Shrinking the gender divide; Spotlighted by a Siemens win, more girls are succeeding in math, science fields typically dominated by males

When they won the team prize in a national math and science competition earlier this month, Janelle Schlossberger and Amanda Marinoff became instant celebrities - not only for their tuberculosis research, but because of their gender.

The Plainview girls, both 17, and a Pennsylvania teen who won the individual prize, made history: It was the first time in the nine years of the prestigious Siemens Competition that girls swept the top spots.

Marinoff understood the significance of their victory.

"I hope our success refutes the stereotype that women can't do science," she said.

Experts say the three winners are part of a trend: More girls and women are getting involved - and succeeding - in math and science than ever before.

"It's a moment in history when girls can come into their own," said Mary Lou O'Donnell, independent research coordinator for the Plainview-Old Bethpage district, "and not be embarrassed to excel at science."

Gaps in tests, jobs shrinking

Still, persistent gaps between girls and boys in math and science standardized test scores remain, as well as gaps, advocates say, in professional opportunities. The gaps are narrowing, though, in part because of girls' increasing involvement in math and science classes.

"A reason that girls' math scores have gone up faster than boys' is that more girls are taking more challenging math courses," said Brian O'Reilly, executive director of SAT program relations for the College Board.

Achievements by girls can be seen at all levels. Long Island educators say girls generally are just as interested and involved in math and science as boys.

Since Long Beach High School's science research program began six years ago, the number of girls in the program has increased from 25 percent to 60 percent, said science chairwoman Karen Bloom.

Girls outnumber boys in a crime scene investigation program where fourth- and fifth-graders do fingerprint analysis and code breaking at New Lane Elementary in Selden, said Colleen Annicelli, director of math, science and research for the Middle Country school district.

At Rocky Point High School, Kent Tillinghast's advanced placement biology class has more girls than boys, he said.

One student, Nicole Grudier, 17, said the girls are not intimidated by boys in the class - reversing a long-standing stereotype about girls in science. "We like saying that we know something," she said. "We're not ... quiet about it, especially the girls."

The college continuum

In college, where women outnumber men nationally in general enrollment, women earn a much greater percentage of degrees awarded in engineering, computer science, physical sciences and biology compared with decades ago.

At SUNY Old Westbury, women nearly equaled men in the math and statistics bachelor's degree program last year, according to data supplied by SUNY. At Stony Brook University, the number of women enrolled in undergraduate engineering nearly tripled from 1996 to last year. Women outnumbered men last year in bachelor's and doctoral programs in biological and biomedical sciences, SUNY statistics show.

Stony Brook's Women in Science and Engineering mentoring program has a component at several local high schools, including Comsewogue in Port Jefferson Station. Brittany Barnett, 16, a junior interested in ecology, joined the program last year and said she enjoys studying science in the company of other girls.

"In my AP physics class, I'm the only girl," Barnett said. "It's kind of weird."

Males still dominating

Her experience underlines one aspect of the growing involvement of girls in math and science: Boys still dominate many of those disciplines, particularly calculus and physics.

At Kings Park High School, where Jane Schoch is science research adviser, there are more than twice as many boys in the program she runs.

At Stony Brook last year, there were more men than women in bachelor's and doctoral degree programs in computer science, engineering, math and physical science.

In SUNY Old Westbury's physical science bachelor's program, there were half as many women as men last year. At Nassau and Suffolk County community colleges, men greatly outnumber women in associate degree programs in computer science and engineering.

That dichotomy - of girls' expanding involvement still falling short of boys' participation - is mirrored in test results. It begins in elementary school, where boys outscore girls by about three points on standardized math and science tests, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Scores on the math portion of the SAT taken by girls during their senior year of high school have been rising for years - but still lag significantly behind boys' scores. On the ACT exam, girls' math scores are higher than ever, but so are boys' scores. In math and science, boys score significantly higher.

Career assumptions prevail

Similarly, women continue to lag behind when it comes to math and science careers.

The gap exists for many reasons, experts say. Fewer women role models in science and math contribute to girls losing interest in those pursuits. Prevailing assumptions that women are not as skilled in those fields and that inflexible research schedules will interfere with family responsibilities might worry employers.

Some hirers still believe a woman with a child won't perform her job properly or that a woman professor will not be as successful in placing a protege, said Phoebe Leboy, retired professor of biochemistry at the University of Pennsylvania and president-elect of the Association for Women in Science, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group.

"And so these young women look at the hurdles to being successful in these fields and say, 'I'm not going to make it,'" Leboy said.

Those assumptions - whether by those hiring or those seeking employment - can be difficult to change. "Even with significant gains by women," said Bryan Cook of the Washington- based American Council on Education, "it will take time to completely eradicate the gap."

