By: Katherine

Katherine — Thu, 10 May 2012 05:05:00 +0000

Thank you for attaching the link and the reply. It was good to see the statistics from the IRPS website. In looking at the statistics, I found that 51.6%, a majority, of Physical and Biological Science majors are women. I would still like to know why this statistic and these majors were left out of the article, because this division is enormous and encompasses most of the science majors at UCSC.

By: Isabel

Isabel — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:46:00 +0000

The 15% came directly from this website http://planning.ucsc.edu/irps/students.asp,
which was provided to me by UCSC as well as one of WiSE’s members. The actual graph is below
http://planning.ucsc.edu/irps/majors/2010/Fall_UndergraduateMajorsbyGender(HC).pdf
Thank you

By: Katherine

Katherine — Sun, 06 May 2012 00:36:00 +0000

In the article, it is stated that “at UC Santa Cruz, women make up only 15 percent of bachelor’s degree recipients in physics and engineering majors, according to UCSC’s Office of Informational Research.” Later on the page, it is noted that only 14% of Jack Baskin School of Engineering are female students. The Baskin School of Engineering only accounts for a few of the very rigorous scientific majors at UCSC. I would like to know if the 15 percent includes Applied Math and Statistics, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Bioinformatics, Biology, Chemistry, Cognititve Science, Earth Sciences, Economics, Global Economics, Human Biology, Marine Biology, Mathematics, Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, Neuroscience, Plant Sciences and Premedicine (and I apologize if any majors have been left out – the Baskin Engineering majors are of course left out). I am a mathematics major, concentrating in computational mathematics, and have taken several physics and astrophysics courses, and I find it astounding that in discussing a project like STEM, that the statistic of 15% would be used which seems to not include these other, wonderfully challenging science majors (if the statistic does include Physics, Applied Physics, and Astrophysics). I agree wholeheartedly that people, regardless of gender, race, sexual identity, et cetera, should be encouraged to follow their passions, whether it be into the sciences or the humanities. However, I think it is important when reporting on a project like STEM or WiSE, proper statistics must be used, and I would like to know what the proper statistics might be, and possibly a link of where to find these statistics. Thank you for your time in reading this elongated message, and I am looking forward to hearing back about this issue.

Comments on: Breaking Social Barriers

By: Katherine

By: Isabel

By: Katherine