Growing up as a scientist, I didn’t see role models who looked like me. I grew up in a small town where my father was a physicist—and my role model. He nurtured me to be a scientist, just like him. I’m so grateful he didn’t have different expectations for my brothers and me. He always told me that I could be anything that I wanted. Today, I am a Ph.D. scientist, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Undersecretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology, and the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). All of these are professional roles that fulfill me and in which I’m incredibly honored to serve.
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During my career, I have seen that many women in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) have had similar experiences as they advanced in education and at work: A paucity of women in STEM has meant that some of our most impactful advocates and mentors have been people different from us.
This is changing as women increasingly enter STEM fields. According to the National Science Foundation, the STEM workforce increased by 20% in the decade ending in 2021. While women haven’t yet achieved parity with men in STEM fields, the number of women entering STEM fields increased faster (by 31%) than the number of men entering STEM (up 15%). Today more than ever, women can look around their labs and offices and see younger versions of themselves conducting experiments, analyzing data and designs, writing code and equations, and running algorithms.
While the data are encouraging, America needs still more diversity in STEM fields. As a scientist and leader of technical organizations, I’ve seen the positive effect that diversity and representation have on science. Work groups with more diversity are more creative. Their solutions to technical and other problems are more innovative.
Further, if we don’t recruit more people who have been underrepresented in STEM, some fields will face a potentially devastating shortfall in degree holders. For example, when you map the projected growth of the U.S. semiconductor sector with the current rate at which technical degrees are granted, the industry may have roughly 67,000 unfilled jobs at the end of the decade.
To fill this gap, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo has called for the nation to triple the number of graduates in semiconductor-related fields, including engineering. To do that, we must bring more women and people of color into the workforce. Currently, women represent just 10%–25% of the semiconductor industry, and historically underrepresented groups make up only 20%.
CHIPS for America, which is being implemented by NIST, is encouraging workforce strategies to ensure a highly skilled, diverse workforce to meet the program’s goal of establishing a semiconductor manufacturing and research and development base in the United States. And women are a big part of this equation.
Representation matters. When people learn about the achievements of people with whom they identify, they believe they can achieve, too. Role models and mentors also can help people from underrepresented groups with the skills and support they need to overcome barriers to becoming a STEM professional.
In response to Secretary Raimondo’s call for more women in the semiconductor workforce, women who are STEM professionals within the U.S. Department of Commerce have committed to act.
On March 18, 2024, I participated in the launch of the Women in STEM Ambassador Program. These ambassadors will participate in programs at schools, colleges, and conferences to raise awareness about opportunities for women in the semiconductor industry, and inspire interest in engineering and related STEM fields. As an ambassador, I’m proud to be a part of this group and will continue to use my role as NIST director to encourage women to pursue careers in STEM.
The Women in STEM Ambassador Program, along with CHIPS for America workforce programs, are about much more than addressing a shortage of skilled professionals. Such programs help make our economy work for everyone by expanding access to good jobs that include women, people of color, veterans, persons with disabilities, and rural populations.
This year’s Women’s History Month theme is “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.” Will you join me as an advocate for change?
By mentoring, showing, and encouraging representation, you can advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion. A study by the University of Massachusetts showed that just four meetings between female mentors and female engineering students increased students’ feelings of belonging, confidence, and motivation, and increased their ambitions to pursue a postgraduate engineering degree.
You can also contribute to safe, inclusive spaces with your empathy and leadership. Use your position in your community and at your job to help other voices be heard. Stand up to inequalities when you see them. Inspire change, inspire others to change, and be part of creating a more diverse and equitable future for all.
Published March 21, 2024, here, and republished by NIST.
Comments
We cannot afford to waste human potential
A new "waste" in the Toyota Production System context is waste of human potential (the eighth waste). A country that does not welcome and include women at all levels in its workforce is wasting half of its human potential; the same principle applies to not welcoming anybody who can do the job due to his/her EEOC-protected characteristics.
As stated by the author, in fact, there is an impending shortage of STEM professionals which is actually a replay of the situation we faced during the Second World War. When men joined or were drafted into the Armed Forces, we had a skilled labor shortage in our factories that was filled successfully by Rosie the Riveter; we learned quickly that women could in fact be machinists, welders, shipfitters, quality inspectors, and so on.
The attitude of the Axis was, however, quite different as reported by the National World War II museum. "The Axis powers, on the other hand, were slow to employ women in their war industries. [Germany] derided Americans as degenerate for putting their women to work." That obviously did not work out very well for them. We need to carry over the same attitude into today's era to ensure that we use all of our country's human potential.
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