The University of Nebraska-Lincoln held its first Women in Physics Conference this weekend, with more than 100 women — and men — participating from all over the nation and Puerto Rico.
Twenty-five physics students from UNL also participated, with men outnumbering women 4-to-1. The students who traveled from various states, however, were mostly women.
“We don’t want to exclude men,” said Axel Enders, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at UNL. “We want to have a conference where they can participate alike, but the reason it’s called ‘Women in Physics’ is to encourage more women to come, to sort of balance the ratio.”
In general, more men pursue degrees in physics than women. At UNL, about 20 percent of the undergraduate physics majors are women and 80 percent are men.
There are also fewer female physics professors. The most recent survey conducted by the American Institute of Physics found that physics faculty positions held by women have increased from 10 percent to 13 percent since 2002, but 43 percent of physics departments have no women on their faculties.
“The idea here is that we would like to get women excited about physics,” Enders said. “We want to show them how they can have careers in physics.”
The three-day event that began Friday was packed with presentations, lectures and inspirational talks. Susan Enders, an assistant professor of engineering mechanics at UNL presented her research, titled, “Get Attached.”
“The title is kind of a double meaning,” Susan Enders said. “One, because I’m talking about attachment systems in nature — how can a fly walk on the ceiling, how can a gecko walk on the walls — and I want to interest people. You have to get attached to a new way of thinking.”
Axel Enders believes one of the reasons women don’t go into physics is because it’s a male-dominated environment. He said ideally, there would be an equal number of men and women in physics, but his long-term goal is increasing women’s ratio to 30 or 40 percent.
“It’s not that women don’t like physics or can’t do it,” Axel Enders said. “It’s really like they don’t like the environment. That’s why we do this conference, to show them they can just as easily succeed.”
Susan Enders said she thinks women are drawn away from physics as early as childhood.
“If the girl is interested in working with dad and cars, someone might say, ‘Oh, no, you’re getting dirty,’ etcetera,” Susan said. “It’s in our culture.”
Maria Becker and Eric Norrgard, senior physics and math majors at UNL, presented their undergraduate research projects at the conference after being nominated by their professors.
Norrgard said he was proud of his research on producing spin polarized electrons and said he was excited to share it with his physicist peers.
“It’s my first chance to really share what I’ve been doing,” Norrgard said.
Becker said she decided to be a physics major because she has always enjoyed science. She grew up on a farm in Hartington, Neb., but even though her parents would have preferred she stay closer to home, she said it wasn’t right for her.
“The first thing was astronomy,” Becker said. “I always liked science classes, always wanted to understand things at the most basic level.”
As part of the minority gender in physics, Becker said she has never witnessed or experienced discrimination within the field. It’s the people outside the physics realm that don’t understand.
“Outside of physics, I get a lot of shocked reactions,” she said. “(Physics is) the last thing they would expect me to do, mainly because I am female.”
At the conference Becker presented her research on measuring atmospheric conditions with laser radar systems.
The two women from UNL participating in the event agreed that women need to be in physics.
Susan Enders said it’s important to have input from men and women in physics because their problem-solving techniques vary and add different elements to research.
Becker said with all of the cutting-edge research that is being done, it’s important to share it with men and women alike, so they can build on it.
“Being a girl doesn’t exclude from being good in math and physics,” Susan Enders said. “You shouldn’t be afraid of getting dirty and doing practical, logical work. There should be encouragement in schools and at home. And there should be no limits.”
ellenhirst@dailynebraskan.com
Conference aims to attract more women to physics
Published: Sunday, November 1, 2009
Updated: Sunday, November 1, 2009
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