Women In STEM Research Articles

Physician-scientists' perspectives on key factors, emotions and feelings about selecting and attending continuous professional development events: a mixed-method study.

Almost 40% of the Nobel-Prize-winning discoveries in medicine are made by physician-scientists, who are a driving force in the evolving medical, academic and research landscape. However, their training has few defined milestones. To be effective clinicians, educators and researchers, they need to maintain and hone skills, often via continuous professional development (CPD) activities covering different domains. They have recurrently been described as an endangered species. Yet, warnings and recommendations across several decades did not stop the declining number of physician-scientists, which is now a chronic issue. This is further exacerbated by a lack of resources and support, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. We administered a questionnaire called Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS-GEN) to get an initial emotional snapshot before performing individual semi-structured interviews with five physician-scientists in neurology working in the United Kingdom. We explored the key factors they balance before selecting CPD activities, along with their views on compulsory CPD events and assessments. We investigated their general feelings towards compulsory and non-compulsory CPD, how they felt the night before and the morning of the events, and the perceived consequences attending these have on their learning. In our study, physician-scientists tend to choose training in their area of expertise but would enjoy exploring more if they had more time. The CPD choice was chiefly driven by speakers and topics, followed by learning needs. They disputed the utility of the current assessments, which are often seen as box-ticking exercises. While frustration, hostility and negative feelings were voiced for the compulsory ones, other CPD activities were welcomed with excitement, curiosity and a sense of adventure. Enthusiasm and excitement were felt the night before and the morning of the non-compulsory ones. CPD events were perceived to positively affect further learning, with the most immediate consequences being reading an article, networking or interacting with the speakers. This is the first study exploring the key factors driving a group of physician-scientists while selecting CPD activities and investigating their feelings and emotions related to CPD attendance. More engaging and less box-ticking CPD should be on the cards, along with an adequate evaluation of these activities. It is essential to increase enthusiasm, which can facilitate engagement, and decrease frustration surrounding compulsory CPD activities. We still know too little about the role of emotions in learning, especially about CPD. Future studies should investigate the emotional side of learning across different career stages to restore the leaky pipeline and create a tailored environment with benefits for each of the three sides of the physician-scientist's identity: the clinical, the research, and the academic.

Empirical challenges in assessing the “leaky STEM pipeline”: how the research design affects the measurement of women’s underrepresentation in STEM

BackgroundDespite a well-documented underrepresentation of women in STEM majors and occupations, empirical evidence on whether there really is a “leaky STEM pipeline” is mixed due to a lack of methodological consistency. Studies vary by (1) the definition of STEM, (2) the decision to measure choices alone or to also include aspirations, and (3) the use of longitudinal or cross-sectional data.ResultsIn order to analyze how variations in the research design affect the measurement of women’s underrepresentation in the field of STEM, we critically reviewed relevant literature on the “leaky pipeline” and identified three central features in the designs of existing empirical studies. We illustrate how the variation of these affects the results by applying them to the German context. Our results support the “leakage” perspective for Germany only during the transition to the labor market. Changes in STEM aspirations between grades 9 and 12 do not follow a clear pattern. Indeed, a comparison of grade 12 aspirations to actual college major choices even shows an increasing share of women in STEM.ConclusionGermany does not exhibit a significant “leaky STEM pipeline”. Due to more men choosing STEM, gender gaps widen in higher education, while the pipeline remains stable. Therefore, we challenge the “leaky pipeline” metaphor, advocating a life-course perspective to better understand STEM trajectories. We call for refined measurement standards, emphasizing official STEM definitions, long-term observations from aspirations to career entry, and the use of longitudinal data.

Lookism, a Leak in the Career Pipeline? Career Perspective Consequences of Lookism Climate and Workplace Incivility.

