Printer FriendlyProject Working WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) of the Center for Women and Work at the University of Massachusetts Lowell is pleased to announce:
"Intergenerational Voices on Women in Science and Engineering"
A National Science Foundation invitational working conference
Date: Friday, April 27, 2007
Place: Boston University Corporate Education Center, 72 Tyng Road, Tyngsboro, Ma. Directions: BU Corporate Education Center
The University of Massachusetts at Lowell will conduct a working conference that will gather an intergenerational and interdisciplinary community of racially and ethnically diverse scholars to have a dialogue about scholarship on workplace factors that are associated with women's success in STEM fields. The conference will bring together members of two primary cohorts who have done research on women and science - scholars whose research emerged in the 1960's and younger scholars who began their work in the 1990's. The conference will be developed through a participative planning process and will create publications for wide dissemination. Pre-conference activities will identify critical themes in past research. Following that, a working conference will engage a broader group of scholars in the discussion and formulation of these themes. A post-conference workshop will distill the results of the conference and help shape the various anticipated publications and communication and outreach activities. The intellectual merit derives from a grounding in the research literature on women and STEM and from an interdisciplinary, intergenerational and holistic approach. An Advisory Panel will assist a team of highly experienced and accomplished researchers in nominating leading scholars from key disciplines to participate.
The comprehensive and innovative design for establishing a serious research review includes a methodical review of the research, a citation analysis, the application of the Delphi method, and a planning meeting in preparation for the conference. The major results of the project will be: 1) a well organized analysis of what has been learned from past research in a wide range of disciplines about the attraction, retention, and advancement of women in STEM careers, 2) the articulation of the next generation of interdisciplinary questions that will guide research and practice in this area, 3) increased dialogue among scholars from two distinct age cohorts that will inspire both groups to establish cross-generational collaborations, and 4) scholarly publications that will inform the broader research and occupational community about the workplace-related factors that affect the status of women in STEM. The broader impact is that the interdisciplinary, intergenerational exchange will break new ground and stimulate future collaborative research.
As we embark on the 21st century, a majority of the scholars who have devoted their lives to the study of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are approaching retirement. Most of the substantive work of this conference will be the result of a collaboration between senior & junior scholars, thus transferring experience and knowledge, building research capacity and creating new networks in a scholarly community that is relatively small and scattered across disciplines. Also, the method of reviewing scholarly work will itself present an innovative model.
For more information contact:
Jody Lally, Project Manager
Tel: (978) 934-2727
Fax: (978) 934-4053