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ABSTRACT: Hollywood actress Danica McKellar graduated summa cum
laude from UCLA with a degree in math and coauthored the
"Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem" on "Percolation and Gibbs state
multiplicity for ferromagnetic Ashkin-Teller model on Z2." McKellar
has been quoted thusly: "Nobody out there is saying that smart is
sexy and smart is important. Role models like Paris Hilton have
everything to do with why this country is being dumbed down. We need
better PR." To that end McKellar has authored a book ""Math Doesn't
Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math Without Losing Your Mind or
Breaking a Nail." But the book might better have been aimed at
college graduates. Stanford's Jo Boaler has stated that girls and
boys achieve at similar levels in mathematics through school and at
the undergraduate level, but after college the numbers drop off.
According to Stanford's Londa Schiebinger women earn 46 percent of
undergraduate math degrees in this country but represent only 8
percent of math professors (she probably meant math full professors).
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Paul Hickman, in his CTP-L (AAPT Committee on Teacher Preparation)
post of 15 Aug 2007 09:49:03-0400 titled "Winnie and Math," wrote
(slightly edited):
"I see [from USA Today (2007)] that last week's ABC News Person of
the Week, Danica McKellar, is also making the papers too. . . .[in
addition to physicists Bob Beichner, John Belcher, Eric Mazur, &
Carl Wieman in "The Tough Road to Better Science Teaching" [Brainard
(2007)]. . . . . I remember her as Winnie from Wonder Years but did
not know that she graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a degree
in mathematics."
How else could she have broken into Hollywood? ;-) According to USA
Today (2007):
"In high school [Danica McKellar] aced her math SAT and AP calculus
exam and took a chance on a math degree at UCLA after some initial
trepidation. 'I didn't think that college math was for me. I didn't
think I'd be able to hack it,' McKellar said. 'And that perception of
math not being for girls, not being for girls who see themselves as
socially well adjusted has got to change.' After graduating summa cum
laude with a degree in math and a PUBLISHED PHYSICS THEOREM, McKellar
realized she had something to offer off-screen."
As I indicated in a post "Proof and Prejudice: Women in Mathematics
and Physics" [Hake (2006)], the theorem is known as the
"Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem" - see Chayes, McKellar, & Winn
(1998)]. Nothing less would have gotten her a starring role in
"Wonder Years" <http://web.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~t93272at/wonder.html>.
For those who wish to dig deeper, in Hake (2006) I wrote [bracketed
by lines "HHHHHH. . . ."]:
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Rick Reis (2006) in "Tomorrow's Professor" Message #717 "Proof and
Prejudice: Women in Mathematics" wrote:
"The posting below looks at culture of mathematics in the U.S. and
women's experience as professional mathematicians. The article. . .
.[Trei (2006)]. . . is by Lisa Trei and is based on a conference
"Proof and Prejudice: Women in Mathematics," sponsored by the
Stanford Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWG) . .
.[<http://www.stanford.edu/group/IRWG/>]. . . on Feb. 7, 2006 and
is reprinted with permission."
Herewith is a portion of Trei's report [bracketed by lines "TTTTTT. .
. ."; my inserts at " . . .[....]. . ."; my CAPS]:
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
Mathematics has a public relations problem in this country,
particularly among some girls and women, according to Hollywood
actress Danica McKellar . . .
.[<http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005211/>]. . ..
"Nobody out there is saying that smart is sexy and smart is
important," said MCKELLAR, THE CO-AUTHOR OF A MATHEMATICAL PROOF . .
. [the "Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem" - see Chayes, McKellar, & Winn
(1998)]. . ."Role models like Paris Hilton . .
<http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0385296/>]. . . have everything to do
with why this country is being dumbed down. We need better PR."
A year after Harvard President Lawrence Summers'. . .[see, e.g..
Jaschik (2006)]. . . remarks suggesting innate gender differences in
science and math ability, the Institute for Research on Women and
Gender (IRWG) . . .[<http://www.stanford.edu/group/IRWG/>]. . . on
Feb. 7 hosted an event titled "Proof and Prejudice: Women in
Mathematics," to examine the culture of mathematics in this country
and women's experience as professional mathematicians.
At the opening, IRWG Director Londa Schiebinger . . . . . . .
