Stony Brook University is one of the best research school’s in the country. But when it comes to gender equality in its STEM departments, SBU is far from the best. Out of more than 70 faculty members in the math department, 12 are women. And in physics, there are only seven women out of nearly 80 faculty members. But some of these ladies are making efforts to change this inequality.
The Girl Power in STEM: Be Bold for Change event on campus Saturday honored women and their achievements in male-dominated science and engineering fields.
Kristine Horvat SOT:
"Being a woman in science, people don’t expect it," event coordinator Kristine Horvat said. "When I meet some people for the first time and I say what my career is, they’re shocked. I am such a big fan of getting the word out that STEM is a field that woman can pursue and can succeed in."
Successful women like neuroscientist, Susana Martinez-Conde, the daughter of a stay-at-home mother and a merchant sailor father in A Coruña, Spain, is the first scientist in her family.
But even with her great success, Susanna still faces challenges as a woman.
"For a TV show that I consulted for and I participated on camera, they didn’t want me to be in a segment by myself because their audience is males," she said.
And then there’s her Hispanic nationality.
"They want me to participate in some sort of a documentary or TV show but not really because my accent makes me really hard to be understood," Susana said. "I don’t think that my accent is so hard to understand, but I have been told these kinds of things."
In January, the National Science Foundation reported that women in the U.S. filled 30 percent of positions in science and engineering occupations in 2015. Hispanic women were one of the least prevalent, accounting for only two percent of positions.
Thomas Breeden, chairman of the physical science department at Suffolk Community College, says their gender-balanced faculty of 9 women and 9 men is crucial for the department’s success.
"You get a better team when you have different types of people involved," he said. "A large number of women, as well as men faculty, provides that leavening. You get a balanced perspective and you end up with a better product. You end up with better students better department."
Being better and doing your best, Susana says, is the key.
"It can feel insurmountable at some times, but if you stay the course and you continue on, the prejudice that I face today I’m sure that there is still some of it happening there, but it’s become much harder for me to identify it because, for the most part, people respect me and respect my work," she said.
The event came just four days before International Women’s Day March 8, where all women’s achievements, not just those in STEM, are honored.
