Project Director, Dr. Mary Wyer
Read the NSF grant project abstract

The Women's and Gender Studies curriculum initiative in the sciences and engineering is called the WISE (women in science and engineering) Curriculum Project. The purpose of the project is to develop "two-way streets" between women's studies and science and engineering faculty who are committed to addressing the under-representation of women and people of color in their fields. The project's primary focus is on faculty development, to assist faculty in the revision of old courses or the development of new ones, to encourage their interests in the new scholarship on women in science and engineering, and to provide intellectual community and support for extending their research and writing interests into the field of feminist science studies. The project participants have produced a major textbook to provide an introduction to feminist science studies, several other publications, conference panels, and local and national speakers.

The immediate goals of the WISE Curriculum Project are to build community among the participants, address their interests in theory and research from women's studies, and promote informed conversation within science and engineering departments and classrooms about social inequality. The long-term goals of the curriculum project are (1) to provide an institutionally sustainable vehicle for the recruitment and retention of women and people of color as faculty and graduate students in science and engineering, (2) expand curricular offerings that integrate women's studies and science/engineering topics, (3) foster new scholarship by and about women in science and engineering to the field of women's studies, (4) and promote the national dialogue about "best practices" in accomplishing all of the above.