Empowering Women in STEM Through Collaborative Innovation

Duke University’s Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science (MEMS) and Computer Science are both in the top 20 Best Colleges for Women in STEM due to long-standing, visionary advances in supportive, collaborative education and research in these top fields. Analysts at Washington Monthly recently ranked institutions with these Duke departments leading the way. 

When Title IX was passed in 1972, it was done so to prohibit sex-based discrimination in schools and educational programs. Since then, women in the academic space have seen a steady increase in representation, but in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, experts say there’s plenty of room for progress. 

Back in 2017, the Pew Research Center found that 50 percent of women in STEM jobs said they had been discriminated against because of their gender, a significant contrast with the 40 percent in non-STEM fields. Hostile work environments and a lack of appropriate measures to combat workplace discrimination can drive otherwise qualified researchers out of the field.    

“Here at Duke, our academic department is especially welcoming,” said Cate Brinson, the Donald M. Alstadt Chair of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. “At the student level, our engineering design and mechanical design courses really tap into creativity.” 

And that translates to engaged faculty who continue to advocate for students wanting to tap into that kind of creative freedom in an engineering program. “From when I was an undergraduate at Duke to the moment I joined MEMS, I’ve always felt so connected and welcomed here,” said Rebecca Simmons, professor of the practice in MEMS.

“The faculty collaborate in ways that help all of our students, and it’s been such a special journey to be here all these years,” she said. 

Courses like the general freshman engineering design class are heavily represented by MEMS faculty and its curriculum. After instituting its First-Year Design Program, the retention rates in Duke Engineering over the first four semesters increased by more than five percent, with underrepresented groups showing even higher retention.

Students also self-reported a greater belief in themselves in the areas of engineering design and tinkering. Duke Engineering also just launched a new First-Year Computing course, led by Genevieve Lipp which emphasizes computational thinking and modular, collaborative programming. 

Brinson says offering these unique courses are important for bringing in students of all backgrounds and expertise, with the creative design and modular project aspects really peaking broad interest and engagement. It also helps that departments within the school of engineering are so actively collaborative.

“When I arrived at Duke seven years ago, I was working in an exciting new arena, coupling machine learning with materials science,” Brinson shared. “To make fundamental advances, I needed to team up with computer science colleagues, and that was when I reached out to Cynthia Rudin, who’s a computer science professor here.”

Brinson and Rudin hit it off immediately, working together on research methodology that focused on interpretable AI for scientific problems, using custom algorithms to discover new materials for medical imaging or to design multifunctional materials to support space exploration. 

“I gave Cynthia a cold call and she was immediately on board,” Brinson said. “Together, we have developed new educational programs and novel research directions at this intersection of AI and materials science. It’s been really great to see this passion for convergent research and education across the institution, not just here in MEMS.” Having visionary women leaders really helps inspire the next generation and bring more young women into STEM. 

And it isn’t just in mechanical engineering where Duke excels for women in STEM. 

The Department of Computer Science, housed within the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, ranks 17^th nationwide in percentage of recent graduates who are female.

This isn’t a new achievement for the department. Almost 50 years ago, when Duke approved the department’s major, one of the first two students to graduate from the program was a woman. Women continued to be well represented in the department’s student body until the ‘90s, but representation declined in the following decade. Now, things are looking up.

Jian Pei, chair of Duke Computer Science, said, “I am so proud to see Duke ranked among the top 20 best colleges for women in computer science. At Duke CS, we are deeply committed to empowering women in the field.

“Ensuring strong representation of women in computer science is critical not only for fostering diverse perspectives in research and innovation but also for addressing the growing need in tech for inclusive solutions that serve everyone and ensure fairness in opportunities in an AI-driven future.”

Joining Rudin among the department’s leaders in empowering women — and particularly women of color — is Nicki Washington, the Cue Family Professor of the Practice of Computer Science and Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies. One of Washington’s classes, CS 240: Race, Gender, Class, & Computing, which has reached hundreds of students, teaches social justice concepts in a CS context, educating students on the pervasive impacts of biases such as racism, sexism and homophobia in the field.

Washington’s work to make computing more inclusive exemplifies how scholars can foster systemic change. Her efforts to increase CS education diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have been nationally recognized.

Among such efforts, Washington serves as the director of the Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education (AiiCE), an National Science Foundation (NSF) INCLUDES Alliance dedicated to broadening participation in computing through a collective impact approach. She also founded and directs the Cultural Competency in Computing (3C) Fellows Program, which has trained over 320 faculty, administrators and staff from 80 organizations in five countries on systemic change, policies and personal practices for inclusion.

Susan Rodger, professor of the practice of computer science, is also an agent of change. Like Washington, her efforts to diversify computer science extend far beyond Duke’s walls. She co-chairs the recently funded Computing Research Association’s Committee on Widening Participation (CRA-WP), which is an NSF Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) Alliance seeking to increase diversity and address systemic barriers in computing.

And the department wants to take its efforts to increase women representation in CS even further — or rather, sooner. Earlier this year, it hosted the end-of-term dinner for the Women and Mathematics Mentoring Program (WAM), a group founded to provide eighth-grade girls studying in Durham Public Schools the opportunity to visit and learn about careers in STEM.

Pei concluded, “By supporting women at every stage of their academic journey and actively working to close gender gaps in STEM, we hope to build a robust, vibrant community of future technology leaders.”