AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of October 17, 2008
eds. Joan Schmelz, Hannah Jang-Condell & Caroline Simpson
This week's issues:
1. Article about Women in Math from NY Times
2. Campaigns Weigh In on Issues Affecting Women in STEM
3. J. Mayo Greenberg Scholarship Prize
*** FOLLOWING POSITIONS WERE TAKEN FROM WIPHYS ***
4. Tenure-Track Faculty Position, Syracuse University
5. How to Submit, Subscribe, or Unsubscribe to AASWOMEN
6. Access to Past Issues of AASWOMEN
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1. Article about Women in Math from NY Times
From: Geoff Clayton [gclayton
fenway.phys.lsu.edu]
October 10, 2008
Math Skills Suffer in U.S., Study Finds
By SARA RIMER
The United States is failing to develop the math skills of both girls
and boys, especially among those who could excel at the highest
levels, a new study asserts, and girls who do succeed in the field are
almost all immigrants or the daughters of immigrants from countries
where mathematics is more highly valued.
The study suggests that while many girls have exceptional talent in
math -- the talent to become top math researchers, scientists and
engineers -- they are rarely identified in the United States. A major
reason, according to the study, is that American culture does not
highly value talent in math, and so discourages girls -- and boys, for
that matter -- from excelling in the field. The study will be published
Friday in Notices of the American Mathematical Society.
"We're living in a culture that is telling girls you can't do math --
that's telling everybody that only Asians and nerds do math," said the
study's lead author, Janet E. Mertz, an oncology professor at the
University of Wisconsin, whose son is a winner of what is viewed as the
world's most-demanding math competitions. "Kids in high school, where
social interactions are really important, think, 'If I'm not an Asian or
a nerd, I'd better not be on the math team.' Kids are self
selecting. For social reasons they're not even trying."
Many studies have examined and debated gender differences and math,
but most rely on the results of the SAT and other standardized tests,
Dr. Mertz and many mathematicians say. But those tests were never
intended to measure the dazzling creativity, insight and reasoning
skills required to solve math problems at the highest levels, Dr.
Mertz and others say.
Dr. Mertz asserts that the new study is the first to examine data from
the most difficult math competitions for young people, including the
USA and International Mathematical Olympiads for high school students,
and the Putnam Mathematical Competition for college undergraduates.
For winners of these competitions, the Michael Phelpses and Kobe
Bryants of math, getting an 800 on the math SAT is routine. The study
found that many students from the United States in these competitions
are immigrants or children of immigrants from countries where
education in mathematics is prized and mathematical talent is thought
to be widely distributed and able to be cultivated through hard work
and persistence.
The International Olympiad, which began in Romania in 1959, is
considered to be the world's toughest math competition for high school
students. About 500 students from as many as 95 countries compete each
year, with contestants solving six problems in nine hours. (Question 5
from the 1996 test was famously difficult, with only six students out
of several hundred able to solve it fully.)
The United States has competed in the Olympiad since 1974. Its six-
member teams are selected over years of high-level contests, and
trained during intensive summer math camps.
One two-time Olympiad gold medalist, 22-year-old Daniel M. Kane, now a
graduate student at Harvard, is the son of Dr. Mertz and her husband,
Jonathan M. Kane, a professor of mathematics and computer science at
the University of Wisconsin, and a co-author of the study. The other
two co-authors are Joseph A. Gallian, a math professor at the
University of Minnesota and president of the Mathematical Association
of America, and Titu Andreescu, a professor of math education at the
University of Texas at Dallas and a former leader of the United States
Olympiad team.
All members of the United States team were boys until 1998, when 16-
year-old Melanie Wood, a cheerleader, student newspaper editor and
math whiz from a public high school in Indianapolis, made the team.
She won a silver medal, missing the gold by a single point. Since
then, two female high school students, Alison Miller, from upstate New
York, and Sherry Gong, whose parents emigrated to the United States
from China, have made the United States team (they both won gold).
By comparison, relatively small Bulgaria has sent 21 girls to the
competition since 1959 (six since 1988), according to the study, and
since 1974 the highly ranked Bulgarian, East German/German and Soviet
Union/Russian IMO teams have included 9, 10 and 13 girls respectively.
"What most of these countries have in common," the study says, "are
rigorous national mathematics curricula along with cultures and
educational systems that value, encourage and support students who
excel in mathematics."
Ms. Wood is now 27 and completing her doctorate in math at Princeton
University. "There's just a stigma in this country about math being
really hard and feared, and people who do it being strange," she said
in a telephone interview. "It's particularly hard for girls,
especially at the ages when people start doing competitions. If you
look at schools, there is often a social group of nerdy boys. There's
that image of what it is to be a nerdy boy in mathematics. It's still
in some way socially unacceptable for boys, but at least it's a
position and it's clearly defined."
Ms. Miller, who is 22 and recently graduated from Harvard, and Ms.
Gong, 19 and a Harvard sophomore, both cite Ms. Wood as their role
model. Ms. Wood and Ms. Miller helped coach the United States girls'
team that began competing in the Girls' Math Olympiad in China two
years ago. Thirteen girls from the United States have competed in the
last two years, according to the study, and all are of Asian descent
except one, Jennifer Iglesias.
