The Brief

Ten years ago, it seemed everyone was talking about women in science.

As the economy improved in the years after the Great Recession, women were slower to return to the workforce, causing alarm, especially in vital fields like computing. State and federal leaders turned their attention to women in science, technology, engineering, and math, known by the acronym STEM.

Over the next few years, they poured millions of dollars into increasing the number of women pursuing STEM degrees. But the rate of women who attain those degrees hardly has improved, according to an analysis of colleges’ data by the Public Policy Institute of California on behalf of CalMatters.

“The unfortunate news is that the numbers haven’t changed much at all,” said Hans Johnson, a senior fellow at the institute who conducted the analysis of California’s four-year colleges using data from the 2009-10 school year and comparing it to the most recent numbers from 2022-23. The share of women who received a bachelor’s degree increased from roughly 19% to about 25% in engineering and from nearly 16% to about 23% in computer science. In math and statistics, the percentage of women who graduate with a degree has gone down in the last five years.

“It’s not nothing, but at this pace, it would take a very long time to reach parity,” Johnson said.

Girls are also underrepresented in certain high school classes, such as AP computer science, and while women make up about 42% of California’s workforce, they comprise just a quarter of those working in STEM careers, according to a study by Mount Saint Mary’s University. Fewer women were working in math careers in 2023 than in the five or 10 years before that, the study found.

“It’s a cultural phenomenon, not a biological phenomenon,” said Mayya Tokman, a professor of applied mathematics at UC Merced. She said underrepresentation is a result of perceptions about women, the quality of their education, and a lack of role models in a given field.

Science and technology spur innovation and economic growth while promoting national security, and these jobs are often lucrative and stable. Gender parity is critical, especially as U.S. science and technology industries struggle to find qualified workers, said Sue Rosser, provost emerita at San Francisco State and a longtime advocate for women in science. “We need more people in STEM. More people means immigrants, women, people of color, as well as white men. There’s no point in excluding anyone.”

Chloe Lynn, 20, a UC Berkeley undergraduate student, points to a poster she presented summarizing her mathematics research in Berkeley on Aug. 5, 2025.

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Florence Middleton

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CalMatters

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She said recent cuts by the Trump administration to California’s research and education programs will stymie progress in science, technology, and engineering — and hurt countless careers, including the women who aspire to join these fields.

Over the past eight months, the federal government has made extensive cuts to scientific research at California’s universities, affecting work on dementia, vaccines, women’s issues, and health problems affecting the LGBTQ+ community. The administration also ended programs that support undergraduate students in science. In June, a federal judge ruled that the administration needs to restore some of those grants, but a Supreme Court decision could reverse that ruling.

More recently, the administration halted hundreds of grants to UCLA — representing hundreds of millions in research funding — in response to a U.S. Justice Department investigation into allegations of antisemitism. Now, the Trump administration is asking for a $1 billion settlement in return for the grants. A California district judge ruled Tuesday that at least some of those grants need to be restored.

‘The cultural conversation has changed’

In the past five years, attention has shifted away from women in science. Nonprofit leaders and researchers across the state say many lawmakers and philanthropists turned away from women in STEM during the COVID-19 pandemic and focused more on racial justice following the police killing of George Floyd.

Since 1995, women have been outpacing men in college, and women are now much more likely to attain a bachelor's degree. The unemployment rate for men is higher, too, and men without college degrees are opting out of the labor force at unprecedented rates.

On July 30, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order, saying the state needs to do more to address the “growing crisis of connection and opportunity for men and boys.” It’s not a “zero-sum” game, he wrote: The state can, and should, support everyone.

But some state investments for women’s education are lagging.

In 2018, the Legislature agreed to put $10 million each year into a new initiative, the California Education Learning Lab, to “close equity and achievement gaps,” including the underrepresentation of girls and women in science and technology. But two years later, the state imposed large-scale cuts to the initiative due to the pandemic. As the state faced more fiscal challenges in 2024, lawmakers cut its budget to about half its former size.

This year, Newsom proposed cutting the Learning Lab altogether. After negotiations with the Legislature, Newsom agreed to fund the initiative through next year, at which point, it’s set to close unless new funding is secured.

