Careers in science, engineering and medicine offer opportunities to advance knowledge, contribute to the well-being of communities, and support the security, prosperity and health of the United States. However, many women do not pursue or persist in these careers, or they don’t advance to leadership positions because they face barriers, including: implicit and explicit bias; sexual harassment; unequal access to funding and resources; and pay inequity, among others. 

Brown University alumna Ashley Bear, senior program officer at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, recently joined the Carney Institute for Brain Science for a conversation focused on addressing the underrepresentation of women in STEM. Bear is the study director of the 2020 report “Promising Practices for Addressing the Underrepresentation of Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine.” The report looks at the underrepresentation of women in STEM and offers practices for addressing this issue.

The event was moderated by Diane Lipscombe, Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani Director of the Carney Institute, Janet Blume, deputy dean of the faculty and chair of sociology, and Sohini Ramachandran, interim director of the Data Science Initiative and director of the Center for Computational Molecular Biology.