Despite strides toward gender equality in the workforce, women continue to face significant challenges, including the "glass ceiling" and the "leaky pipeline", partially stemming from low occupational self-confidence. This study examined whether a climate of lookism leads to workplace mistreatment, undermining employees' perceptions of job competence and career potential, with a focus on gender differences. Using a cross-sectional design, data from 699 Italian workers (42.8% male, 56.3% female) were analyzed through multi-group structural equation modeling. The model explored relationships between lookism climate, workplace incivility, imposter syndrome, and perceived employability. The results revealed a full serial mediation for women; lookism climate was positively related to workplace incivility, which in turn was related to imposter syndrome, negatively impacting perceived employability. For men, no serial mediation was found; lookism climate was directly related to both incivility and imposter syndrome, with no significant relationship between the two. Like women, men experienced a negative relationship between imposter syndrome and perceived employability, yet this relationship was stronger for men. This study highlights that identifying and addressing workplace climates that foster subtle mistreatment can prevent larger issues like the leaky pipeline, suggesting targeted organizational-level intervention and prevention strategies can enhance job competence perceptions and career potential for both genders.

372 The Leaky Gender Pipeline in Emergency Medicine Residency Programs From 2011 to 2022

372 The Leaky Gender Pipeline in Emergency Medicine Residency Programs From 2011 to 2022

STEM Career as a Pathway: Stability and Dynamics of Students’ STEM Occupational Intention After High School

ABSTRACT This study leverages data from a nationally representative longitudinal survey of high school students to explore the stability and shifts in their STEM occupational intentions from high school (2012) to three years post-graduation (2016). Adopting the metaphor of STEM career as a pathway, we classified individuals into four categories — STEM intenders, STEM leavers, STEM newcomers, and non-STEM intenders — based on their occupational intentions reported in 2012 and 2016. Through multinomial logistic regression, we analyzed the factors influencing the stability or dynamics in students’ STEM occupational intentions. Our findings illuminate the bidirectional dynamics in students’ STEM career intentions post-high school, highlighting the influential role of math and science identity in sustaining these intentions. Additionally, interest in STEM majors at the onset of postsecondary education and experiences in STEM-related work were significant predictors of the continuity and emergence of STEM occupational intentions. The study advocates for a shift from the traditional leaky pipeline metaphor to a more nuanced pathways perspective, encouraging researchers, educators, and policymakers in STEM fields to adapt their practices, programs, and policies to support a more inclusive and supportive framework for diverse STEM career pathways.

Latin Women in STEM

Latin Women in STEM

Examining career trajectories of Norwegian PhD recipients: slower progression for women academics but not a leaky pipeline

ABSTRACT We use longitudinal data for the entire population of Norwegian PhD recipients over five decades to examine why only one-third of full professors in Norway are women, despite gender balance among current PhDs. We find that 90% of the lower female representation is due to lower female proportions in earlier PhD cohorts, increasing sizes of cohorts, and decreasing overall rates of promotion, which together we call ‘compositional/historical factors’. We find that the remaining imbalance is not caused by women dropping out, but rather by 14–18% slower average promotion rates calculated using hazard analysis. However, on average, women eventually catch up with men after about 20 years, although this differs by field. A similar hazard analysis for the US shows that women doctorates are less likely than men to enter tenure-track academia although more likely to enter non-tenure-track academia. This leads to larger US gender differences in advancement to full professorships and no eventual convergence. We suggest possible reasons for the differences between Norway and the US.

Enhancing the physician-scientist workforce: evaluating a mentored research program for medical students' research competencies and intentions.

The growing recognition of the need to incorporate scientific discoveries into healthcare decisions underscores an urgency for a robust physician-scientist workforce to advance translational research. Despite the correlation between medical students' research engagement and their academic productivity and success, significant gaps remain in the scientific workforce exacerbated by the "leaky pipeline" phenomenon from medical school to academic medicine, where potential physician-scientists veer away from research careers.The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a structured mentored research program for enhancing medical students' research competencies and sustaining their interest in research careers, thereby potentially enhancing the physician-scientist workforce. The Medical Student Research Program (MSRP) implemented at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) was designed to provide comprehensive research training and support to medical students through a series of structured lectures, mentorship by dedicated faculty, and administrative support for research activities. Students were surveyed upon enrollment and one year later to assess the change in research competencies from baseline to follow-up (paired samples t-test), students' intent to use research in clinical practice (paired samples t-test), and their intent to conduct research in the future (McNemar's test and McNemar Bowker test). Preliminary evaluations indicated that the MSRP enhanced students' research competencies and has the potential to enhance medical students' research skills. However, similar to national trends, there was a decrease in students' intentions to engage with research in their future clinical career. Our preliminary findings demonstrate MSRP students' enhanced research competencies during the first year of the program. However, the decline in students' intentions to engage in future research highlights the need for continued innovation in research training programs to sustain future intent to conduct research, in turn helping to address the "leaky pipeline" in the physician-scientist workforce. Future studies should focus on mid and long-term outcomes to fully assess research program impact on the physician-scientist pipeline and on integrating such programs more broadly into medical education.

