Breaking the Beaker
Story by Abreanna Blose
Photos by Pearl Spurlock | Design by Carly Hinton
History is full of women who have made groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), but their stories are seldom told in our history books.
According to the United States Census Bureau, in 1970, women made up only 8% of STEM workers. Today, that number has increased to 27% – and while the gender gap may be diminishing, these fields remain dominated by men. Despite these numbers, Ohio University women have prevailed, laying the foundation for women across campus and across the world. It can be difficult to tell stories that accurately represent a whole body of female students, professors and alumnae. Every experience is different, but it is important to start the conversation somewhere. Here are the stories of just a few of thousands of bobcats who have made their mark on STEM:
The first two women to graduate with a Chemistry degree:
Until the early 1990s, it was believed that the first women Chemistry graduates accepted their diploma in the 1930s. Dr. Howard Dewald, author of “Development of Chemistry at Ohio University and its first women graduates”, discovered the truth when Ohio University reclassified from the Dewey Decimal System to the Library of Congress. That is when two theses were discovered from the year 1903. To Dewald's surprise, the papers were written by women: Ethyl Riley and Nannie Nease. At the time, Chemistry was a fairly new discipline. The American Chemical Society was formed in 1876 and female chemists were unheard of.
“It was significant that they were able to do this and persevere in a strongly male dominated field,” Dewald says. After the discovery of two women chemists in the early 1900s, Dewald began digging in alumni directories and could not identify any earlier female chemistry graduates in the state of Ohio. He checked Ohio State, Cincinnati and Miami.““It'd be another quarter century before more degrees in chemistry were awarded to women,” Dewald says. “So their actual theses are phenomenal.”
Both Riley and Nease went on to follow paths outside of chemistry and what many would consider traditional paths for women at the time. Riley became a school teacher while Niese became a stay at home wife. Even if they did not go on to make ground breaking discoveries, one thing is clear: they were the first of their kind and they laid the path for countless women to come after them.
“There are more women graduates from chemistry than there are male graduates now,” Dewald says. “It is continuing to develop based upon personal interests, based upon societal pushes and desires.”
Seanna McNeal (sourced from an Ohio University news article)
Aluma finds success and receives high STEM honors:
Seana McNeal graduated from OU with a Bachelor's degree in the field of Electrical Engineering in 2006. Today, she is an Air Force Research Laboratory supervisor, representing the excellence of women in STEM rooted at Ohio University. She has won awards through the National Society of Black Engineers and the Women of Color in STEM Conference.
McNeal’s love for engineering began in seventh grade when she joined a program called “The Right Step” by Wright State University in partnership with Dayton public schools. “The goal of the program was to expose students to [STEM] and encourage them to go into STEM fields,” McNeal says.
She found herself at Ohio University to better her understanding of electrical engineering. McNeal says she knew she was different from her male classmates. She also says she understood the real world would mirror her classroom experience, so she learned how to cooperate with group members and learn from them, despite their differences.
She recalls having only one female professor, so she turned to her for advice. “I realized that I was different from the other folks in my class and I wanted to get her feel for, ‘how do I maintain myself and my identity and not try to go overboard and change myself?,’ McNeal says.
McNeal went on to find success after college. In 2022, she was awarded the Professional Achievement in Government award at the Women of Color Stem conference. “I got on stage and I had to give a speech and all that, so very different, unlike anything I experienced before, but the biggest feeling I felt was appreciation and respect,” McNeal says.
Now, reflecting on how far she has come since her time at Ohio University, McNeal said she would tell her past self to stop overthinking. “Just be yourself and be honest and give people the opportunity to see you,” McNeal says.
Dr. Nancy Sandler poses for a portrait in Emeriti Park
Current faculty sees that changes have been made, but notes there are many more women to include in the conversation:
Dr. Sandler has been teaching physics and astronomy at OU since 2002. When she arrived, there were two other female faculty members working in her department. Now, there are five.
She describes OU’s current physics department as an anomaly because of how many women make up the body of physics professors– close to 15-20%, which is significantly larger than most universities.
“We have an international community in the department,” Sandler says. “I am an example of that. So, we have people from all over the world and we have people represented from different parts of the society.”
She says her colleagues are welcoming, inclusive and accommodating, but not every STEM department functions the same way. “I know places where women are given smaller lab space than men, different salary raises or different teaching loads,” Sandler says. “These types of things still exist in our field.”
Back in 2006, Sandler became the first faculty member in OU’s physics department to become pregnant. “I was the first person to be pregnant as a tenure track professor in the department,” Sandler said. “So when I got pregnant, they didn't know what to do with me. They didn't know anything about the regulations and the leaves.”
She notes that a stigma still exists where hiring faculty assumes that every woman will want to have a child at some point during her career. “If you are a woman in particular you are expected to want to become a mom at some point,” she says. “So, you will not be given the same level of seriousness to your work because you're going to give up at some points– that still persists in many places.”
Dr. Sandler is proud to be a member of an inclusive and diverse department at Ohio University, but she understands that her situation is unique. She feels that change still needs to be made so people of all genders, races, ethnicities, and intersecting identities are included in the conversation of STEM.