.[<http://www.stanford.edu/group/IRWG/People/Director.html>]. . . .
. .took stock of what has unfolded since the Summers controversy. "In
the year that has elapsed, many institutions, including Harvard, have
stepped up efforts to remove all subtle and unexamined biases in
institutions in efforts to make universities welcoming to women,"
she said, noting Stanford's recent announcement to support paid
maternity leave for female graduate students.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Stanford Associate Professor of Education Jo Boaler . . . . . .
. [<http://www.stanford.edu/~joboaler/>]. . ., an expert in
mathematics education who spoke as a member of the audience, said
elementary school teachers should not be blamed. Girls and boys
achieve at similar levels in mathematics through school and at the
undergraduate level, she said. "Girls are still achieving at very
high levels across the board-that's the message that should go out
there," she said. "The idea that they're not is damaging in its own
right." But after college, she said, the numbers drop off. ACCORDING
TO SCHIEBINGER, WOMEN EARN 46 PERCENT OF UNDERGRADUATE MATH DEGREES
IN THIS COUNTRY BUT REPRESENT ONLY 8 PERCENT OF MATH PROFESSORS.. . .
.[Note of 15August 2007: On Apr 26 19:10:08 EDT 2006, Patricia Hale,
in the Math Dept. at Cal Poly Pomona posted on the RUME list: "[it's
possible that Schiebinger] meant only 8% of full professors. The AMS
data for 2004 indicates that 16% of tenured faculty are women
(combining Groups I, II, III, Va, M & B). I am pretty sure the
percentage for full professors is lower than the percentage for
Associate and Full combined."]
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
For a rough comparison to the situation in physics, according to the
study "Women in Physics and Astronomy, 2005" by Rachel Ivie and Kim
Nies Ray [Ivie & Nies (2005)]: in 2001 WOMEN EARNED 22% OF BACHELOR'S
DEGREES IN PHYSICS (Fig. 8); and overall WOMEN HELD 10% OF PHYSICS
FACULTY POSITIONS (Table 6) (7%, 13%, and 14% of faculty physics
positions in institutions granting, respectively, PhD, Masters, and
Bachelors degrees as their highest degrees).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
REFERENCES
AIP. 2005. "FYI: The AIP Bulletin of Science Policy News, 22
March,"New Report on Women in Physics and Astronomy," online at
<http://www.aip.org/fyi/2005/035.html>.
Brainard, J. 2007. "The Tough Road to Better Science Teaching:
Proponents of new methods encounter resistance, especially at
research universities," Chronicle of Higher Education, 3 August;
Section: Special Report Volume 53, Issue 48, Page A16; online at
<http://chronicle.com/free/v53/i48/48a01601.htm>. See also a version
with references, URL's, and inserts added by R.R. Hake, online at
the AERA-L archives <http://tinyurl.com/2fxff7> (scroll to the
APPENDIX).
Chayes, L., D. McKellar, and B. Winn. 1998. "Percolation and Gibbs
state multiplicity for ferromagnetic Ashkin-Teller models on Z2. J.
Phys. A31: 9055-9063. The abstract is at
<http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/chayes98percolation.html>: "For a region
of the nearest neighbor ferromagnetic Ashkin--Teller spin systems on
Z 2 , we characterize the existence of multiple Gibbs states via
percolation. In particular, there are multiple Gibbs states if and
only if there exists percolation of any of the spin types. (i.e., the
magnetized states are characterized by percolation of the dominant
species.) This result was previously known only for the Potts models
on Z 2 ."
Hake, R.R. 2006. "Proof and Prejudice: Women in Mathematics and
Physics," online at
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0604&L=pod&O=A&P=15426>.
Post of 23 & 24 Apr 2006 to AERA-A, AERA-B, AERA-C, AERA-D, AERA-J,
AERA-K, AERA-L, ASSESS, EvalTalk, Math-Learn, Phys-L, PhysLrnR, POD,
PsychTeacher (rejected), RUME, STLHE-L, TeachingEdPsych, & TIPS. For
guides to (a) discussion lists see Hake (2007); (b) Gender Issues in
Physics, Science, and Engineering (GIPSE) see Mallow & Hake (2002).