Gender diversity in construction: demystifying the pipeline leaks in Australia, United States, United Kingdom and Brazil

Globally, the construction industry is a key contributor to the gross domestic product. However, compared to the gender diversity performance of the workforce in the world economy, historically, construction has been performing significantly poorly. Literature argued that these consistently poor performances in diversity, equity and inclusion were causing leaks in the education and career pipeline. However, a systematic investigation with evidence base was lacking. In this vacuum, the proposed study aims to explore the evolution of gender dynamics within the construction sector in Australia, United States, United Kingdom, and Brazil through quantitative evidence. This study collected industry gender representation data, gender pay gaps and tertiary degrees conferred from government agencies in four countries: Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil. Quantitative data analysis was conducted with an exploration of factual figures, significant trajectories and fluctuations. Results were explored to understand local jurisdictions’ possible causal relationships and interventions. Delving into findings from the education pipeline revealed declining trends and alarming opportunities for the education institutions to take a lead role in moving from a “challenge leaky pipeline” towards a “shared solution space” through international cross-sectorial collaborations with the paradigm shift in the construction industry with the emerging fifth industrial revolution.

Women in academic publishing: Descriptive trends from authors to editors across 33 years of management science

Traditionally, leadership scholars often study snapshots of leaders in organizations. However, academic publishing offers a unique, more controlled context to study leadership with implications for leadership scholars and scholarship. Hence, we present a descriptive overview of women’s representation across 33 years in 11 top management journals across levels of leaders in academic publishing (i.e., editors, associate editors, and editorial board members) and authors. To do so, we curated an archival dataset tracking women’s representation over time and across these four levels (i.e., 21,510 authors and 4,173 leaders) with 51,360 data entries for the authors and 320,545 for the leaders. Overall, women’s representation increased over time, which was explained by simple time trend effects. Only 32 of 135 editors were women (i.e., 23.7 %), and the share of women associate editors showed particularly drastic fluctuations. We did not observe a “leaky pipeline” except from the associate editor to editor step, as well as notable fluctuations—particularly after new editor appointments—and between journals. We discuss the influential roles editors and publishers have on women’s representation in academic publishing and science more broadly as well as implications for future research and policy.

Women in STEM becoming independent: Embrace failures as part of the journey to success.

This year at JEM, we are highlighting women in science by sharing their stories and amplifying their voices. In this Viewpoint, we hear from a cross section of women, across multiple research fields, discussing their science and the process of setting up a lab as an independent researcher.

JOB STATUS OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY: A SUSTAINABILITY PERSPECTIVE

Objective: This study aims at exploring the relationship between the job status of female engineers and the lack of development opportunities in the workplace considering the United Nation’s Social Development Goal number 5 (Gender Equality) and amid sever low representation of women in science, engineering, and technology (SET) industries worldwide. A discussion of the leaky pipeline, a term used by scholars to indicate the progressive decline in the number of women opting the field of SET in the professional practice, is presented (Berry et al., 2022; Kemp, 2021). Method: Quantitative approach was administered in one of the leading universities in Dubai, targeting graduate and postgraduate female students in SET majors. Data analysis was conducted using ANOVA testing. Results: The findings of the research suggest that the job status of female engineers and the lack of development opportunities at the workplace are not related with positive inferences about the progressive evolution that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is witnessing in terms of gender diversity and inclusion (Alblooshi & May, 2018). Originality/Value: Major governmental initiatives regarding gender equality are represented and discussed. The study provides positive insights related to the under-representation of females in SET sectors and a gateway for future research amid lack of literature pertaining to this subject in the Arab world.

Women in STEM becoming independent: Our shared motivation and enthusiasm are our driving force.

This year at JEM, we are highlighting women in science by sharing their stories and amplifying their voices. In this Viewpoint, we hear from a cross section of women, across multiple research fields, discussing their science and the process of setting up a lab as an independent researcher.

Women in STEM becoming independent: The journey to independence is an immensely gratifying odyssey.

