Most of the young people that go to college go away, and then they don't come back," says Lee Bianchi, a retired engineer who lived in Clinton, Iowa (pop. 26,647), from 1961 to 2008.

Researchers Rachael Robnett, of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and Campbell Leaper, at the University of California at Santa Cruz, asked high school kids about their attitudes toward STEM courses. An adolescent's attitude correlated to those of his or her classmates.

Women often come to Harriet Barlow with a question: “Can we have it all?” Her answer is always yes, but she advises them to have defined “all” as something they want, not what others may have told them to want.

East Valley View things to do for Oct. 16-22, 2014

Diversity leadership talks focused on women