Thomas Wolff, associate dean of the College of Engineering, said the college is doing a lot to attract more women to the physical sciences. The college has a strong Women in Engineering program, and hosts several camps for girls to get introduced to engineering.

“Historically there’s been a concern that we don’t have representative numbers in engineering,” Wolff said.

Women still only represent about 20 percent of the college, he said.

Mechanical engineering senior Emily Duszynski, former president of the MSU chapter of the Society of Women Engineers, or SWE, said there is a perception that women aren’t interested in some of the sciences.

“There are people who don’t believe we belong or won’t do as good of a job,” Duszynski said. “It’s not about gender, it’s about ability or attitude. For us, it drives you to want to do what your dream is. To do what you love.”

Richard Schwartz, associate dean of the College of Natural Sciences, said while there has been chronic underrepresentation in physics, math and chemistry, he sees the overall gender gap narrowing.

“There are programs here in the college to support women that are here so they are able to continue and flourish,” Schwartz said. “That’s the larger problem than entries. We see at every level women continue to drop out.”

As women advance from undergraduate to graduate levels and from graduate to faculty, the numbers of women in the programs begin to dwindle, Schwartz said.

Though there are many reasons for the drop-off, much of the problem could arise from there being a lack of role models, Schwartz said.

To help draw more women to the craft, SWE hosts camps for elementary through high school girls to help introduce them to engineering.

“When you see a girl engineer as a sixth grader or an eighth grader, it helps to break that stigma and stretch the view of what engineering is,” Duszynski said.