9633243 Stryker This Doctoral Dissertation Improvement research examines social factors affecting educational choices of academically talented women at their initial stages of pursuing careers in science and technology. Despite efforts to the contrary, proportions of women entering science and technology continue to decline, and academically talented women drop out of these areas at higher rates than men. This problem is explored via identity theory, which asserts that academic and career choice are impacted by self-organization. The sample consist of participants in summer programs for high school students in science, mathematics and engineering. Data will be collected through a survey of 1,000 male and female students (before program attendance and after enrollment in college), ethnographic observations at one summer program site, and follow-up face-to-face interviews. These data will be studied to see how social relationships organize students' identities and affect students' choices and how gender-related variation in "future scientist" identity formation and maintenance impacts educational and career choices. Major funding for this three-year project has been provided by the Sloan Foundation. NSF funding will be used primarily to compensate respondents, to conduct follow-up interviews with students in the ethnographic component, and to support data entry activities. *** ??
