A Winning Formula for Women in Science: Curiosity, Access, Mentorship

The world could use more women like Frances Arnold. A very cool chemical engineer at the California Institute of Technology, she was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in chemistry for her pioneering work on the directed evolution of enzymes, work that could be used to produce everything from renewable fuels to pharmaceutical compounds.

It would be great to have more women like Jenny Tung, too. An evolutionary biologist and geneticist who teaches at Duke, Tung received a 2019 MacArthur genius grant for her groundbreaking studies of baboons and macaques, focusing on the correlations between social environmental factors and genomic variation, and their impact on health and longevity. Might there be similarities in human populations? She has said she would like to do some comparative work with researchers to find out.

Or how about a few more women like Kiara Nirghin? In 2016, at the age of 16, Kiara won the grand prize at the Google Science Fair for inventing a polymer from orange peels and avocado skin that greatly increases resistance of crops to drought. Now she’s a student at Stanford and a vocal advocate for women in STEM programs. 

I marvel at the achievements of these amazing women and others like them. I’m excited, too, that there are many more bright young women coming into their own—perhaps some even graduating (virtually!) this month—thanks to dedicated educators and mentors and STEM programs that are bringing more young women into science. There’s so much to look forward to and celebrate. In fact, according to the National Science Foundation, the number of women focusing in the life sciences nearly tripled between 1993 and 2015, with the number of women social scientists more than doubling during that same period. Times are changing for the better. 

But there remains a great deal of work to be done.

According to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, less than 30% of the world’s researchers are women. And the National Girls Collaborative Project, which is partially funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, notes that black women represent only 2.7% of those earning doctorate degrees in science and engineering, while only an additional 3.6% are Latina. These numbers, needless to say, are unacceptably low.

We can improve these numbers if we start young. I know that from experience. I was lucky enough to have parents in the sciences so, growing up, my sisters and I understood that science was something to love. Our parents made it accessible and fun. My mother conducted science experiments at the kitchen table, and I loved watching my father relish working through complex mathematical equations for the P Chem and Quantum Mechanics classes he would teach that week. Thanks to them, a relentless curiosity and intense desire to learn was embedded in us, providing the stimulus needed—early experiences many women in science seem to have in common. 

But the truth is, far too many young women drift away from science, technology, engineering and math at some point during their schooling. Sometimes peer pressure, gender bias and other factors at play in middle school begin to erode serious interest in STEM. That’s why it’s so important for schools to have classroom and out-of-classroom curricula and cultures that engage young girls, give them hands-on experience, and teach them that experimentation, risk, and sometimes even failure are all worthy of embracing.

Just as importantly, girls and young women need mentors—teachers, college professors, family members, and supervisors—to encourage and challenge them. These people are out there. And they can make a big difference. I’m so encouraged when I hear about leaders and mentors who promote and support talented women. One who stands out as a shining example: Lloyd Minor, Dean of Stanford University School of Medicine, who has appointed four women among the past seven clinical department chairs recruited to Stanford.

The world needs more scientists dedicated to making life healthier, safer and more prosperous. Let’s make sure that many of them—many more than ever before—will be women scientists. That will be better for science, better for women, and better for us all.