The existence of a gender gap in STEM is, nowadays, a known fact. In the conviction that gender should not influence the choice of the career to pursue, and in the belief that heterogeneity (of gender, but not only), can be an added value, we founded the IEEE Women In Engineering Student Branch Affinity Group PoliMi. The main purpose of this group is to quantify and evaluate the existence of such a gap all along the academic path and to measure the impact of team heterogeneity on research performance measured in terms of scientific publication venue quality. This will be done through the computation of the gender gap index, the sticky floor index and the glass ceiling index and through the evaluation and confrontation of the outcomes of both homogenous and heterogenous entrepreneurial teams of Politecnico di Milano spin-off on probability of survival and turnover. We propose a case study based on the Politecnico di Milano reality and, in particular, on the Information, Electronic and Bioengineering Department. In the talk the outcomes of this analysis will be illustrated and discussed.

1. Letizia Clementi
letizia.clementi@mail.polimi.it
An analysis on
the impact of
heterogeneity
on team
performance
PoliMi
2018 May 24th
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2. IEEE
Women In Engineering
at PoliMi
2
Subsection of the worldwide
IEEE Affinity Group
Women in Engineering
founded in december 2017
by members of the
NECSTLab

3. Our main purpose is to overcome bias linked to
gender and to stereotypes in general
We propose an analysis to assess the
impact of heterogeneity on teams and to
quantify the presence of a gender gap
at PoliMi
Our purposes
3

4. Objectives
• Impact of heterogeneity on our department’s teams
(Department of Electronic Information and Bioengineering)
• Impact of heterogeneity on our laboratory’s teams
(NECSTLab)
• Gender gap in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering
and Maths) at PoliMi
4

5. 5

6. 6
SEPARATION

7. 7
DISPARITY
1
2
3
4

8. 8
VARIETY

9. Ashby, W. Ross. "Requisite variety and its implications for the control of complex systems." Facets of Systems Science.
Springer, Boston, MA, 1991. 405-417
Based on the Law of Requisite Variety:
each member
coming from a different category
can bring
different information
in the team
Gender and education
as variety bearer
9

10. Assess gender inequalities
as limits to variety and
quantify the
gender gap to
identify strategies
to take it to the
closure
10

11. 10
Assess gender inequalities
as limits to variety and
quantify the
gender gap to
identify strategies
to take it to the
closure

12. • Composition and structure
• Conference ranking: number of citations per month
11
We considered gender variety
impact on academic publications
Heterogeneity
outcomes at
DEIB

13. Indexes:
composition
and structure
k:: number of categories
𝑝𝑖: proportion of
group memebers in
i-th category
Solanas Pérez, Antonio, et al. "Some common indexes of group diversity: upper boundaries." Psychological Reports,
2012, vol. 111, num. 3, p. 777-796 (2012).
𝐵 = 1 − ෍
𝑖=1
𝑘
𝑝𝑖
2
Blau’s index
12

14. Heterogeneity
outcomes at
NECSTLab
• B. Sc. Thesis
• M. Sc. Thesis
• Competitions such as Xilinx Open Hardware
(XOHW)
• Publications
We considered gender and educational variety
13

15. Indexes
• Composition and structure: Blau’s Index
• Grade given to the thesis
• Accomplishments in competitions
• Impact factor
14

16. Gender Gap
at PoliMi
15
Glass ceiling and sticky floor inequalities
are differences in the
chances of advancement
and in the access in careers
not explainable by any job-relevant characteristics

17. Gender Gap
at PoliMi
15
We consider the changing of the gap along the academic path
Glass ceiling and sticky floor inequalities
are differences in the
chances of advancement
and in the access in careers
not explainable by any job-relevant characteristics

18. Gender Gap
at PoliMi:
data
• At the entrance: assessment test
• Gap of male/female attending each faculty
• Gap of male/female graduating
16

19. Gender Gap
at PoliMi:
sample
• Students attending the assessment test in
2014/15 – 2017/18
• Students enrolled in
2015/16 – 2017/18
• Students graduating in
2013/14 - 2016/17
17
If not otherwise stated all graphics refer to the last year available

20. Gender Gap
at PoliMi:
indexes
18
Similarity between female
and male score
𝛾 = 1 − |
𝑋 𝑤
𝑋 𝑡𝑜𝑡 − 1|
Disproportion between female
and male students number
𝐺 =
|
𝑁 𝑤
𝑁 𝑡𝑜𝑡 − 0.5|
0.5
1: maximum equality
0: maximum gap

21. Results:
at the entrance
0
0,2
0,4
0,6
0,8
1
Attending Test Test passed
G–Disproportion
M
78%
F
22%
Share of male and female
students attending the test
over 4 years
M F
19

22. Results:
at the entrance
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
F M M + F
Percentage of males and females
passing the test over 4 years
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
F M M+F
Average score over 4 years
20

23. Results:
enrolled students
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
A D E
Percentage of female and male students
for school
%F %M
F
32%
M
68%
Percentage of female
and male students
enrolled
F M
21

24. Results:
enrolled students
22
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Engineering
B.Sc. [2015 - 2017]
Percentages of Enrolled Students
F M
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Engineering
M. Sc. [2015 - 2017]
Percentages of Enrolled Students
F M

25. Results:
at the degree
23
M; 7025;
63%
F; 4057;
37%
Percentage of male and
female
graduated students
M F
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
BSC MSC
Percentage of graduated students
F M

26. Overall
conclusions
24
Our analysis’ results showed a
positive correlation between variety and performance,
taken aback by a strong gender gap persisting
in our university

27. Overall
conclusions
24
Our analysis’ results showed a
positive correlation between variety and performance,
taken aback by a strong gender gap persisting
in our university

28. Limitations
and
future works
• Evaluate drop outs and degree grade
• Make comparisons based on a unique population
of students
• Evaluate the gender gap at higher stages of the
academic career
• Develop a model relating performance and
heterogeneity
25

29. Letizia Clementi
letizia.clementi@mail.polimi.it
2018 May 24th
Thank you
for your
attention
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