Uncovering the social organization of phd women's experiences in biology: An Institutional ethnography
My dissertation research focuses on the institutional practices of graduate STEM education and the process of socialization of women in graduate biology. Graduate school is the primary location where students are socialized to learn the accepted norms, values, behaviors, and attitudes of their specific discipline. STEM education is rooted in masculine norms, values, and discourses, and the masculine nature of STEM can create barriers for women to fit into these norms as they navigate their educational and professional experiences (Britton, 2017; Parson & Ozaki, 2018). While research on women in STEM has focused on man-dominated fields such as physics, computer science, and engineering, research suggests women in the life sciences also experience gender bias and systemic barriers to their persistence despite the increase in numbers at the undergraduate and graduate level (Adamo, 2013; Ballen et al., 2017; Begeny et al., 2020; Griffin et al., 2015; Grunspan et al., 2016; Grogan, 2019). Therefore, by examining the socialization processes at the institutional level in graduate school, my aim is to understand if and how gendered ideals are pervasive in the biological sciences and how that may impact the experiences of women who are pursuing academic science.
To address this issue, I will be using Institutional Ethnography (Smith, 2005) through the lens of Feminist Standpoint Theory (Harding, 2004; Hesse-Biber, 2014) to examine how institutional structures, processes, and discourses associated with graduate school and graduate student socialization in biology coordinate the everyday work of women. Through the lens of feminist standpoint theory, I will begin my inquiry from the lived experiences of women in biological sciences and expand to the practices, processes, and discourses that coordinate the actions of women biology students at the institutional level. Furthermore, I will be able to examine how systems of power and inequality organize and inform those experiences.
References: Adamo, S. A. (2013). Attrition of Women in the Biological Sciences: Workload, Motherhood, and Other Explanations Revisited. BioScience, 63(1), 43–48. https://doi.org/10.1525/bio.2013.63.1.9 Ballen, C. J., Salehi, S., & Cotner, S. (2017). Exams disadvantage women in introductory biology. PLoS ONE, 12(10), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186419 Begeny, C. T., Ryan, M. K., Moss-Racusin, C. A., & Ravetz, G. (2020). In some professions, women have become well represented, yet gender bias persists — Perpetuated by those who think it is not happening. Science Advances, 6(26), eaba7814. Britton, D. M. (2017). Beyond the Chilly Climate: The Salience of Gender in Women’s Academic Careers. Gender and Society, 31(1), 5–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243216681494 Griffin, K. A., Gibbs, Jr., K. D., Bennett, J., Staples, C., & Robinson, T. (2015). “Respect me for my science”: A bourdieuian analysis of women scientists’ interactions with faculty and socialization into science. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 21(2), 159–179. https://doi.org/10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2015011143 Grogan, K. E. (2019). How the entire scientific community can confront gender bias in the workplace. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 3(1), 3–6. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0747-4 Grunspan, D. Z., Eddy, S. L., Brownell, S. E., Wiggins, B. L., Crowe, A. J., & Goodreau, S. M. (2016). Males under-estimate academic performance of their female peers in undergraduate biology classrooms. PLoS ONE, 11(2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148405 Harding, S. (2004). The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader. The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader: Intellectual and Political Controversies, 1–15. www.routledge-ny.com%0Awww.routledge.co.uk Hesse-Biber, S. N. (2014). Feminist Research Practice: A Primer (Second). SAGE Publications, Inc. Parson, L., & Ozaki, C. C. (2017). Gendered Student Ideals in STEM in Higher Education. NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education, 11(2), 171–190. https://doi.org/10.1080/19407882.2017.1392323 Smith, D. E. (2005). Institutional Ethnography: A Sociology for People. AltaMira Press.
Teaching and Learning in Biology
My other research interests involve using the teaching and learning environment in biology education to promote equity and inclusion. This involves doing discipline-based education research (DBER) in biology, applying critical feminist pedagogy in the classroom, and teaching graduate students and faculty best practices for inclusive teaching.
Master's research
My Master's research examined the effect of incubation temperature on offspring sex ratio and fitness-relevant phenotypes of the African Redhead Agama (Agama picticauda) with Dr. Dan Warner at Auburn University. The goal of this research was two-fold: 1) to revisit the first report of temperature dependent sex determination (TSD) identified in African Redhead Agamas published by Madeline Charnier (1966) and 2) to test the Charnov-Bull hypothesis of adaptive significance of TSD (Charnov & Bull 1977). TSD is a form of environmental sex determination where offspring sex is determined by incubation temperature during the middle third of development and is most commonly found in turtles, crocodilians, and some species of lizards. Three patterns of TSD have been identified: low temperatures produce males and high temperatures produce females (MF), low temperatures produce females and high temperatures produce males (FM), and low and high temperatures produce females and moderate temperatures produce males (FMF). Charnier (1966) found that the African redhead agama had the FM pattern of TSD, however, newer work on TSD in Agamid lizards found sex ratios that were closer to the FMF pattern of TSD (Warner & Shine, 2011; El Mouden et al., 2001; Harlow & Shine, 1999). Therefore, we hypothesized that Agama picticauda would exhibit the FMF pattern of TSD. In fact, we found that incubation temperature induced a sex-ratio pattern similar to the FMF pattern in A. picticauda (Steele, Wibbels, & Warner, 2019). The developmental environment plays an important role in shaping the phenotypes and fitness-relevant traits of organisms. In species with TSD, research has documented the effect incubation temperature can have on fitness-relevant traits across life. Hypotheses about the adaptive significance of TSD have suggested incubation temperatures have a differential effect on fitness-relevant traits of males and females (Charnov & Bull, 1977). Therefore, the goal of the second part of my research was to assess the effects of incubation temperature on fitness-relevant phenotypes in a lizard species with TSD and investigate the Charnov-Bull hypothesis (Steele & Warner, 2020). We found that males and females had similar reaction norms for different phenotypes at hatching, but survival rates were different for males and females, where females from female-biased temperatures had greater survival than those from male-biased temperatures, and males produced at a female-biased temperature had low survival. This study provides evidence in support of the adaptive significance of TSD.
References: Charnier, M. (1966). Action de la temperature sur la sex-ratio chez l'embryon d'Agama agama (Agamidae, Lacertilien). C. R. Seances Soc. Biol. Fil. 160. 620-622. Charnov, E.L., & Bull, J.J. (1977). When is sex environmentally determined? Nature. 266. 828-830. El Mouden et al. (2001). Effects of incubation temperature on embryonic development and sex determination in the North African agamid lizard, Agama impalearis.Herpetol. J. 11, 101-108. Harlow & Shine (1999). Temperature-dependent sex determination in the frillneck lizard, Chlamydosaurus kingii (Agamidae). Herpetologica. 55. 205-212. Warner & Shine (20011). Interactions among thermal parameters determine offspring sex under temperature-dependent sex determination. Proc. Biol. Sci. 278. 256-265.