![\"Barnes,](\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/files\/2015\/08\/CC_BUL-August-p20-FirstPerson-Barnes2-2015.jpg\")
<\/a>Barnes, an assistant professor in the Environmental Program, is a principal investigator on a $1.7 million National Science Foundation grant titled \u201cImproving the recruitment and persistence of women in the geosciences: Exploring deliberate mentoring approaches aimed at undergraduate students.\u201d The initiative is a collaborative, multi-campus project that addresses two issues in STEM: underrepresentation of women in the earth sciences and shortcomings of existing studies addressing effective strategies for mentoring.<\/p><\/div>\n
Gender diversity in sciences is a problem that begins at the earliest stages of schooling \u2014with implicit stereotypes reinforced by both male and female teachers. Once in college, this bias is reinforced by the simple fact that many STEM departments have only one or two female faculty. (Note: Colorado College\u2019s Physics and Chemistry departments are an exception to this pattern.) This lack of diversity\u2014and thus availability of role models\u2014leads female students to feel disconnected from their chosen field of study. This sense of not belonging is identified as one of the largest barriers to the advancement and success of female students. In addition to the feeling of isolation, female scientists at all career stages continue to face a number of biases, which collectively add to the gender gap. A number of recent studies illustrate these biases. For example:<\/p>\n
In a 2012 study, researchers presented identical applications for a student lab manager position to faculty and simply changed the name (and thereby gender) of the applicant. Faculty determined that the male applicants were more competent, deserving of a higher salary and more worthy of mentorship than their female counterparts.<\/p>\n
In 2014, researchers reported that managers, looking to hire someone to do math, were two times more likely to choose the man; this ratio only improved slightly when the manager was presented performance data, suggesting that not only is there bias in hiring but also that managers are often not hiring the best person for the job.<\/p>\n
A 2014 study revealed that female faculty routinely receive worse evaluations than male faculty. An analysis of comments on the popular website Rate My Professor shows that female faculty were often described as \u201cbossy and annoying, beautiful or ugly\u201d while male faculty were described as \u201cbrilliant, awesome, and knowledgeable.\u201d These reviews are critical to faculty advancement, especially at teaching-oriented schools such as CC, and thus these student biases impact faculty retention.<\/p>\n