Gov. Gavin Newsom addresses the media during a press conference unveiling his 2024-25 January budget proposal at the Secretary of State Auditorium in Sacramento on Jan. 10, 2024.

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Miguel Gutierrez Jr.

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CalMatters

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“While I think women are faring better in college generally, I would be skeptical that we can say ‘mission accomplished’ in terms of achieving parity for women in STEM undergraduate degrees,” said Lark Park, the director of the Learning Lab, which uses public money to provide grants to schools and nonprofits. “I think we’ve just gotten distracted, and the cultural conversation has changed.”

Private and corporate foundations fund numerous nonprofit organizations that support girls and women in STEM, but grant recipients say some money has moved toward other, more popular topics or less controversial ones.

“Funders focus on trends, and they’re very trendy in how they give,” said Dawn L. Brown, president of the EmpowHer Institute, which offers education programs to girls and women across Los Angeles County.

One of her programs provides a free, five-week summer camp to girls, including a trip to Catalina Island, where they learn about environmental science and climate change. Since Trump took office, some corporate funders have pulled back support for the organization’s programs, which may be perceived as supporting “DEI,” she said. “The words ‘women,’ ‘girls,’ ‘climate change’ — those are banned words.”

Supporting women in math

When Chloe Lynn, a rising junior at UC Berkeley and a double major in applied math and management science, started taking higher-level courses, she noticed a trend in her math classes: fewer women.

“I’ll be one of three girls in a 30-, 40-person class,” she said during an interview at the university’s division of equity and inclusion.

UC Berkeley has a center dedicated to promoting diversity in STEM, known as Cal NERDS, which features cozy study spots, a high-tech makerspace and various multi-purpose meeting rooms. The center receives much of its funding from the state but has a few grants from the federal government, some of which currently are on hold.

On a Thursday last month, Lynn was one of 10 students who came to present their summer research in one of the multipurpose rooms. More than half of the presenters were women or non-binary, and the rest were part of other underrepresented groups in STEM, including Hispanic, Black, and LGBTQ+ students. She stood in front of a large poster, waiting for people to stop by and ask about her work.

“Say you’re at an auction, and say there’s 'n' bidders and 'k' identical items,” she said as another student approached. Over the next two hours, fellow mathematicians, classmates, friends, and family stopped by, listening as she explained her formula for allocating resources in an optimal way. Some understood her work and asked questions about her variables, formulas, or 3-D models. The rest nodded in admiration.

Chloe Lynn at her home in Berkeley on Aug. 5, 2025.

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Florence Middleton

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CalMatters

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By the end of the event, many students had abandoned their own posters in order to learn about their friends’ research. In her free time, as the vice president of UC Berkeley’s undergraduate math association, Lynn has been trying to build this kind of community among other female math majors by organizing events where students can meet each other. Her end goal is graduate school, either in applied math or industrial engineering. Women also are underrepresented in those graduate programs.

“Creating an inclusive and uplifting community is so important for anyone that’s underrepresented,” she said after finishing her presentation.

How STEM helps people

The lack of women in STEM has nothing to do with ability. In fact, women who major in STEM at California State University campuses are more likely than men to graduate, according to data from the college system, and in biology, women are overrepresented. Over 64% of biology bachelor’s degrees awarded in California during the 2022-23 school year went to women, according to analysis from the Public Policy Institute of California.

Brown said some female alumni of EmpowHer have said that college advisers push biology over other science, engineering, or math courses, claiming it’s “easier.” Better advising could create more parity, she said.

Rosser, who trained as a zoologist before becoming a college administrator, said women’s shift toward biology was a slow process, beginning in the 1970s.

“Women are particularly attracted to STEM when they can see its usefulness, particularly to help people,” she said.

Biology is often “an entryway to the health care professions,” she added, many of which are predominately female. She recommends that professors promote the application of their research as a way to increase the percentage of women in these fields.

In her studies at UC Berkeley, Lynn said she’s struggled with the relevance of her research.

“There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and I feel called to help,” she said. “Even though I did theory research this summer, I’ve been thinking about ways to apply this theory to real-world applications I care about.”

