Lorelle Espinosa

Designing Avenues of Success for Women of Color in STEM
By Lorelle L. Espinosa, doctoral student in higher education and organizational change at the University of California, Los Angeles
I first came face to face with the challenges confronting women of color in the sciences while working with undergraduates in a research program geared toward retaining minority students in the mathematical and physical sciences at the University of California. While there, I saw firsthand the circumstances that lead women, particularly women of color, to lag behind men in science and engineering degree attainment despite having exceeded parity in undergraduate enrollment. Although they generally outperform men of the same racial backgrounds, underrepresented minority women still lag behind their same-race male peers in achieving bachelor’s degrees in physics, computer science, and engineering (National Science Foundation 2007). Asian American women, too, despite being categorized as a “model minority,” earned less than 10 percent of all physical science degrees and only 6 percent of engineering degrees granted to women in 2004 (National Science Foundation 2007).

Elise Niedermeier

Gaining Confidence in Science through Feminist Pedagogies: A Student’s Experience
By Elise Niedermeier, recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison
At first glance, I don’t seem like a good example of someone who benefited from feminist pedagogies in the sciences. I graduated with a BA in women’s studies and social welfare—not typically counted among the scientific fields. But as I reflect on my academic path, I recall taking courses in chemistry, LGBT health, statistics, and research methods. Perhaps I am a student of the sciences after all.