Roli Varma

The Bhopal Disaster of 1984

The 20th anniversary of the Bhopal calamity fell on December 3, 2004. The worlds worst industrial disaster in Bhopal, India, happened because of inadequate maintenance by Union Carbide and poor monitoring by the Indian authorities. Malfunctioning safety measures, inappropriate location of the plant, and lack of information about the identity and toxicity of the gas worsened the effects of the accident on people and livestock. The Bhopal disaster has raised questions about the implications of the transfer of potentially hazardous technology to the developing countries. Even after 20 years, Bhopal has not recovered. In this article, we present what happened and why and what lessons can be learned at this terrible cost.

Women in Computing: The Role of Geek Culture

‘Geek culture’ evokes a high-tech, andocentric, sub-cultural milieu often associated with computing. Many consider this culture as central to understanding the dearth of women in computer science (CS) and computer engineering (CE) education (e.g. Rasmussen and Hapnes, 1991; American Association of University Women, 2000; Craig et al., 2002; Margolis and Fisher, 2002; Gansmo et al., 2003). Policy makers agree that geek culture has hurt the computing fields (Lipp, 1999). However, scholars have yet to critically examine the impact of geek culture on the under-representation of women in CS/CE in relation to ethnicity/race and class. This paper examines whether the under-representation of women in undergraduate CS/ CE education in the USA results from its geek culture in terms of ethnicity/race and class. Specifically, it considers the extent to which geek culture remains viable beyond the context of Jane Margolis and Allen Fisher’s (2002) pioneering study of the gender gap in CS at the undergraduate level at the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), which is an elite institution with low representation of black, Hispanic, and American Indian/ Alaska Native students. The paper proposes that institutional-contextual and studentdemographic factors must be taken into consideration before one can discern how heavily geek culture figures in women’s decisions to remain or leave CS/CE studies. The paper is based on primary qualitative data that were gathered during the 2004–2005 academic year through in-depth interviews with 150 undergraduates from five major ethnic/racial groups; namely white, black, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian. These students were attending seven US campuses that were designated as MinorityServing Institutions. These institutions grant a high proportion of undergraduate degrees to under-represented minority students. Interviews were conducted with 15 female and 15 male students in each ethnic/racial group who were in their second and third years of CS/CE study. Random sampling was used to select subjects on sites with sufficient numbers of female and male students. However, purposive sampling was used on sites where the numbers of some groups (e.g. American Indians) in CS/CE disciplines were small. To ensure that data collection is consistent, the author conducted all Science as Culture Vol. 16, No. 4, 359–376, December 2007

Changing Research Cultures in U.S. Industry

Changes brought by the rise of the global economy and the end of the Cold War era have resulted in industry, government, and university rethinking their roles vis-à-vis research and development (R&D), basic versus applied research, and the role of corporate research. Since the mid-1980s, industrial research in the United States has been going through restructuring. Interviews with seventy-two scientists and eighteen managers working in six centralized corporate R&D laboratories in high-technology industry show that a new culture of dependence with a mission-oriented approach is replacing the cherished culture of independence with a result-oriented approach.

Women in Information Technology: A Case Study of Undergraduate Students in a Minority-Serving Institution:

The issue of underrepresentation of women in information technology (IT) is of national interest due to the rapid growth of IT in recent years, the impact of IT on growth and productivity, the shortage of IT workers, and the gender equity in IT. Scholarly research has pointed its finger at bias in early socialization, math anxiety, masculinity of computers, the scarcity of role models, and women’s preference for relational work. A study of students majoring in computer science and computer engineering in a minority-serving university found some additional factors such as tension between demands imposed by IT curricula and students’family and work responsibilities.

Making computer science minority-friendly

Computer science programs neglect diverse student needs.

Gender and the pipeline metaphor in computing

Using the pipeline metaphor as the conceptual framework, the current paper presents gender differences in computer science (CS) and computer engineering (CE) students’ study aspirations in elementary and high schools, the extent to which they hold a study-related job while in college and their career aspirations after graduating from college. It highlights some of the weak joints of the pipeline and suggests a number of implications to improve representation of women in computing field. It is based on 150 interviews with undergraduate male and female students belonging to five major ethnic/racial categories (White, African-American, Hispanic, Asian American, Native American) from seven institutions in the USA.

Changing Borders and Realities: Emigration of Indian Scientists and Engineers to the United States

International migration cannot be viewed as a byproduct of globalization since people have been migrating for centuries. However, globalization has given rise to a new kind of immigration, where a growing variety of interconnected social activities are taking place among technical immigrants at a high speed irrespective of their geographical location. The advent of instant online communication and the ability to share discoveries, inventions, advances, documents, and pictures in real time, as well as safe, easy, and fast travel options have made the traditional notions of borders, immigration, and even assimilation obsolete. This paper looks at how the tenets of immigration under globalization seem to be becoming outmoded as scientific knowledge flows between India and the U.S. It is based on the review of literature on the subject and in-depth interviews conducted in 2002-2004 with 120 Indian scientists and engineers from both countries.

Technological Fix: Sex Determination in India

Prenatal diagnostic technologies have been used for the purpose of detecting sex—leading to abortion of female fetuses—and have posed new challenges to the already difficult question of social justice for women in India. This article reports findings from a case study conducted with 25 women who had used prenatal diagnostic technologies for sex determination.Against the common belief that Indian society is “improving” because of 21st-century medical technology, this case study shows that the social context has given a patriarchal value to such advanced technology in India. Furthermore, it sheds light on why prenatal diagnostic technologies have taken a different route in India.It shows that reasons for accepting the use of prenatal diagnostic technologies for sex determination by women are diverse and complex.

Comparative Analysis of Brain Drain, Brain Circulation and Brain Retain: A Case Study of Indian Institutes of Technology

Abstract The migration of students in science and engineering (S&E) is a global phenomenon that affects the economic, technological and social progress of societies and nations across the world. It has been conceptualized by the term “brain drain”, which symbolizes a one-way movement of students from developing to developed countries. The recent return of some migrants to their home countries has been conceptualized by the term “brain circulation”. Brains that fail to circulate back to home countries are considered “drains”. This paper points to the new emerging reality of brains being retained. A recent survey of nearly 260 undergraduate students from two out of the five original Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) found that the majority of them have developed an increased interest in staying in India, rather than the decades-old trend of going abroad for education leading to work and permanent stay. Even if some of these students are interested in going abroad for higher studies, they expressed keen determination to return to India to pursue careers after completing their studies abroad.

Indian Women and Mathematics for Computer Science

To sum up, the case study of female students in India has shown that because they perform well in mathematics, they have high self efficacy for enrolling and remaining in CS. The new domain of CS builds on prior skills in mathematics. This suggests that CS and mathematics share skills. There is a need to carry out a comparative study of how mathematics is taught to girls and boys in the U.S. and India in order to understand issues related to gender and mathematics.