In particular, she wants her research to help her community in the Bay Area, where she grew up.

“Say you’re an architect and you’re in charge of reinforcing San Francisco’s concrete structures in the event of an earthquake,” she said. “You want to minimize cost in San Francisco, and that’s going to help you choose which building you’re going to reinforce.”

It’s just another resource allocation problem, she said, so it could be solved with a similar formula.

“It does hit close to home,” she said. In fact, the UC Berkeley campus lies on a fault line.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Bandfest is an opportunity to see marching bands from around the country — and Mexico and Japan — before their 2026 Rose Parade performance.

“This is the granddaddy of them all,” Tournament of Roses Honor Band Director Peter Huerta said of playing in the parade. “It is viewed all around the world. Everybody is watching you. Every little detail has to be perfect.”

Adriana Del Toro lined up outside Pasadena City College’s Robinson Stadium on Monday to watch her niece play the trumpet in the Los Angeles Unified School District All-District High School Honor Band.

“I'm living my childhood dream through her,” Del Toro said. ”When I was in high school, I always wanted to try out for a band, but I never did it because I was too shy. So I told her, as long as I can, I'm going to be here and support her.”

Some performances incorporated the 2026 Rose Parade theme, “The Magic in Teamwork.”

For example, the Tournament of Roses Honor Band’s performance includes the Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends” and High School Musical’s “We’re All in This Together.”

The Pasadena City College marching band and musicians from 62 local high schools make up the ensemble.

The 250-member Tournament of Roses Honor Band includes the Pasadena City College marching band and musicians from 62 local high schools.

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Mariana Dale

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LAist

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Drum Major Orlando Garcia said the teamwork theme makes him remember the smoky skies and power outages that followed January’s wildfires.

“We can come together and make great music,” Garcia said of his bandmates, students from Pasadena City College and local high schools. “Just as we always come together and get through everything.”

The Rose Parade is right around the corner, and thousands of people are already preparing to flock to Pasadena for the New Year’s Day festivities.

In its 137th year, the parade theme is “The Magic in Teamwork,” with Laker icon Earvin "Magic" Johnson as the Grand Marshal. It kicks off at 8 a.m.

Whether you’ll be camping out the night before, or heading over with blankets in tow in the early morning hours, keep in mind that the weather is currently forecast to be rainy. Yes, that's rare. If it does pour on the parade it will be the first time in 20 years and before that it had been 50 years since the last rainy parade day.

Here’s what you need to know this year.

Parade details and closures

The Rose Parade route lasts two hours, with its 5.5-mile journey starting at Green Street and Orange Grove Boulevard.

The floats, bands, and horses will head north along Orange Grove at a slow but steady 2.5 mph pace before turning east onto Colorado Boulevard for a majority of the show. It’ll then head north onto Sierra Madre Boulevard, wrapping up at Villa Street.

Police and city officials will start closing off part of the route to cars as early as 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 31, through 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 1.

That includes Colorado Boulevard from Orange Grove Boulevard to Sierra Madre Boulevard, and Sierra Madre Boulevard to Paloma Street. So if you’ll be hosting viewing parties or are overdue for a delivery, Tournament of Roses officials recommend telling everyone to arrive before the closures kick in Wednesday night.

Unless you have a need to be in the area during the parade, you might want to avoid this stretch of the city until it's all over.

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CityOfPasadena.net

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If you’ll need to drive to or through the downtown Pasadena area, you can use:

• Walnut Street or the 210 Freeway for east-west travel north of Colorado Boulevard
• Del Mar Boulevard or Cordova Street for east-west travel south of Colorado Boulevard
• There will be limited crossing for north-south travel during the closure (see map for details)

Please note: There will be a 5K race at midnight to celebrate the New Year from Pasadena Avenue to Hill Street. Several intersections will close to cross traffic at 11 p.m. Dec. 31 and re-open at the end of the race event at about 2 a.m., including Pasadena, Fair Oaks, and Marengo avenues (see full list on map.)

Tickets

You can still snag grandstand tickets — we found ones from $80 to $130, depending on where you want to sit. You’ll need to have your ticket handy.