A changing job field

Yet with a steady shift in involvement and assumptions, the gap slowly is closing.

Gayle Insler, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Adelphi University, said when she met her doctoral adviser in the 1970s, she was the first woman advisee he'd ever had. The man admitted, Insler said, to being worried women students would become pregnant and quit the program. "I think we've moved a long way from that," Insler said.

At Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, the number of women in the professional staff of 387 has increased from 10 percent to 16 percent over the past five years, said Bill Hempfling, director of human resources. And women, he said, make up 27 percent of "post-doctorals" - the people hired to renewable positions as part of "the pipeline of future scientists."

Many women in science and math, working to make sure girls enter and flow through that pipeline, believe the effort should begin in schools. Science and math should be taught in ways that excite girls about them, said Hofstra University associate professor of engineering Margaret Hunter. "They have lots of choices," she said, "so why do something that just doesn't seem interesting or pleasant?"

Hunter recently received a National Science Foundation grant to make community college science courses more "gender-friendly." For example, a professor who might assign a bridge project could assign a model theater, in the hope of broadening the project's appeal. "You gain more perspective by having women involved," she said.

Seeing success play key role

Role modeling also is critical. Seeing women succeeding in math and science careers empowers girls to follow, experts say. In Long Beach, science chairwoman Bloom attributed girls' increase in the research program in part to two girls from the program who placed fourth in the 2005 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

Brookhaven Women in Science, a group formed in 1979 at Brookhaven lab to increase awareness of women's accomplishments and provide role models, brings in girls to discuss careers with women scientists, engineers and other lab staff.

"The girls are seeing more and more women in science," said Schoch, the Kings Park research adviser, "and I think that's pretty influential."

That's why Schlossberger and Marinoff's success was so critical, experts say. Their victory at the Siemens competition provides a strong example to Long Island girls about what they can accomplish.

Iwao Ojima, the Stony Brook professor who mentored the Plainview duo, said, "I'm sure girl students who have certain ambitions in science and technology would want to follow their footsteps."

When asked about their own role models, Schlossberger and Marinoff had difficulty naming a woman in the sciences. Now they're blazing a trail for younger girls to follow. "I hope I can inspire other girls to follow their dreams," Schlossberger said.

Insler, the Adelphi dean, said the pair reflect the times.

"Women are excited," she said. "They know those doors are open for them, and they're walking through."

They help set an example

A. Hope Jahren

Age: 38

Profession: Professor of geobiology, Johns Hopkins University

Notable achievement: Jahren's research on weather history helps scientists better understand global warming.

Ellen Ochoa

Age: 49

Profession: Deputy director, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston

Notable achievement: Ochoa, who has spent more than 978 hours in space, is the first Hispanic woman to travel there.

Shirley Ann Jackson

Age: 61

Profession: President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Notable achievement: Jackson was the first black woman to earn a PhD in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Melissa Franklin

Age: 51

Profession: Professor of physics, Harvard University

Notable achievement: Harvard's first tenured female professor of physics, Franklin spoke against former university president Lawrence Summers' statement that women might not be equal to men in terms of science and math ability.

Tejal Desai

Age: 35

Profession: Associate professor of biomedical engineering, Boston University

Notable achievement: Desai created an implant that eliminated the need for daily insulin injections to control blood sugar for people with diabetes.

Flossie Wong-Staal

Age: 60

Profession: Co-founder and chief scientific officer of Immusol, a San Diego biotechnology company

Notable achievement: Credited as the co-discoverer of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, Wong-Staal was responsible for the first genetic mapping of HIV, which helped pave the way for the development of therapies for HIV/AIDS.

Girls getting technical

Who says girls aren't interested in math and science? Over the past three decades, the percentage of bachelor's and doctoral degrees in most math and science fields awarded to women has grown significantly.

Percentage of bachelor's degrees awarded

1979-1980 2004-2005

Engineering 9 18

Computer sciences 30 22

Physical sciences 24 42

Math 42 45

Biology/Life sciences 42 62

Percentage of doctoral degrees awarded

1979-1980 2004-2005

Engineering 4 19

Computer sciences 11 19

Physical sciences 12 28

Math 14 29

Biology/Life sciences 26 49

Shrinking gap

Meanwhile, the rise in SAT math scores among girls has outpaced that of boys over the past 14 years.

YEAR BOYS GIRLS DIFFERENCE

1993 524 484 40

1995 525 490 35

1997 530 494 36

1999 531 495 36

2001 533 498 35

2003 537 503 34

2005 538 504 34

2007 533 499 34

NOTE: Data reflect scores for college-bound seniors only