This year at JEM, we are highlighting women in science by sharing their stories and amplifying their voices. In this Viewpoint, we hear from a cross section of women, across multiple research fields, discussing their science and the process of setting up a lab as an independent researcher.

Core needs and diverse opportunity: A survey of academic clinical lecturers and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

During a clinical lecturer role, parallel clinical and academic training is undertaken. The anticipation is that a lectureship represents an exciting and expansive time. However, a national crisis has been declared at the clinical lecturer level with a leaky pipeline of clinical academics resulting in dwindling numbers. Clinical lecturers are infrequently represented as a group partly due to their distributed nature and diverse job plans. We conducted a survey of clinical lecturers in the UK. Responses (n = 107) revealed a motivated but divided workforce. A content analysis revealed core elements that sculpt an individual’s success or failure, but these were variably present. COVID-19 had a negative effect on many with various strategies reported to try and reset academic trajectories. Feelings of isolation and anxiety about a viable future in academia were significant findings. This echoes calls for a greater number of secure longer-term grants to ensure that clinical academics and their skills are retained within the research workforce. A continued effort to analytically appraise whether supportive elements are in place for all lecturers will help focus initiatives to foster excellence in clinical academic training for everyone.

Overstaying our welcome: On the rise of women's seniority in the academy

AbstractIssues surrounding gender equality are—and should be—front and centre in the water resources community, and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Very necessarily, the focus tends to be on recruitment, offering support for students and early career academics. The leaky pipeline concept used to describe the incremental loss of women from STEM fields with career duration describes a disproportionate loss of senior women, creating a parallel problem where highly qualified, top tier academics are lost from the system after significant financial and personnel investment by institutions. Ultimately, the leaky pipeline undermines the extensive investment of the hydrology and other STEM communities in equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility (EDIA) recruitment and retention programmes by cutting short career ambitions and the trajectories of diverse top performing individuals, resulting in no net benefit of EDIA policy investments and a lack of diversity with seniority. Addressing this critical gender gap requires the attention and support of the hydrology community of practice with specific focus on generating opportunities for advancement, confronting systemic and structural biases and improving education around allyship. Institutions and professional organizations need to consciously grow diversity in leadership and recognize and outwardly manage the perception of academic excellence around slow research and education that attracts increased diversity. Supporting allyship, reducing competitiveness among community members and reinforcing collaboration will not only attract, but retain, a higher proportion of diversity in the hydrology community, academia and STEM professions in general. It is time for the water resources (and other STEM) communities to demand broader accountability and recognition of the barriers to women, implement and reward more diverse definitions of research excellence, and offer allyship training to the community of practice at large.

The Johns Hopkins Physician-Scientist Training Program to Enhance Institutional Retention and Entry Into Academic Positions: An Evaluation of Program Effectiveness and Outcomes.

The Johns Hopkins Physician-Scientist Training Program (PSTP) was implemented to overcome well-documented challenges in training and retaining physician-scientists by providing physician-scientist pathway training for residents and clinical fellows. The program's core tenets include monthly seminars, individualized feedback on project proposals, access to mentors, and institutional funding opportunities. This study evaluated the effectiveness and outcomes of the PTSP and provides a framework for replication. A query of institutional demographic data and bibliometric variables of the PSTP participants (2017-2020) at a single academic medical center was conducted in 2021. In addition, a voluntary survey collected personal and program evaluation information. Of 145 PSTP scholars, 59 (41%) were women, and 41 (31%), 8 (6%), and 6 (5%) of scholars self-identified as Asian, Hispanic, and Black, respectively. Thirty-three (23%) scholars received PSTP research support or career development microgrants. Of 66 PSTP graduates, 29 (44%) remained at Johns Hopkins as clinical fellows or faculty. Of 48 PSTP graduates in a post-training position, 42 (88%) were in academia, with the majority, 29 (76%), holding the rank of assistant professor. Fifty-nine of 140 available participants responded to the survey (42% response rate). The top-cited reason for joining the PSTP was exposure to mentors and administration (50/58 respondents, 86%), followed by seeking scholarly opportunities (37/58 respondents, 64%). Most scholars intended to continue a career as a physician-scientist. The PSTP provides internal research support and institutional oversight. Although establishing close mentor-mentee relationships requires individualized approaches, the PSTP provided structured academic pathways that enhanced participating scholars' ability to apply for grants and jobs. The vast majority continued their careers as physician-scientists after training. In light of the national evidence of a "leaky physician-scientist pipeline," programs such as the PSTP can be critical to entry into early academic career positions and institutional retention.

