If not, it just might be because today, more than sixty-five years after the death of radium s codiscoverer, relatively few women have entered the field. Two Mount Holyoke professors are trying to improve these numbers through a high-tech mentoring initiative they created to encourage future Madame Curies.
Research repeatedly points to the importance of mentoring in the retention of women in the sciences.
According to Catherine Jay Didion, executive director of the Association for Women in Science, There is no better way to encourage women to enter the sciences than to create interaction between students and female scientists in industry, government, or academia. To ensure that physics students are getting the mentoring boost they need, Janice Hudgings, Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Physics, and Becky Wai-Ling Packard, assistant professor of psychology and education, have brought a NASA robot builder, a prosthetic limb developer, an acoustical consultant, and other specialists into the classroom via a new interactive Web site. Having access to these successful scientists, many of whom are alumnae of the College, is transforming the way students are thinking about their own potential to pursue a career in physics. Cirino recently became the first person in her family to graduate from high school and begin a college career. But then someone sees potential in you and helps you to turn everything around.