Discoveries

Science Women in STEM While STEM is still a male-dominated field, more women have found opportunities, so we met with science instructors Bonnie Flint and Cristina Macaraeg to learn about some of their experiences in the STEM world.

Throughout school history, the science department has yielded students who have gone into succesful carrers in STEM.

Now, students have dreams of starting the next tech giant, building the next great machine, solving the world’s greatest problem.

They have success on their minds. But what what those Marksmen don’t consider, what they don’t have to consider, is whether their gender will eliminate learning or even professional opportunities.

For years, however, that hypothetical has been a real issue for women.

But Dr. Bonnie Flint and Cristina Macaraeg are proof that this trend is changing.

Biology instructor Bonnie Flint has always been interested in science

“My main entrance into science was that from a very young age, I really was fascinated by animals,” said Flint. “In fourth grade, I heard the word ‘zoologist’ and after hearing that, I knew that was what I wanted to do.”

Flint’s fascination with animals carried all the way through high school, and eventually, she decided to major in behavioral ecology.

“I took a behavioral ecology class, or the first one that I took was an animal behavior class, by a professor who studied animal behavior,” Flint said. “At that time I was like, ‘This is it. This is my thing.’”

In both undergraduate and graduate school and in college, Flint noticed that a large majority of the students were female, contradicting prevailing stereotypes about women in STEM fields.

“It turns out that ecology is, at this point in time, mostly women,” Flint said. “In graduate school, the women in my departments outweighed the men probably like eight to one. There were way more women than there were men. Even at the level of the professors, there were definitely men professors in ecology, but there were just as many women.”

Flint believes that ecology does not actually suffer from discrimination for your gender like some other STEM fields have. Flint says that women experience a lot of resistance in is fieldwork though.

“The only place where sometimes people will doubt you is in fieldwork,” Flint said. “If you’re needing to go out and camp alone somewhere or be in the field by yourself, you’re gonna have people, usually men, who are going to say ‘Are you sure you can do that? I don’t think that’s safe.’ But they would do it in a heartbeat.”

Flint says that there were situations where people would doubt her just because she was a woman. This became very prevalent when Flint was doing fieldwork in Botswana.

“A lot of times what would happen, especially in Botswana, is I would be out in the field by myself,” Flint said. “I had a truck that I was driving out there, and you would get a flat tire. And I don’t even know how many times I changed a flat tire on a truck by myself. When nobody’s around, it doesn’t

Bonnie seem like a big deal. Flint Biology instructor But then people say, ‘You did that all by yourself in the sand and mud?’‘Yes, I did. What other option did I have?’”

Flint also mentioned that many times, people would refuse to accept her help.

“In the rainy season [in Botswana], it would get really muddy, and you had to be very careful when you drove,” Flint said. “When you’re driving through that kind of stuff, you can’t be cocky about it. A lot of other people would get stuck, and I would drive up to them and ask them if they needed help getting out. If it was a man, without fail, he would deny my help. It was like I’m castrating him, which is very ridiculous. But he just didn’t want a woman to be the one to save him.”

On the other hand, Chemistry Teacher Cristina Macaraeg has not experienced much resistance as a science teacher.

“I’ve been interested in science since middle school, so it made sense to me to major in science,” Macaraeg said. “I originally was going to premed, but eventually I ended up majoring in biophysical chemistry, which is a good mix of physical chemistry and biochemistry, plus lots of lab work. I really owe it to my professors and classmates for making it such an enjoyable experience.”

While Macaraeg said her teachers were very supportive, she did notice a lack of female professors while she was in college at Dartmouth.

“I had incredibly supportive professors and mentors at Dartmouth, and I felt like I had equal access and opportunity to pursue projects beyond the regular curriculum,” Macaraeg said. “It seemed as though the women in STEM at Dartmouth, whether they were professors or graduate students, made it a point to connect with us, so there was never a sense of being lost or overlooked. That said, there weren’t many women in tenured positions, and it was obvious that the ones there were working overtime to make sure we were stuck with it. ”

Macaraeg believes she is incredibly lucky with her experiences as a STEM teacher or even in the STEM community.

“As a high school science teacher, I haven’t faced particular hardships that are specific to being a woman in STEM,” Macaraeg said. “Within the STEM community, my colleagues have always been supportive. What’s interesting is the contrast between the STEM support I’ve received and the challenges I’ve faced in other male-dominated spaces – coaching and administration, for example.”

Macaraeg believes that for women to have more impact in all communities, they must start with the top.

“I think it will take a real shift in the mindset of many Americans to see women as capable leaders in STEM fields and beyond,” Macaraeg said. “The lack of women representation at the top, whether we are talking about elected officials in the United States, company CEOs or heads of school, plays into this idea that women are less-than, so until real progress gets made in these areas, it will likely remain the same.”

IN THE LAB

As more women join the STEM world, biology instructor Bonnie Flint and chemistry instructor Cristina Macaraeg (pictured) are leading the charge toward a new era of science, technology, engineering and math.

9 Discoveries

Environment

Director of Environmental Studies Dan Northcut explores the damage meat consumption can do to the environment. Page 10

In brief

GREEN MARK’S CLUB The Green Mark’s Club began its Lower School teaching program earlier this month. Last year, the program taught 2nd through 4th grade about water conservation, pollution and recycling. In late October, the club held a volunteering event at the Trinity River Audubon Center. More community service events will be planned throughout the year with organizations such as For the Love of the Lake.

QUIZ BOWL The quiz bowl team placed first in the Texas Quiz Bowl Alliance jamboree on Sep. 26. The team that won consisted of juniors Miki Gosh and Han Zhang, and seniors Ned Tagtmeier, and Aayush Goodapaty, beating James E. Taylor High School in the finals 715-55. This qualified them for nationals. The C team consisting of freshman Vardhan Agnihotri, Ethan Bosita, Arnav Lahoti, and Sid Bidare also qualified for nationals by making it to quarterfinals in the tournament.

ROBOTICS TEAM Since early September, the Robotics Team has met after school to prepare for the BEST Robotics competition in early November.. In previous years, the competition involved a large gathering of over thirty local schools, but due to health restrictions, this year’s competition will be conducted remotely by each participating school. Each team builds an obstacle field to compete on competition day, and a referee will come out to judge the completion of tasks compared to the other teams.