I caught up on some reading over the holidays. In particular, [begin link /who.staff.joanne.html]Joanne Cohoon[end link] sent me an article entitled "[begin link /pdf/Weinberger_IEEE.pdf]Just Ask! Why Surveyed Women Did Not Pursue IT Courses or Careers[end link]", by Catherine J. Weinberger. Although published in the Spring 2004 issue of the IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, it was new to me.

This brief paper concludes the Gender and IT Entrepreneurship project that we conducted for NCWIT with support from the Kauffman Foundation. In this final paper, we present a high-level overview of our four summaries of social science scholarship on women's underrepresentation and the conditions that promote women's success as IT entrepreneurs, and we conclude with suggestions for a research agenda.

Some of you may have seen the article in today's NY Times, "Study Compares States' Math and Science Scores With Other Countries'", about a recent research report that compares 8th graders' math and science prowess in the 50 U.S. states against that of 8th graders in other countries.

Thomas Friedman had an interesting piece in last week's NY Times about "Generation Q" – the generation of young people today whom he calls The Quiet Americans – and why they both impress and baffle him. Friedman explains that this is a generation imbued with an improbable sense of optimism and idealism, and yet it doesn't seem compelled by a commensurate level of activism.