It’s simple to declare a major in science or engineering, but to stay in those fields is another matter.

For women in those majors, that task has been even more difficult because of a lack of support. However, the advent of learning communities and a program called Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) has begun to change that tradition.

Doug Epperson, associate professor in psychology, has been conducting a study in conjunction with Mary Ann Evans, assistant to the provost and program director for WISE, to evaluate the program’s success.

Epperson’s study began as an attempt to determine what motivated high school girls to choose science and engineering.

“My students and I have been doing research for a number of years looking into factors that attracted women to the sciences and engineering,” Epperson said.

The retention rates of women in science-related fields also concerns Evans.

Each year, WISE holds “The Road Less Traveled” conferences, which draw nearly 3,600 girls from middle and high schools to introduce them to a variety of science and engineering fields.

“The idea is to foster their interest in science and give them role models so they see that there are women on faculty here at ISU,” she said.

Evans and Epperson found their two programs could work together to help keep women in the sciences.

“We were concerned about isolation primarily,” Evans said. “We wanted to know whether the conferences were effective in influencing girls’ decisions in careers.”

The WISE program also aids women by establishing learning communities throughout the ISU Department of Residence.

There are nine WISE floors at Iowa State — Sims and Turner houses in Oak-Elm Hall, Kehlenbeck House in Larch Hall, Lawther, Tilden, Sadler and Rowe houses in Helser Hall and Hutton House in Friley Hall.

The floors concentrate women in an environment where they can avoid the isolation they might otherwise feel if they were randomly assigned rooms.

Epperson’s program evaluation of WISE so far has concluded that isolation was the greatest factor in whether women stayed in science and engineering.

“Especially in engineering, a girl could be the only one in an entire class,” he said.

Epperson said being the only woman in a classroom full of men could be daunting.

“It isn’t about discrimination,” he said. “It just would take a very motivated woman to go out and take part in an all-male study session.”

Melanie Anderson, resident assistant for Turner House in Oak-Elm Hall, said she sees firsthand the positive effect WISE has on women at Iowa State.

“We have a lot of great things: conferences, dinner with professors, r‚sum‚-writing workshops, speakers, study skills workshops,” said Anderson, senior in political science.

Anderson said her residents enjoy living on a WISE floor.

“It gets better and better every year as they fine tune the system,” she said. “A lot of women get very excited when they find out they are going to be on a WISE floor because of the feeling of community, of belonging to a support group.”