<p>Can anyone tell me what it will be like for a female in physics or math at P? There was an interesting article a couple days ago about the major underrepresentation of females in computer science at Harvard and how many of those felt alienated and had a lack of confidence in this discipline unless they were really "in your face" types. My daughter has had one AP class each in physics or math, but the calculus based versions were not available at her school. I am concerned that the grade deflation will also be an important factor.</p>
<p>Princeton is friendly to female math and science majors. The president of the university, Shirley Tilghman is a biologist. Janet Rapele is the dean of admissions, Maria Klawe was the former dean of engineering, Betty Leydon is the VP of information Technology, Nancy Malkiel is the longest serving dean. </p>
<p>The national average for females in engineering is about 15 per cent; over 40 per cent of the Princeton engineering class is female. In computer science Professor Jennifer Rexford '91 is an Internet expert, winner of the ACM’s Grace Murray Hopper Award and on the GENI steering council. In the electrical engineering department Professor Claire Gmachl won a MacArthur Genius Fellowship for her work as a pioneer in creating quantum cascade lasers. Professor Ruby Lee, a Fellow of both ACM and IEEE served as chief computer architect at Hewlett-Packard. She is researching the best methods to improve the security of cellphones, PDAs, and computers. Professor Margaret Martonosi has been named a fellow of the ACM for her contributions to power-efficient computer architecture and systems design. In MAE Professor Naomi Leonard '85 won a MacArthur Genius Fellowship for her research designing autonomous underwater vehicles. The underwater robots coordinate their own behavior like schooling fish. Professor Emily Carter is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for her research in the linear scaling orbital-free density functional theory.</p>
<p>Princeton has attracted many outstanding female mathematicians. In 2001 Ana Caraiani '07 was the first girl to make Romania’s countrys Mathematical Olympiad team in 25 years and she was a two- time Romanian International Olympiad gold medalist. Ana was named a Putnam Fellow in 2003 and 2004 in both her freshman and sophomore years, and is the only woman ever to have done so. In 2007 Ana won the Alice T. Schafer Prize [this prize is awarded to the nation’s top female undergrad in math by the Association for Women in Mathematics] for excellence in mathematics. Tamara Broderick '07 came in second and won a Marshall Scholarship to study math at Cambridge University. Brodericks senior thesis was equal parts math, neuroscience, physics and computer science. She previously won a Goldwater Scholarship for her work in mathematics and physics and has spent past summers researching dark energy and gravitational lensing. In the previous year two two Princeton roommates, Alexandra Ovetsky '06 and Allison Bishop '06 came in first and second for the Alice T. Schafer Prize. Both Ovetsky and Bishop won Goldwater Scholarships. In 1998 Melanie Wood *09, a cheerleader, student newspaper editor was the first women to make the US Mathematics Olympiad team; (silver medals in the 1998 and 1999) and was named a Putnam Fellow in 2002. She is now completing her PhD at Princeton. Lillian Pierce 02 *09 returned to Princeton for her PhD after attending Oxford for two years as a Rhodes scholar. </p>
<p>Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study sponsor a program Women and Mathematics. The program brings together research mathematicians with undergraduate and graduate students for an intensive 11-day workshop on the campus of the Institute for Advanced Study which is designed to address issues of gender imbalance in mathematics. Founded in 1994, the program includes lectures and seminars on a focused mathematical topic, mentoring, discussions on peer relations, an introduction to career opportunities and a women in sciences seminar.</p>
<p>Here is a link to an article concerning a female undergraduate physics major at Princeton.<br>
[Senior</a> finds imperfection in supercollider detector - The Daily Princetonian](<a href=“http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2009/03/23/23108/]Senior”>http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2009/03/23/23108/) </p>
<p>Grade deflation is not a big deal for math and physics majors; neither department has had to make substantial changes in their grading policies. Grade deflation is important to current students that had straight A’s in high school and find themselves an average student at Princeton; there is no sign that I am aware of that grade deflation has effected graduate school admission. Other selective universities are considering similar policies.</p>