HR: 11:50h
AN: ED32A-07    [Abstracts]
TI: Women, Minorities, and Interdisciplinary Research
AU: * Pfirman, S
EM: spfirman@barnard.edu
AF: Barnard College, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, United States
AU: Rhoten, D
EM: rhoten@ssrc.org
AF: Social Science Research Council, 810 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019, United States
AB: Two major issues face the scientific enterprise: the need to engage the next generation of scientists and the recognition that research frontiers don't necessarily fall within disciplinary lines. While research has focused on each of these trends independently, surprisingly few studies have considered how intellectual preferences for and professional consequences of interdisciplinary science might be influenced by one's gender. This presentation assembles some of the first empirical data on gender and interdisciplinarity, showing that women appear to be disproportionately involved in interdisciplinary science. It considers what draws women in this direction and explores the implications of such a tendency. Interdisciplinary research may present a promising angle by which to engage women in the scientific enterprise, and institutions interested in increasing interdisciplinary research may have a greater chance for success if they involve women. Similarly, institutions interested in increasing their diversity may have a greater chance for success if they value interdisciplinary scholarship, which is still an issue on most campuses where disciplinary departments dominate.
DE: 0830 Teacher training
DE: 0840 Evaluation and assessment
DE: 0850 Geoscience education research
DE: 0855 Diversity
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly