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Gender differences in science and engineering (S&E) have been studied in various countries. Most of these studies find that women are underrepresented in the S&E workforce and publish less than their male peers. The factors that contribute to gender differences in experience and performance in S&E careers can vary from one country to another, yet they remain underexplored. This paper is among the first to systematically compare gender differences in the publication productivity of academic scientists and engineers with doctoral degrees in the U.S. and China. Findings from negative binomial regressions show that women publish less than their male counterparts in science but not in engineering in the U.S. In China, women do not differ from men in publication productivity in science but publish more than their male counterparts in engineering. In addition, we find that some background variables affect men's and women's publication productivity differently. The findings are analyzed in the context of the different cultures of the two fields (science vs. engineering) and of the two countries (the U.S. and China). Limitations and policy implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little research has examined the associations between perceived inclusivity within informal science learning sites, youth program belonging and perceptions of program career preparation. This study explored relations between these factors at three timepoints (T1 = start of program, T2 = 3 months and T3 = 12 months after start). Participants were a diverse sample of 209 adolescents participating in STEM youth programs within informal science learning sites situated in the United States and United Kingdom (70% females: Mage = 15.27, SDage = 1.60), with 53.1% British and 64.1% non-White. Path analysis revealed that only perceptions of inclusivity for own social identity group (i.e., gender, ethnicity) at T1 were associated with T2 STEM youth program belonging. There was a significant indirect effect of T1 perceptions of inclusivity for one's own social identity groups on T3 perceptions of program career preparation via T2 program belonging. This study highlights that, over time, perceptions of inclusivity around youth's own social identity groups (i.e., gender and ethnicity/culture) are related to a sense of youth program belonging, which in turn is later associated with perceptions of program career preparation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Numerous efforts worldwide have been made to increase diversity in engineering and computer science (ECS), fields that pay well and promote upward mobility. However, in the United States (U.S.), females and students from underrepresented racial/ethnic minority groups (URM) still pursue ECS training far less than do their peers. The current study explored sex and racial/ethnic differences in ECS college enrollment as a function of math and verbal SAT score patterns (balanced or imbalanced) using an intersectional approach within a U.S. context. Data represented a census of students who took the SAT, graduated from all Virginia public high schools between 2006 and 2015, and enrolled in a 4-year college (N = 344,803). Results: Our findings show, within each sex, URM students were at least as likely as their non-URM peers to enroll in ECS programs when they scored within similar SAT score ranges. Students were more likely to enroll in ECS programs if their SAT profile favored math, compared to students with similar math and verbal SAT scores (balanced profile). This overall pattern is notably less pronounced for URM female students; their propensity to major in ECS appeared to be largely independent of verbal scores. Conclusions: Our findings inform strategies to diversify ECS enrollment. If programs continue to emphasize SAT scores during admission decisions or if more systemic issues of resource allocation in secondary schools are not addressed, other efforts to broaden participation in ECS programs may fall short of goals. Our findings also highlight the importance of considering the intersection of sex and race/ethnicity for recruitment or other educational promotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prolific (exceptionally high producers of scholarly publications) are strategic to the study of academic science. The highly prolific have been drivers of research activity and impact and are a window into the stratification that exists. For these reasons, we address key characteristics associated with being highly prolific. Doing this, we take a social-organizational approach and use distinctive survey data on both social characteristics of scientists and features of their departments, reported by US faculty in computer science, engineering, and sciences within eight US research universities. The findings point to a telling constellation of hierarchical advantages: rank, collaborative span, and favorable work climate. Notably, once we take rank into account, gender is not associated with being prolific. These findings have implications for understandings of being prolific, systems of stratification, and practices and policies in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of STEM career occupations is outpacing the college enrollment of STEM students in the United States. There have been many research projects investigating this issue. There has not however been a study which investigated the impact non-fiction literature has on student interest in studying STEM (specifically engineering) content. The purpose of this study was to investigate the change of student attitudes toward engineering after reading literature involving non-fiction engineering centric narratives. The study used a modified version of the PATT (Pupils Attitudes Towards Technology) called the TEAS (Technology and Engineering Attitudes Scale) to measure student attitude change. The students were high-school aged students in the United States (ages: 15-17) who were enrolled in an English Literature course. The students completed the TEAS before and after reading and studying two engineering and technology centric non-fiction books (The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind and October Sky). The data revealed that student attitude after reading and studying the two books did not statistically change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with Cyrus Wadia, former assistant director of Clean Energy Materials Research and Development, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), is presented. When asked about the launch of the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI), he shares that he considered the issue of time to market when exploring ways to advance the materials science and engineering community. He describes the evolution of materials development. He discusses the role of professional society in MGI.

Our subject is how the experience of Americans with a certain funding criterion, 'broader impacts' (and some similar criteria) may help in efforts to turn the European concept of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) into a useful guide to funding Europe's scientific and technical research. We believe this comparison may also be as enlightening for Americans concerned with revising research policy. We have organized our report around René Von Schomberg's definition of RRI, since it seems both to cover what the European research group to which we belong is interested in and to be the only widely accepted definition of RRI. According to Von Schomberg, RRI: '... is a transparent, interactive process by which societal actors and innovators become mutually responsive to each other with a view to the (ethical) acceptability, sustainability and societal desirability of the innovation process and its marketable products (in order to allow a proper embedding of scientific and technological advances in our society).' While RRI seeks fundamental changes in the way research is conducted, Broader Impacts is more concerned with more peripheral aspects of research: widening participation of disadvantaged groups, recruiting the next generation of scientists, increasing the speed with which results are used, and so on. Nevertheless, an examination of the broadening of funding criteria over the last four decades suggests that National Science Foundation has been moving in the direction of RRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]