FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 1, 2012
Contact: Laurel Kammer
(662) 329-7119
llk@muw.edu

Oppenheimer, colleagues to be recognized at Southern States Communication Convention

COLUMBUS, Miss. – Dr. Bonnie Oppenheimer, professor of mathematics at Mississippi University for Women, along with professors and graduate students from Mississippi State University and University of Alabama, will be recognized at this year’s Southern States Communication Association Annual Convention for their research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Their paper, “Perception, Race, and Gender in Assessments of STEM and non-STEM Images,” was selected as a top paper for the convention that will take place later in April.
 
Dr. Oppenheimer and Mark Goodman of Mississippi State University founded the Research Group more than a decade ago. Oppenheimer is responsible for all the grants that have funded the research mentioned in the paper, including an American Association for University Women Campus Action Project Grant and several Mississippi NASA Space Grant Consortium grants.

The research sought to explore the variables that determine why women and members of minority groups are underrepresented in STEM majors and in the workforce.

Oppenheimer said, "Working with the Research Group has been very rewarding; throughout the years, we've looked at many different research ideas, but we always come back to how women are viewed by society."

Other researchers for the paper include John Nicholson, Shane T. Warren, Mark Goodman, Thomas Robinson and James Codling from Mississippi State University; SeungHo Cho from Soongsil University; and Jee Young Chung, who was at the University of Alabama at the time the paper was written.

Oppenheimer has been named Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year, MUW Faculty Member of the Year, Woman of Achievement by the American Association of University Women, faculty nominee for MUW for the Higher Education Appreciation Day/Working for Academic Excellence award and was the Lowndes County Postsecondary Educator of the Year.