The Rose Parade of 2022 represented a long-awaited return to Pasadena's New Year’s tradition.

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Alborz Kamalizad

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LAist

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The parade is scheduled to begin promptly at 8 a.m. Organizers recommend that ticketholders aim to be seated by 7 a.m. In order to do that, you should plan to arrive in the area by at least 6 a.m. to give yourself plenty of time to work through the crowds and traffic.

Note that there is a "clear bags only" policy in place for grandstand seating at the Rose Parade, the Rose Bowl game and several other events. You can find details here.

Curbside seating and camping

Curbside seating is free, and lots of people will set up shop and camp overnight, which is only allowed on Dec. 31. If you’ll be bringing your kids or teens along, they need to be with an adult during the overnight hours.

There are plenty of ways to enjoy the parade without paying for seating. You just need to plan. And plan to arrive early!

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CityOfPasadena.net

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You can grab your sidewalk spot starting at noon Dec. 31, but all your blankets and chairs have to stay on the curb until 11 p.m., at which point you’ll be able to move up a bit closer to the blue “honor-line.” Tents, sofas, unoccupied chairs, and boxes that can be used as stools or seats are not allowed along the route.

You can warm up with a small elevated barbecue, but it needs to be away from buildings and you have to have a fire extinguisher available. Bonfires and fireworks are banned, period.

Most importantly, don’t forget to drink water and dress for cool temps and the possibility of rain. (You can always sit on that extra jacket).

Given the weather conditions, it's important to note that the rules call for no umbrellas. The City of Pasadena advisers parade goers to use rain jackets and ponchos, which they optimistically describe as "a great alternative so everyone can enjoy the show!"

Pasadena city officials are reminding people than umbrellas are not allowed along the Rose Parade route ahead of a forecast of rain on the parade for the first time in 20 years.

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LAist's Sharon McNary, a longtime Pasadena resident who has offered great tips on making the most of the parade in the past, points out this might be a very popular year for what she calls "The People’s Grandstand.”

That said, Sharon notes "it’s kind of a locals-only institution. Fans create their own little wooden seats that fit nicely into the notches in the stones lining the sloped wall of the 210 Freeway overpass over Sierra Madre Blvd. In the rare rainy year, they have shelter, and in the more typical warm years, they have shade. And they get to view the spectacle of the taller floats folding themselves down to fit under the overpass and opening back up on the other side."

Local craftspeople make small wooden seats that fit in the mortar notches in the sloped wall under a the 210 Freeway overpass at Sierra Madre Blvd.

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Sharon McNary

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LAist

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Parking

There is no parking allowed on the parade route, but you can purchase reserved spots. Pasadena recommendations include Sharp Seating, the city itself, and LAZ Parking. Parking at Metro rail stations are another option you can check on before you head out.

Authorities urge that you pay for parking in advance to guarantee your spot. Otherwise, parking is on a first-come, first-served basis and of course that supply is limited.

Once again: Arriving extra early is your best bet so you can avoid the traffic hassles and any unintended GPS glitches. Authorities warn: "Please do not rely upon your GPS as road closures will be in effect and may not reflect on the GPS application."

The last time it rained, in 2006, the bleachers were far less packed than usual.

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Anne Cusack

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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

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All parking meters are free and time limits will not be enforced on New Year’s Day, and overnight parking restrictions will not be enforced until 2 a.m. Jan. 4, according to the city. But keep an eye out for red curbs, “No Parking” signs, fire hydrants, and driveways, as the usual restrictions still apply. You don't want to risk getting your vehicle towed.

Public transportation

Where possible, public transit might be your easiest way to go, and Metrolink will be offering special early morning hours on the San Bernardino, Antelope Valley, Orange County, Ventura County, and 91 Perris Valley lines for the parade. (Note that Metrolink’s Riverside County Line is not running on New Year’s Day.)

From the Metro website: "On New Year’s Eve and early New Year’s Day (Dec. 31 to Jan. 1), we’ll be running service all night on the A, B, D and E Lines with additional early morning service to help get you to Pasadena on time for the parade, which begins at 8 a.m. sharp." Metro will also have buses traveling to areas near the route and Rose Bowl game.

