focused on short-term returns on their investments. They are pressuring funders to do short-term assessments, but it takes a long time to see the results of diversity programs. Increasing the diversity of the faculty and grant writers is a long-term project that involves K–12 reforms, changes in both undergraduate and graduate programs, and faculty hiring and retention. These factors are interlinked, and changes are difficult to evaluate because the numbers we are talking about are small. In 2012, 267 African Americans and 329 Hispanics received PhDs in the biological sciences. Even a small increase or drop can represent a large percentage change. Foroozesh worries that funding to programs that foster diversity and help STEM undergraduates from underrepresented groups are being cut before the programs have adequate time to prove their worth, which will disproportionally affect HBCUs that are highly reliant on them because they don’t have hundreds of millions of dollars in endowments.
There are many reasons students do not continue in STEM, and any one is sufficient to dissuade a student from persevering. Initial assessments of Xavier’s BUILD program have shown that mentorship is a major factor. Mentoring is crucial in retention of underrepresented students in STEM fields. Ideally the mentors need to serve as role models and have to understand the importance of cultural issues, family ties, financial needs, and expectations. Xavier’s researchers undergo special mentoring training to achieve this understanding.
Seventy-five percent of the undergraduates enrolled at Xavier in fall 2018 were African American women, most of whom were STEM majors. These women in STEM largely fell between two departments at the university. The chemistry department, the largest department at Xavier in the number of faculty and research staff and the second largest in the number of majors, has 28 faculty members, half of whom are women. Even though Xavier is an HBCU, the department only has six African American/black faculty (1 woman and 5 men). The biology department, the second largest department at Xavier based on the number of faculty members and the largest based on the number of majors, has 23 faculty members, 6 of whom are African American/black (4 women and 2 men). The causes for this disparity are systemic and have roots in retention and recruitment, as well as the small numbers of African Americans/blacks, especially women, looking for jobs in academia. Another chemistry faculty member, Professor Mehnaaz Ali, is a coprincipal investigator on a National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE grant, “which is focused on creating an equitable, inclusive and energizing climate for female STEM faculty members by addressing systemic barriers which currently lead to higher attrition rates of female faculty and women of color.” Dr. Ali told me, “There are many speed bumps for female faculty in academia. It could be child care, it could be family care. If you are a minority in a school such as this one, where the numbers are low, you end up doing a lot of service, if you are a female faculty of color you are a role model for everyone, you are on a lot of service-oriented committees. But are you on the committees that are high impact? This is significant because committees, mentoring, and other unseen burdens result in burnout that can lead to retention issues.”
Another reason Xavier has such high graduation rates for African American women in science is that it has a critical mass of students of color doing science. The students have each other, they can talk to each other, and they look to each other and Xavier alums as role models in science. This can make all the difference in the world. The critical mass required for this type of group-wide support is absent in most non-HBCUs. The ADVANCE team aims to create similar environments for faculty to have a safe space where they can talk and address important issues with people who are like minded and share intersectional boundaries and thus be connected to a larger campus-wide faculty network.
I grew up in South Africa. While at university I tutored students from Soweto who were boycotting their apartheid education. Each Saturday they traveled more than two hours to learn math and science from a naive undergraduate, who was younger than most of them. This experience made me realize how important education is and the lengths some people go to get it. At Connecticut College I do a lot of chemistry outreach and get to see the different levels of preparation students receive. Based on 25 years of personal experience, I argue that the inequities (facilities, class size, and equipment) between the richer and poorer schools that I visit in the Northeast are growing worse. In 2007 I started, and today still direct, an undergraduate program that prepares students from underrepresented groups for a variety of science-related careers and provides a solid foundation for graduate study or medical school. Participants in the Science Leader program come from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, and priority is given to students of color, first-generation college students, students with disabilities, and women in mathematics, computer science, and physics. The program is based on cohort formation through a first-year seminar, an associated field trip, and research. As students go through the college acclimation experience together, they quickly become part of the larger Science Leader community. They learn from advanced students about what to expect in certain courses. Older students organize study groups, peer tutoring sessions, and social gatherings and assist with the orientation of incoming students. This creates a supportive network of science professionals and graduate and undergraduate students that grows and strengthens organically. Since 2007, 104 students have entered Connecticut College under the Science Leader program, an average of approximately 15 students per year. The six-year graduation rate for students in the Science Leader program is 97 percent. As of spring 2019, Science Leader students have obtained six medical degrees, one doctorate, and eight master’s degrees in STEM fields and six other graduate degrees. Twenty-four Science Leader alums are currently enrolled in graduate schools. The Science Leader program has been named a recipient of INSIGHT into Diversity magazine’s 2019 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award.
I wish we didn’t need this program, but it has become increasingly important and relevant. Most universities have been forced to introduce similar initiatives. The program is both one of the most rewarding and most depressing facets of my job.
Nobel Prizes
What Do They Say about Diversity?
As I write this we have just gone through another Nobel Prize season. The three Nobel Prizes in chemistry, physics, and medicine are the scientific equivalents of the Academy Awards. Just as for the Oscars, there is a pre-Nobel buzz; scientists are trying to predict who will be awarded the year’s prizes. In the days and weeks following the announcement of the awards, there is a thorough analysis of the winners and their research and sympathizing with those who, unjustly of course, didn’t get an award. It doesn’t take a very detailed investigation to discover that women and black scientists are not proportionally represented among the laureates, the United States does better than most countries, and China has surprisingly few science Nobel laureates.
In 1895, five Nobel Prizes were established according to Alfred Nobel’s will. The first prizes in chemistry, literature, physics, and medicine were awarded in 1901. Each prize can be awarded to no more than three people, and prizes may not be awarded posthumously.
The annual Nobel announcements occur in October, which is Black History Month in the United Kingdom. This is rather ironic, as no black scientist has ever won a Nobel Prize in science. Zero of the 617 STEM laureates! The reasons for this are the limited opportunities black (especially African) students have and the biases, hurdles, and lack of role models that they experience in science. Not enough young black students are choosing science, and there are not enough black full professors in the sciences at elite universities, where the networks and reputations required for winning a Nobel are made. Unfortunately, it is impossible to give Africa the same economic and political power as the global North. But “if we want more black scientists and eventually Nobel laureates, then similar direct strategic action (as has been used to increase the numbers of women in science) is urgently needed.”[17]
Immigrants to the United States
Thirty seven of the eighty-nine U.S. citizens awarded a Nobel Prize since 2000 were foreign born. Most notably, all six American winners of the 2016 Nobel Prize in economics and STEM fields were immigrants to the United