The leader of those two teams, and of the United States Olympiad team
is Zuming Feng, who grew up in China and teaches math at Phillips
Exeter Academy in New Hampshire.
Dr. Feng says that in China math is regarded as an essential skill
that everyone should try to develop at some level. Parents in China,
he said, view math as parents in the United States do baseball, hockey
and soccer.
"Here everybody plays baseball," Dr. Feng said. "Everybody throws a
few balls, regardless of whether you're good at it, or not. If you
don't play well, it's O.K. Everybody gives you a few claps. But people
don't treat math that way."
A big part of the problem, Dr. Mertz and others say, is that while the
young math Olympians are wooed by elite colleges like Harvard and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as the country's
leading hedge fund firms, they are mostly invisible to the public.
"There is something about the culture in American society today which
doesn't really seem to encourage men or women in mathematics," said
Michael Sipser, the head of M.I.T.'s math department. "Sports
achievement gets lots of coverage in the media. Academic achievement
gets almost none."
Ana Caraiani, 23 and a graduate student in math at Harvard, is a two-
time Romanian International Olympiad gold medalist. "In Romania, math
is not considered as something you need to be a nerd to do," Ms.
Caraiani said. "Math is about being smart. It's about having
intuition. It's about being creative."
Still, she says, it was not easy excelling in mathematics as a girl in
Romania. In 2001, in fact, she was the first girl to make the
country's Olympiad team in 25 years.
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
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2. Campaigns Weigh In on Issues Affecting Women in STEM
From: Geoff Clayton [gclaytonfenway.phys.lsu.edu]
Earlier this summer, AWIS and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
submitted a list of questions to both the Obama and McCain campaigns
regarding the candidates' positions on issues which affect women in
STEM. With just 20 days left until the presidential elections, they've
received responses from both candidates. Go the AWIS web site:
http://www.awis.org/
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3. Mayo Greenberg Scholarship Prize
From: WIPHYS, Oct. 16, 2008
Leiden Observatory and the Leids Universiteitfonds have pleasure in
inviting applications for the fourth J. Mayo Greenberg Scholarship
Prize.
Mrs. Naomi Greenberg and family members of the late Professor J. Mayo
Greenberg, the distinguished Leiden astrophysicist, have generously
provided funds for this scholarship in memory of Professor
Greenberg. Additional funding provided by the Kruytbosch Legacy, the
Leids Universiteitfonds and Leiden Observatory will enable the
Scholarship Prize to be awarded annually.
The purpose of the prize is to provide an opportunity for a talented
graduate student to carry out research and/or receive education at
Leiden Observatory in one or more of the fields that were of interest to
Professor Greenberg. These include:
* Laboratory astrophysics,
* Dust in the early Universe,
* Dust in the Milky Way and other galaxies
* Comet formation,
* Origin of life.
Although applications will be considered from the whole world,
preference will be given to applicants resident in developing
countries. Candidates should have sufficient educational background in
the field to benefit from attendance at graduate courses or
participation in the research.
The Scholarship Prize will support a visit to Leiden for a maximum
duration of 9 months. In very exceptional circumstances there may be a
possibility of extending the visit for a longer period.
Applications for the 2009 Prize should be received before 30 November
2008. These should include (i) a curriculum vitae, with details of
relevant background, (ii) a statement containing the purpose for which
the grant is requested and (iii) a motivation for the
request. Applicants should arrange for 2 - 3 references to be sent under
separate cover. Applications should be addressed to:
Professor G.K. Miley,
Chairman, Selection Committee,
J. Mayo Greenberg Scholarship Prize,
Sterrewacht,
Postbus 9513, 2300 RA Leiden,
THE NETHERLANDS
Applications can also be sent via email to droststrw.leidenuniv.nl,
with the relevant documentation as attachments in MSWord, latex, pdf or
postcript format. The results of the selection will be announced on or
before 31 December 2008
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4.Tenure-Track Faculty Position, Theoretical Cosmology or
Particle Astrophysics, Syracuse University (Revised Ad)
From: WIPHYS, Oct. 10, 2008
The Department of Physics (http://physics.syr.edu) invites applications
for a tenure-track assistant professor position in theoretical cosmology
or particle astrophysics. The department currently has strong programs
spanning cosmology and particle physics, with theoretical, experimental
and computational components. We expect the successful applicant to have
interests that overlap with and complement these ongoing research
efforts. Applicants should have a clear record of research
accomplishments and a strong interest and ability to teach effectively
at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.
Candidates should visit http:www.sujobopps.com, search for Assistant
Professor/Physics (job #024592), and apply electronically.
All applications require a CV which includes both research and teaching
statements, and a list of three or four professional references. If you
have any questions please contact facultysearchphy.syr.edu. In
addition, three letters of recommendation should be forwarded to
facultysearchphy.syr.edu or mailed to Cosmology Search Committee,
Physics Department, Syracuse University, 201 Physics Bldg, Syracuse, NY
13244-1020.
Review of applications will begin December 1, 2008, and will continue
until the position is filled. Syracuse University is an affirmative
action/equal opportunity employer. Members of minority groups and women
are especially encouraged to apply.
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6. Access to Past Issues of AASWOMEN
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