The College Fix

Study will explore how to ‘advance social justice’ in the field

The federal government is giving $500,000 to an “intersectional feminisms” professor for the purpose of learning how to recruit more women into the STEM field. The research will explore ways to “transform the powers of technology to advance social justice.”

The Washington Free Beacon reports that the National Science Foundation-funded study will be led by Coleen Carrigan, a feminist anthropologist and assistant professor of gender, race, culture, science and technology studies at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

“Her research fields include ‘Intersectional Feminisms,’ ‘Cultural anthropology,’ ‘Science and technology studies,’ ‘Action-oriented ethnography,’ and ‘Broadening participation,'” according to the Free Beacon.

The study will aim to understand “how complex, intersectional biases disenfranchise women” from the STEM field.

“Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) shapes our social, political and economic environments, yet struggles to attract and retain a diversity of practitioners,” the study’s abstract begins. “Why does ECS remain stubbornly segregated when it comes to gender parity?”

Among the study’s specific goals is “to combat the covert and overt mechanisms that marginalize women” in the field, and to describe womens’ experiences “along vectors of race, ethnicity, and gender identity.”

Carrigan’s study began in June and is estimated to go through May 2023. It has received $570,890 from taxpayers so far, according to the Free Beacon.

Read the Free Beacon report here and the study abstract here.

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