Women To Watch 10.12.25 - Flipbook - Page 41
THE TIDE
How to keep women in
science, tech, engineering
and math
By Jean Marbella
I
n what can be a lonely field for women even
during the best of times, Marisol Hernández’s first year in engineering school coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, when
classes were held remotely rather than in person.
Feeling “really alone and disconnected” in
her dorm room, she reached out to an instructor with the Flexus program within the University of Maryland, College Park’s Clark School of
Engineering, where female students live and learn
together.
The instructor connected Hernández to
another student feeling similarly isolated, and
she made it over those difficult days to thrive at
the school, ultimately mentoring other students,
joining groups like Women in Engineering and
winning the Clark school’s student service award
when she graduated last year.
“There was a really good support group,”
Hernández said. “It would have been hard without it.”
Hernández, whose mother is also an engineer,
now works as a structural engineer at Whitman,
Requardt and Associates in Fells Point. She may
well have succeeded even without the boost from
Flexus and other programs. But increasingly,
those in the STEM fields of science, technology,
engineering and math are seeking ways to support
women as a way of addressing a chronic retention problem: Compared with other professions,
women tend to drop out of STEM at a higher rate
than in other fields, whether it’s during college or
in the workforce.
Fewer female than male college students major
in STEM to begin with, and they’re less likely to
stick with it, get a first job in the field or remain
there as long, according to multiple studies,
including one with the spot-on title of “Bye Bye
Ms. American Sci: Women and the Leaky STEM
Pipeline.”
Carol Wong, 39, a senior water resources
engineer for Fulton-based nonprofit Center
for Watershed Protection, is pictured at a
project in Columbia called Mellen Court Stream
Restoration, where she managed a research
project that monitored water quality during
construction. LLOYD FOX/STAFF
WOMEN TO WATCH | 2025 | 41