Criticize my Code, not me: Using AI-generated Feedback in Computer Science Teaching

Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT can help teachers to tailor learning tasks for their students, combining learning objectives and storytelling to raise interest in the subject. AI-based learning task design can help to support competency-based learning, especially for girls in STEM courses like computer science, where otherwise the “Leaky STEM pipeline” (Speer 2023) leads to a constant loss of female students over school time. LLMs support many steps of the creation cycle of learning tasks. One important step is the feedback process between teachers and students during and after solving the tasks. Students need person-related as well as process-related feedback to make progress. Sometimes problems occur when teachers give feedback in a way that embarrasses or hurts the students. Especially female students often need more confirmation to make them aware of their progress, but studies show that boys demand and get more attention by teachers in this situation. This is one of the many reasons why girls lose motivation and interest in STEM courses over time. Since male and female teachers differ in expressing feedback without being aware of it, it is necessary to raise their consciousness. LLMs like ChatGPT can be used in two scenarios here. The first scenario is helping teachers to formulate objective feedback in a way that is adequate and understandable for the target group – e.g., young girls or boys - in a specific situation. The second scenario is training the teacher in a Socratic way, where the LLM simulates a student receiving the feedback and reacting to it according to established communication models like the Four Ears-model by Schulz von Thun (Schulz von Thun 1981) or Berne’s Transactional Analysis (Berne, 1964). This case study provides examples and prompting schemes for both scenarios and discusses the fragile balance between avoiding gender stereotypes in LLMs and giving more helpful and sustainable feedback for female students to foster self-esteem and competency-awareness.

Meta-Research: Understudied genes are lost in a leaky pipeline between genome-wide assays and reporting of results.

Present-day publications on human genes primarily feature genes that already appeared in many publications prior to completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. These patterns persist despite the subsequent adoption of high-throughput technologies, which routinely identify novel genes associated with biological processes and disease. Although several hypotheses for bias in the selection of genes as research targets have been proposed, their explanatory powers have not yet been compared. Our analysis suggests that understudied genes are systematically abandoned in favor of better-studied genes between the completion of -omics experiments and the reporting of results. Understudied genes remain abandoned by studies that cite these -omics experiments. Conversely, we find that publications on understudied genes may even accrue a greater number of citations. Among 45 biological and experimental factors previously proposed to affect which genes are being studied, we find that 33 are significantly associated with the choice of hit genes presented in titles and abstracts of -omics studies. To promote the investigation of understudied genes, we condense our insights into a tool, find my understudied genes (FMUG), that allows scientists to engage with potential bias during the selection of hits. We demonstrate the utility of FMUG through the identification of genes that remain understudied in vertebrate aging. FMUG is developed in Flutter and is available for download at fmug.amaral.northwestern.edu as a MacOS/Windows app.

Meta-Research: Understudied genes are lost in a leaky pipeline between genome-wide assays and reporting of results

Present-day publications on human genes primarily feature genes that already appeared in many publications prior to completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. These patterns persist despite the subsequent adoption of high-throughput technologies, which routinely identify novel genes associated with biological processes and disease. Although several hypotheses for bias in the selection of genes as research targets have been proposed, their explanatory powers have not yet been compared. Our analysis suggests that understudied genes are systematically abandoned in favor of better-studied genes between the completion of -omics experiments and the reporting of results. Understudied genes remain abandoned by studies that cite these -omics experiments. Conversely, we find that publications on understudied genes may even accrue a greater number of citations. Among 45 biological and experimental factors previously proposed to affect which genes are being studied, we find that 33 are significantly associated with the choice of hit genes presented in titles and abstracts of -omics studies. To promote the investigation of understudied genes, we condense our insights into a tool, find my understudied genes (FMUG), that allows scientists to engage with potential bias during the selection of hits. We demonstrate the utility of FMUG through the identification of genes that remain understudied in vertebrate aging. FMUG is developed in Flutter and is available for download at fmug.amaral.northwestern.edu as a MacOS/Windows app.