an advisor upon acceptance, she should carefully weigh that assignment as part of her total acceptance decision. In our discussion about choosing an advisor here, we assume that the student has not been assigned an advisor, but is free to choose her own. In addition, we understand that the words “advisor” and P ge 618.3 Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright ©2001, American Society for Engineering Education “mentor” are used interchangeably in some departments or by some individuals; here, we refer to the advisor as the person who helps guide the student’s research