Research Symposium

BIO

I am a psychology major with a primary focus on social psychology. Although my academic background is in psychology, my UROP research centers on policy analysis. Specifically, I am involved in a project examining parental leave policies at universities. We evaluate each institution’s policy using a standardized rubric and analyze how these scores correlate with two key variables: the university’s ranking in U.S. News & World Report for Mechanical Engineering and the representation of tenured and tenure-track women faculty within their Mechanical Engineering departments.

Evaluating Family Leave Policies in University STEM Departments

Abstract

Persistent gender disparities exist in STEM fields, particularly in doctoral-level positions and tenured faculty representation. This research evaluates how comprehensively structured parental leave policies at universities impact the recruitment and retention of tenure-track women faculty in mechanical engineering departments. Utilizing a rubric developed to assess family leave policies across U.S. institutions, we analyzed the correlation between policy strength and two metrics: U.S. News & World Report Mechanical Engineering rankings and the percentage of tenured/tenure-track women in these departments. Results indicate a positive relationship between strong leave policies and higher female faculty representation, suggesting that robust family support policies may play a key role in advancing gender equity in STEM academia. Future directions include analyzing department-level trends and expanding survey efforts to better understand student and faculty experiences with family leave.

Keywords: Parental Policy Leave