Karen Zunkel decided to become an engineer for the same reason as many people.

“ I liked science and math,” said Zunkel, the director of the Program for Women in Science and Engineering (PWSE) at Iowa State University.

But she says that is not the best reason for choosing engineering. The reason that Zunkel and others tell female students to choose majors, and careers, in science-, technology-, engineering- and mathematics-related (STEM) areas, is that they can find ways to help people and make an impact in the world.

Zunkel heads an organization aimed at educating students in kindergarten through 12th grade on what possibilities STEM careers can open up for women, as well as giving female students a support structure at Iowa State.

Overall, the percentage of undergraduate women enrolled in STEM majors at the three state universities has been relatively flat since 2000, rising from 35 percent that year to 37 percent in 2010, according to the latest report to the Iowa Board of Regents from the Iowa Math and Science Education Partnership, a coalition of representatives from the state universities. Though the total number of women enrolled has gone up steadily, the percentage has been stagnant since 2006.

Within the broad category, specific majors have very different numbers. For example, according to fall enrollment numbers at Iowa State, women made up 75 percent of those majoring in animal science, 71 percent in genetics and 59 percent in biology. However, women made up only 8 percent of those majoring in computer engineering, 9 percent in computer science and 8 percent in mechanical engineering.

Those numbers were up slightly since 2007, indicating a slow improvement, Zunkel said, but there is still work to be done.

Why not?

To understand why some STEM majors don’t seem to be attractive to women, Zunkel looks at what majors women are drawn to.

Though retention rates are essentially equal among both groups, women who start off in STEM majors and then switch tend to choose majors such as psychology, elementary education, child and family development and management-related majors, Zunkel said. In other words, “people-oriented programs.” Men tend to choose majors that are technology-related but not focused on working with people, such as management information systems and finance.

“So what can we do differently within engineering to make it seem that it’s more appealing, that you can help people by being an engineer?” Zunkel said. “There’s been a lot of efforts in our programs; there’s been a lot of efforts within individual departments in some cases.”

The PWSE tries to help students see the appeal of careers in STEM fields before they get to college through its kindergarten through 12th grade outreach programs. The group has six career conferences a year at Iowa State and also sends undergraduate students to classrooms across the state to do hands-on activities. Zunkel estimates that the PWSE reaches 9,000 students a year.

“The whole idea is to expose students to the possibility that science, technology, engineering and math careers are possibilities for women, and the impact that those careers can have on the world and society,” Zunkel said. “If I’m an electrical engineer, what can I do to help the world? – which is what the messages are that seem to relate well to women and girls in the K-12 arena.”

Other efforts

Getting more women involved in STEM areas is an important conversation, and one that university officials are having, said Diane Debinski, a professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology at Iowa State.

Debinski teaches a course on women in science and engineering and is also part of the ISU ADVANCE program, which is funded by a five-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant.

The NSF grant calls for the university to “change the climate,” part of which is ensuring that diverse candidates apply for and are considered for STEM positions at Iowa State. The latest report shows that only 18.9 percent of tenured and tenure-track faculty in STEM areas are women, and only 12.3 percent of faculty at the highest professorial level are women.

“The ADVANCE grant has actually made this topic something that the deans and the provost’s office are very aware of, and the chairs are very aware of,” Debinski said. “There’s still headway to be made in terms of full professors in almost all STEM fields.”

Still, she does think things are improving with added exposure.

The Women in Science and Engineering class is a 300-level course geared toward juniors and seniors. Debinski has students look at data, and talk about reasons women decide to leave STEM majors. She also has them read biographies of women who have been successful in STEM fields.

“The goal is to have them see (that women have been successful), but it’s also to get them to see what some of the challenges are and how they might be able to use that information to get around those problems, or to be aware as a person of what biases they bring to things and how they might be able to have a different perspective on the world,” Debinski said.

Diverse people, ideas

Why is it important to get women more involved in STEM areas, particularly areas where they are most under-represented?

One reason is demand.

“The demand for the technological work force is going to exceed the capacity of the white males or Asian males that traditionally go into this field,” Zunkel said.

The second reason is to get a variety of perspectives. Zunkel used the example of the emergence of Ford Motor Co.’s Windstar in the mid-1990s, in which Ford touted adding cup holders after engaging women in the design process.

“It’s a very simplistic answer, but Ford Motor Co. at the time did national TV ads that promoted how they were engaging women in the design process and the benefits that it made,” she said.

Debinski added: “You can’t really make huge generalizations, but I think the topics that women might opt to do research on in some cases are areas that would not be immediately thought of by men.”

A third reason, Zunkel said, is that there is money to be made in what are typically high-paying fields.

Things are improving, albeit slowly, she said, due partly to national and local efforts to recruit women into these fields, and partly because of efforts at Iowa State and elsewhere to change the perception of what someone in a STEM field can do.

“I’d say things are getting better,” said Debinski, who has been at Iowa State for more than 16 years. “I’ve seen some changes, but we still have a ways to go.”