{"172371":{"#nid":"172371","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Prof\u2019s Interest Led to Creation of Research Area","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIt all started in high school \u2014 that\u2019s when Mary Frank Fox became interested in groups, organizations and societies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI remember as a 17-year-old, I became interested in whether a student\u2019s social standing at my school was influenced by his or her parents\u2019 standing in the community,\u201d said Fox, the ADVANCE professor in the School of Public Policy and co-director of the Center for the Study of Women, Science and Technology. \u201cWith help from a teacher, I actually conducted a study and learned that the female students\u2019 social standing was much more influenced by their parents\u2019 standing than the male students. From that point on, my curiosity was piqued.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnlike many of her peers who still didn\u2019t have a clue what they wanted to major in as undergraduates, Fox enrolled at the University of Michigan as a sociology major.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn graduate school, I zeroed in on studying social inequalities, especially those related to women in the scientific community,\u201d she said. \u201cI really went out on a limb, because although I was interested in the topic, there weren\u2019t any classes offered on it. But my risk paid off.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOver the years, Fox carved out her own research area, which has evolved into a well-established field. Her research focuses on the study of women and men in academic and scientific organizations and occupations. For example, one current piece of Fox\u2019s research examines the clarity of criteria for tenure and promotion used for men and women faculty members and how factors predicting clarity differ by gender.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI can\u2019t imagine doing anything that could be better than what I\u2019m doing here at Tech as a professor,\u201d she added.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERecently, The Whistle had an opportunity to learn more about Fox and her time at Georgia Tech.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow did you arrive at Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAbout 19 years ago, I was recruited to come to the Institute to help establish a program in the study of gender. The wonderful thing about Tech is that it is a living laboratory for my area of research. Not only can I conduct research related to women, men and science and technology \u2014 but we can apply the findings here, too.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat does your job entail?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019m usually working on several long-term research projects at once, and each is at a different stage in the process, ranging from data collection to writing articles for academic journals about the results. In conjunction with these projects, I meet weekly with six graduate and undergraduate research partners. I teach courses for both undergraduate and graduate students. I also work on initiatives related to Georgia Tech\u2019s ADVANCE program \u2014 originally funded as a National Science Foundation program meant to increase the participation of women in scientific and engineering fields. (The ADVANCE program is now supported through the Office of the Provost.) I also work on the programs for the Center for the Study of Women, Science and Technology.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat do you think about the increasing popularity of massive open online courses (MOOCs) and online learning?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt all appears to be part of our future, but I\u2019m not sure to what extent. Would I teach an online course? I\u2019m not sure. But I\u2019m open minded and think that we all need to be;\u0026nbsp;however, I do think this type of learning should complement what we are doing \u2014 not be a substitution for it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat technology could you not live without?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt would have to be my iPhone, although I have to say that I rarely use it as a phone for incoming calls. I primarily use it for email and outgoing calls. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhere is your favorite spot on campus?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat spot is wherever I\u2019m working with members of my research team on a given day, which is usually on-site in my office. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhere is your favorite place to have lunch?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Spence. I really enjoy the small portion lunches that the restaurant offers, and getting there involves a nice walk.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIf you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would it be?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProbably Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was an inspiration to my mother and father because of his courage and willingness to found new programs and agencies that others questioned. For that reason, I\u2019d like to get to know him.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIt all started in high school \u2014 that\u2019s when Mary Frank Fox became interested in groups, organizations and societies.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"It all started in high school \u2014 that\u2019s when Mary Frank Fox became interested in groups, organizations and societies."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2012-11-20 13:22:05","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:13:14","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-11-26T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2012-11-26T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"172281":{"id":"172281","type":"image","title":"Mary Frank Fox","body":null,"created":"1449178999","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:43:19","changed":"1475894814","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:54","alt":"Mary Frank Fox","file":{"fid":"195754","name":"mary.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mary_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mary_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":5343511,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/mary_0.jpg?itok=hm-eQa9Q"}}},"media_ids":["172281"],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"14943","name":"ADVANCE Professors"},{"id":"41101","name":"Center for the Study of Women Science and Technology"},{"id":"3976","name":"mary frank fox"},{"id":"167078","name":"School of Public Policy"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.pavlik@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Pavlik\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-4142\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}