Trust in science is rising worldwide, according to a 3M-backed survey released Tuesday, and more people expect it to solve the world's problems. But the fifth annual 3M State of Science Index also showed many are worried that misinformation could lead to more public health crises, greater societal divisions and lack of action on climate change. Since 2018, 3M has sought to measure global attitudes about science and the role it plays in society to help shade decision-making. Global research firm Ipsos surveyed 17,000 adults in 17 countries last fall: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the U.S. Ninety percent of respondents said they trust science at least somewhat, up from 84% in 2020. About half of respondents said they consider science important in their everyday lives - and 61% of those under 40 said so.

The World Economic Forum Gender Gap Accelerator programme has significantly improved the professional prospects of women in work in Chile. By bringing together leaders from the private and public sectors, the Forum has been influential in enhancing the quality of work for more than 130,000 local women – the equivalent of 7% of salaried employees in Chile’s private sector. Data indicates that the Forum’s three-year accelerator programme in Chile has effectively promoted female representation in member companies, which include Accenture, Cargill, IBM, Invest Chile, LatAm Airlines, Microsoft, Nestlé, PwC, SAP, Salmon Chile, Siemens and Unilever. On average, these companies report that 41% of staff members are women – almost 10 percentage points above the national average, which stood at 31.7% in January 2019. More importantly, these employers have reduced the gender pay gap by 37.5% between 2016 and 2019. Put differently, men hired by the group of 180 companies receive, on average, 5.6% more remuneration per hour of work, a gap that is considerably lower than the national average, where men earn almost 18% more wages, on average, per hour worked. Continued collaboration intends to reduce this gap even further.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly mainstream across sectors and has great potential to benefit society. But its full potential can only be realised if the technology represents the diversity of the populations it represents. Read about three women in AI who are working to address gender equity in the technology's development. Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly advancing across sectors and industries and while it has great potential to benefit society, this can only be realized if AI truly represents the diversity of the populations it represents. Gender equity, specifically, is not currently realized in AI development. A technology meant to replicate human functions learns from and relies on the data and teams that put it together and manage it. A lack of representation from women in these spaces creates bias and can make technology untrustworthy.

Ten years ago, 20 girls from high schools across New York City gave up seven weeks of their summer to gather in a tech company’s Flatiron Building conference room and learn the basics of computer programming. At the time, it didn’t necessarily feel like that big of a deal - but that experiment became the inaugural summer program of Girls Who Code. Founded in 2012 by Reshma Saujani, the New York-based nonprofit works to close the gender gap in computer science jobs, partially by creating a steady pipeline of female talent with STEM backgrounds.

In graduate education, the faculty mentor plays the primary role in guiding a graduate student from recruitment through graduation-and often on to job placements-for several formative and demanding years. Faculty mentors also play an increasing role in responding to the mental health needs of graduate students, who face the stressors of the pandemic, ongoing racial injustice, climate change and political unrest. While this mentoring relationship is central for graduate students, it is one often fraught with challenges. A mentoring relationship, after all, is fundamentally a relationship that relies on dynamic interpersonal skills, such as effective communication and cultural awareness. Mentor training has undoubtedly enhanced mentorship cultures across college campuses. Nationally, the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research, Duke University, the University of Michigan and Texas A&M University, among others, are offering resources and training to help mentors and mentees foster a positive and productive relationship. But improving graduate mentoring cannot rest solely on the individual actions of the most devoted mentors and mentees. Campuses should also consider the powerful role that their graduate program can play in addressing the mentorship needs of entire cohorts of faculty and students and effectively setting standards of mentorship.

Do you want to help NCWIT achieve their mission of correcting underrepresentation in the tech field by increasing the meaningful and influential participation of all girls and women in computing - at the intersections of race/ethnicity, class, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and other historically marginalized identities - from K-12 through career? You can be a part of their team! NCWIT is currently hiring for multiple positions.

More women are becoming patented inventors than ever before. Of the new inventor-patentees in the U.S. in 2019, 17.3% were women, compared to 16.6% in 2016. This means that more women are inventing and participating in the patent system each year. But these percentages are still small. By 2019, only 12.8% of all inventor-patentees in the U.S. were women. And in 2021, the U.S. dropped to sixth place globally in terms of our share of women inventors (Spain, China, Korea, Turkey, and France are in the lead, respectively). The so-called patent gap - which includes gender, race, and income - extends in part from the barriers that exclude white women and people of color from STEM fields in the first place: stereotypes, discrimination, bias, and harassment; additional caregiving responsibilities and the “motherhood penalty;” lack of access to mentorship and social networks; being held to a higher standard than counterparts who are white men; and the list goes on. Further, because there is no formal education on innovation and patenting for anyone, it matters who has access to information on the patent process. Inventors often rely on mentors, informal support networks, and expensive patent attorneys to guide them through the process, and they may need advisers, supervisors, and other gatekeepers to invite them into innovation spaces. Not surprisingly, these key resources are less accessible to white women and people of color than to white men. The opportunity to become a patented inventor - which leads to credibility, higher income, and more opportunities - should not be decided by one’s gender, race, or income. Plus, we need everyone’s ideas and participation to meet today’s challenges. Patent diversity strengthens innovation, which results in more solutions that benefit more people.

Taken from the March 2022 issue of Physics World where it appeared under the headline "We need to rethink scientific awards". Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. Jess Wade and Maryam Zaringhalam say that changing prize processes can help to champion a more equitable future A scientific award reflects what the community values. It can raise the profile of a scientist’s work, create opportunities for career advancement and increase researcher morale. Awards can motivate scientists to perform high-risk, high-reward research – to make breakthroughs and change how we understand the world. Prizes can also strengthen community bonds and establish role models as well as transform interest, investment and participation in a particular discipline. But there is a problem. The application process for prize nominations is often broken, as is the way that they are awarded. The outcome is that women and gender-minority scientists, scientists of colour and those from smaller, less well-known institutions are less likely to receive the recognition they deserve.

Throughout March for Women’s History Month, the University of Kentucky is spotlighting Women Making History. These women are leading their fields of research, crossing traditional academic boundaries and impacting Kentucky’s most pressing challenges including opioid use disorder treatment, aging and Alzheimer’s, water and air filtration, environmental impacts on health and suicide prevention. They are mentoring the next generation of women scientists and scholars, curating stories and creating artworks illuminating who we are. Their work and voices shape the University of Kentucky. The “Women Making History” series kicks off with this episode of Behind the Blue. Isabel Escobar, Ph.D., professor of chemical and materials engineering in the UK College of Engineering and National Governing Board Chair of the Association for Women in Science, leads a discussion with her female chemical engineering team. Together they work on some of the toughest environmental challenges in water and air filtration. Escobar, Abelline Fionah, UK Ph.D. student, and Laura Brady, a UK senior, share what it’s like to be a woman in STEM, the reality of balancing work and family, and advice for choosing the right mentor.

SWE will once again host a hybrid conference for WE22. The call for participation process has been updated to ensure that both in-person attendees in Houston and our virtual attendees receive quality programming.The key changes include: All accepted sessions will be required to be in Houston to present sessions to in-person attendees; All accepted sessions are required to submit a recording of their session by September 7, 2022. This will allow all virtual attendees and in-person attendees access to all of the content via the platform.