Career Advancement Through Academic Commercialization: Acknowledging and Reducing Barriers for Women Engineering Faculty

Abstract

Although schools of engineering are increasingly considering patenting, licensing, and commercialization in faculty bids for tenure and promotion, women candidates participate in these activities at disproportionately lower rates than their male counterparts. As research has shown that inventions by women are frequently designed to address important social problems, addressing the gap in engagement in academic commercialization activities has growing societal relevance. This gender gap can largely be explained by the significant obstacles that women faculty in engineering face as they advance their careers and as they engage in academic commercialization. Barriers such as gender discrimination, attitudinal and behavioral factors, work-life balance issues, and exclusion from networks impact the ability of women faculty to continue in the field, engage in academic commercialization, and ultimately advance their careers. This paper aims to synthesize relevant literature pertaining to impediments to academic commercialization and career advancement for women faculty in engineering and science. The purpose is to not only raise awareness of the likely origins of these issues, but to recommend ways that staff, faculty, departments, and universities can create a more equitable career trajectory for women faculty in engineering and science. Immediate and long term shifts in individual and institutional bias, policy, leadership, and training have the potential to make a significant difference in engineering innovation for social and environmental change.