| January
4, 2006
UIC
Receives $1.2 M to Study Women in Science Networks
University of Illinois
at Chicago researchers have received a $1.2 million National Science
Foundation grant to study how social and professional networks affect
the careers of women scientists and engineers.
Julia Melkers and Eric Welch, UIC associate professors of public administration,
and assistant professor Sharon Mastracci will use the three-year grant to focus
on such networks in academia and government.
Melkers said anecdotal evidence suggests that women scientists and engineers
advance further if they network strategically early in their careers, but the
researchers want to understand why.
"The networks that offer resources and direct participation are
opaque and complex," she said. "We seek to open the 'black
box' of how networks operate."
Although women account for more than half of the professionals in biological
and social sciences, their numbers are disproportionately low in other scientific
fields, the researchers said.
Women account for only 21 percent of engineering faculty members in the United
States, according to NSF statistics. The growing number of women who hold doctoral
degrees in science and engineering hold fewer academic positions than men, particularly
at higher ranks, and are more likely than men to work part-time or not at all.
The study will address:
- The effect of
networking on women's productivity, faculty rank, organizational position,
salaries and job satisfaction.
- Characteristics
of networks in specific disciplines and their influence on the professional
advancement of women.
- Factors that lead scientists and engineers, particularly women scientists, to
actively participate in formal and informal networks.
- Possible differences between women's and men's participation in science networks.
The researchers will map the characteristics of networks; correlate the characteristics
with productivity, rank, position, salary and job satisfaction; and do a comparison
with the same data for men.
UIC ranks among the nation's top 50 universities in federal research funding
and is Chicago's largest university with 25,000 students, 12,000 faculty and
staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of
the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students
and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners
in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas
around the world. For more information about UIC, please visit www.uic.edu - UIC - |
