Gioia De Cari began her one-woman-show, "Truth Values: One Girl's Romp Through MIT's Male Math Maze," by stating that she earned her master's degree in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and had been a teaching fellow in mathematical logic at Harvard.

"But before you get too impressed," she said, "look at what I'm doing now."

De Cari, now a writer and performer, sold out her show twice at the Kitchen Theater Nov. 11 and 12. Panel discussions with Cornell faculty members followed both performances.

While De Cari had experienced overt gender discrimination at MIT, she had not planned to make her stories public; that changed when, in 2005, "Lawrence H. Summers, president of Harvard, opened his mouth and caused a furor," she said.

In his now infamous remarks, Summers suggested that fewer women succeed in science and math careers because of innate differences between the sexes. De Cari mentioned that in response to Summers' statements, columnist Maureen Dowd had written a call to arms in The New York Times titled "Dish It Out, Ladies."

"So this is me, dishing it out," De Cari said.

In her vivacious, 75-minute solo show, she told autobiographical stories from her graduate experience at MIT, bringing more than 30 characters to life with dynamic accents and contortions of posture. The emotional content ran the gamut from humorous (being hit on by socially inept male students) to heartbreaking (learning that her father had committed suicide).

The most scathing stories were those of her interactions with MIT faculty members, one of whom made her bring cookies to the weekly seminar. Another professor told her that her energy would be better spent raising children than studying math.

She described approaching one renowned professor after a department event: "I said, 'Your reading was so profound; it got me thinking philosophically about the nature of truth.'

"Then he leans across the table and says, 'You know, you're just the kind of woman I'd like to darn my socks.'

"For me, that was MIT," she said.

Fortunately, not all women at MIT have shared De Cari's experience. In the discussion following the Nov. 12 performance, three panelists shared generally positive impressions of their years at MIT.

"I was an undergraduate at MIT at the same time that Gioia was there," Beth Ahner, professor of biological and environmental engineering, said. "I loved it enough to stay, and I did my Ph.D. at MIT, as well. I never had someone say anything like, 'You should stay home and have babies,'" Ahner said.

"But sometimes you could read it on their faces!" said Michal Lipson, professor of electrical and computer engineering. When she was a postdoc at MIT, she said her impression was that women with children did not become leaders in the field. "So I hid my kid for quite a while before I told my adviser," she said.

"If there ever was a time I felt lonely, it was absolutely then," she lamented.

When asked if she left academia because of the oppressive climate for women or to follow her heart, De Cari said: "I don't know. I had to write a play to try and figure it out, and unfortunately I've never figured it out. ... But I can say that I never opened a math book again."

The events were organized by Cornell's ADVANCE Center through a gift from the President's Council of Cornell Women.

Graduate student Melissa Rice is a writer intern for the Cornell Chronicle.