You can find more information here.

These are the A Line stations in Pasadena that closest to the parade: 

• Del Mar Station (walk .3 miles north to the parade route)
• Memorial Park Station (walk .2 miles south)
• Lake Station (walk .4 miles south)
• Allen Station (walk .4 miles south)

Metro will also have buses traveling to areas near the route and Rose Bowl game, which you can find more information on here

Metro is offering free fares on buses, trains, Metro Bike Share and Metro Micro from 4 a.m. Dec. 31 until 3 a.m. Jan. 1. For Metro Bike Share, use code 123125 on New Year’s Eve. For Metro Micro riders, use promo code RING26.

Accessible viewing

Three street-level viewing areas are reserved for people with disabilities and up to four of their guests.

Each of those areas along the parade route will have a section with audio descriptions for visually impaired people and another with sign language interpreters.

Diane Gagnon among Rose Parade floats on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023.

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Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag

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Los Angeles Times

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Tickets to all these viewing areas are free! But to request space, you’ll need to complete a form. The 2026 form is already marked closed, but for future planning, here is the Jan. 1, 2027 form.

Please note: no seats are provided, so you’ll need to bring your own arrangements.

There’s also limited wheelchair accessible grandstand seating sold through Sharp Seating.

Rose Bowl game

The Rose Bowl game, the oldest of bowls dating back to 1902, immediately follows the parade. The Rose Bowl Stadium parking lot opens at 4 a.m. Jan. 1 and the stadium gates open at 10:30 a.m. The game starts at 1 p.m.

A quick scan turned up tickets that are still available for the Indiana vs. Alabama matchup for a little as $130.90 and as much as $2,683.13.

General parking is available in certain lots at the stadium, with spots going for $69 that you buy it in advance.

For public transportation, you can take the Metro A line and exit at the Memorial Park station. You can find more information here about getting to the stadium.

Please note: the stadium has a clear-bag policy, which means backpacks, purses, and camera cases are not allowed.

If you want more info

If you’re dying for more details, you can download the official Rose Parade app here or here. You’ll be able to see the full line-up, maps, and get more information about the participants.

If you skimmed over the rules and your car gets towed on New Year’s Day, you can call (626) 577-6426 from 5 p.m. Dec. 31 until 6 p.m. Jan. 1.

And if you still have questions that have not been answered here, you can try the visitor hotline at (877) 793-9911.

L.A. shoppers could see an additional 0.5% sales tax that would help fund the Los Angeles Fire Department.

A petition to get the sales tax on next year’s General Election ballot was approved by the City Clerk on Dec. 26 for signature gathering.

If approved by voters, the money gathered from the tax would help pay for hiring firefighters, equipment, facility upgrades and more. The ordinance would be to “supplement, not replace,” the department’s current funding, according to the ordinance.

In a statement, the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City said the LAFD is half the size needed to keep LA safe.

"Due to decades of underinvestment, our fire department currently operates with the same number of firefighters as in the 1960s, six fewer stations, and five times the call load,” the union representing the city’s firefighters said.

What we know

The petition must gather more than 139,000 petition signatures by mid-April for the initiative to be on the upcoming November ballot.

If voters approve the ordinance, the funds generated by the tax would be kept in a separate account. It would also require annual audits and a citizens’ oversight committee to monitor spending.

More on the fire department’s needs

An LAist report found the department is one of the smallest for a big city in the U.S.

According to the department, there are 106 fire stations — six fewer than in the 1960s — and 3,412 sworn firefighters — only 33 more than in 1965.

In 2024, the International Association of Fire Fighters conducted a “Standards of Cover” report on the LAFD. It found that the department had overwhelming needs, according to the union.

The report concluded that for L.A.’s current population, LAFD should have 7,360 firefighters – 4,000 more than its current force. It also identified that the department needs 52 new fire stations, dozens of new dispatchers, EMS stations and more.

What about the city's budget?

In June, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed a $13 billion budget that included cuts to LAFD's street medicine teams. The department's budget is $76 million —higher than last year's to allow fire officials to hire more firefighters and buy new fire trucks. The 9% increase in the fire budget is the highest among departments.