by Miriam Deutsch, Professor, UO Department of Physics, Oregon Center for Optics

It is well known that a strong science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce is crucial for sustaining a prosperous economy. In a broader context, a diverse STEM workforce is vital to a thriving modern society. From enhanced intellectual output, fueled by a diverse approach to inquiry and innovation, to the obvious societal benefits of increased opportunity for high-pay careers, the advantages of establishing a diverse STEM workforce are clear. Focusing on gender diversity, the past thirty years have witnessed numerous efforts for increasing the proportion of women in STEM careers. While their representation has been steadily rising, women are still significantly outnumbered in areas such as engineering and the physical sciences. In fact, a recent National Science Foundation report shows the proportion of bachelor’s degrees awarded in 2010 to women in computer sciences—one of the fastest-growing sectors in industry—was half its reported value in 1985. 

While at a recent conference, I picked up a flyer from the National Photonics Initiative. The NPI is a call by the National Research Council to establish an extensive collaboration among industry, academia and government organizations. The goal: significantly increase national investment in key technological areas such as energy, health and medicine, and communications, all of which are intimately related to applications of light, lasers and optics. In the current climate of shrinking federal funding and divestment from basic research, this is welcome news to many of us working in the optical sciences. Similar to the National Nanotechnology Initiative, established in 2000 and currently estimated to be responsible for 23 percent of growth in the workforce during the following decade, the NPI could spur significant economic growth, both in the United States and around the world. 

I am inevitably led to examine the makeup of the potential NPI workforce. According to the National Science Foundation, women earned close to 20 percent of U.S. bachelor’s degrees in physics in 2010; other STEM fields critical to the NPI, such as computer science and electrical engineering, show even lower proportions of bachelor’s degrees being awarded to women. Representation remains close to 20 percent for doctoral degrees, before plunging to near 10 percent for women holding faculty positions (of all ranks) in these fields. With such low graduation rates, and absence of an extensive academic female leadership network, a significant fraction of the intellectual potential in the United States remains untapped. Whatever the NPI may accomplish, it will miss its overarching mark if it does not rise to this challenge. 

Women’s integration into the STEM workforce is bound to remain elusive, unless colleges and universities begin implementing programs to address this problem. Studies from the past three decades have resulted in highly effective interventions for enhancing the participation of women in STEM. Institutions that have prioritized reducing gender imbalance have made impressive gains in female representation, additionally witnessing marked improvements in their social climates. More women in STEM benefit entire organizations and the communities in which they exist. More women in STEM will take the NPI places we are now yet to imagine. 

—Miriam Deutsch earned her PhD in physics from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in Israel, in 1997. After postdoctoral research at Princeton University and the NEC Research Institute, she joined the faculty of the physics department at the University of Oregon, where she was recently promoted to full professor.