Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations

People from minoritized racial and ethnic groups continue to face numerous systemic barriers that impede their ability to access, persist, and thrive in STEMM higher education and the workforce.

To promote a culture of antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI) in STEMM, organizations must actively work to dismantle policies and practices that disadvantage people from minoritized groups.

Racial Representation in STEMM

People from minoritized racial and ethnic groups encounter barriers in higher education including bias in tenure and promotion, challenges in aligning with the dominant culture, and everyday discrimination from colleagues and students, such as microaggressions and tokenism.

As a result of these barriers, people from minoritized groups are underrepresented in the STEMM workforce in all sectors, particularly in positions that require a bachelor degree or higher, which affects which jobs they can pursue, the salaries they earn, and their long-term job prospects.

People from minoritized racial and ethnic groups encounter barriers in higher education including:

  • Bias in tenure and promotion
  • Challenges in aligning with the dominant culture
  • Everyday discrimination from colleagues and students, such as microaggressions and tokenism

As a result of these barriers, people from minoritized groups are underrepresented in the STEMM workforce, particularly in positions that require a bachelor’s degree or higher, which affects:

  • Which jobs they can pursue
  • The salaries they can earn
  • Their long-term job prospects

KEY FACTS

  • STEMM HIGHER EDUCATION

    91% of university and college faculty are White

    In STEM, 91% of university and college faculty are White. (96% in more selective schools)

    Li & Koedel, 2017; Nelson et al., 2010

  • STEMM HIGHER EDUCATION

    In postsecondary education, Black, Hispanic, and White students declare STEM majors at roughly the same rate.

    In postsecondary education, Black, Hispanic, and White students declare STEM majors at roughly the same rate.

    Xie, 2015; Griffith, 2010

  • STEMM HIGHER EDUCATION

    In postsecondary education, Black, Hispanic, and White students declare STEM majors at roughly the same rate.

    40% of Black students switch out of STEM majors before earning their degree.

    Riegle-Crumb, 2019 #9

  • STEMM HIGHER EDUCATION

    62% of of full-time faculty members at U.S. medical schools identified as White

    In 2021, less than 4% of full-time faculty members at U.S. medical schools identified as Black or African American, whereas ~62% identified as White.

    AAMC, 2021

  • DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS

    If current trends continue, the entire U.S. population will be majority persons of color between 2042-2045

    If current trends continue, the entire U.S. population will be majority persons of color between 2042-2045

    Frey, 2021; Craig & Richeson, 2014

  • DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS

    Today, persons 18 years and younger are 50% persons of color

    Today, persons 18 years and younger are 50% persons of color

    Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022

  • STEMM WORKFORCE

    9% of STEMM jobs are held by Black individuals.

    9% of STEMM jobs are held by Black individuals.

    Fry, 2021 #1

  • STEMM WORKFORCE

    Of all active physicians in 2018, ~56% identified as White, compared to 5% who identified as Black or African American.

    Of all active physicians in 2018, 5% identified as Black or African American, compared to ~56% who identified as White.

    AAMC, 2019

  • STEMM WORKFORCE

    Today, persons 18 years and younger are 50% persons of color

    In 2019, 16% of health care workers identified as Black, whereas 60% identified as White.

    Laughlin et al., 2021

See Chapter 3 to learn more about racial representation in the STEMM workforce and STEMM higher education

What can STEMM organizations do?

ADEI is not a single set of goals that organizations can work toward, achieve, and declare the work concluded. Instead, these efforts demand sustained attention, leadership, and resources to flourish.

For the complete list of recommendations, see the Summary of the report.

Develop and implement an inclusive, multi-faceted plan to support people from minoritized groups at all levels of the organization

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Promote a culture that is accessible and supportive to all and address norms that impede diversity

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Anticipate resistance to ADEI efforts and investigate the impacts of training on ADEI outcomes

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Create team conditions to support positive performance outcomes and reduce interpersonal bias

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Redress individual bias and discrimination as well as organizational processes that reproduce harm for minoritized groups

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Fund grants to understand and translate policies, programs, and practices of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to predominantly White institutions

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Collect data on the demographics of college students studying STEM and educational outcomes

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Collect data on gatekeeper decisions, include ADEI responsibilities in job descriptions for leadership roles, develop systems for more inclusive decision-making processes and shared authority over resource allocation

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Develop and implement an inclusive, multi-faceted plan to support people from minoritized groups at all levels of the organization

Leaders and gatekeepers of STEMM organizations, higher education, and human resource offices can improve minoritized people’s individual and interpersonal experiences in STEMM educational and professional environments by:

Promote a culture that is accessible and supportive to all and address norms that impede diversity

Leaders of STEMM organizations should use a framework (such as those listed below) to evaluate the institution’s values and norms and identify specific ways to address norms that impede diversity and promote a culture that is genuinely accessible and supportive to all. These top-level leaders should work with managers, supervisors, and other mid-level leaders who influence the local culture within organizations and can be a critical part of implementation. The evaluation should include review of:

Anticipate resistance to ADEI efforts and investigate the impacts of training on ADEI outcomes

Leaders, managers, and human resource departments in STEMM organizations should anticipate resistance to ADEI efforts and investigate with rigorous empirical tools, the impacts of training on different types of ADEI outcomes (hiring, climate, promotion, retention, leadership roles, resource allocation).

Create team conditions to support positive performance outcomes and reduce interpersonal bias

Gatekeepers who manage teams should be intentional about creating the following conditions, which can support positive team performance outcomes and help reduce instances of interpersonal bias:

Visit Chapter 7 of the report to learn more about best practices for building diverse work teams.

Redress individual bias and discrimination as well as organizational processes that reproduce harm for minoritized groups

Leaders should take action to redress both individual bias and discrimination as well as organizational processes that reproduce harm and negative outcomes for people from minoritized racial and ethnic groups at critical points of access and advancement. This action should include a review of evaluation criteria and decision-making practices (i.e., in admissions, hiring and wage-setting, promotion and advancement) to understand if and to what degree existing standards perpetuate underlying racial and ethnic inequities.
 

Fund grants to understand and translate policies, programs, and practices of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to predominantly White institutions

Federal funding agencies, private philanthropies, and other grantmaking organizations should provide increased opportunities for grants, awards, and other forms of support to increase understanding of how Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) support students and faculty. Notably, one issue for further investigation should be understanding the core principles of MSI-based programs and how to translate them to predominantly White institutions of higher education and other STEMM organizations. In addition, predominately White institutions should seek sustainable partnerships with all MSIs.

Collect data on the demographics of college students studying STEM and educational outcomes

To understand the relative persistence of students in STEM higher education, data collection organizations, such as the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics, should collect and share online with the public information on the demographics of students entering college planning to study STEM and their subsequent educational outcomes, disaggregated by race and ethnicity, gender, and field of study, including:

Visit Chapter 8 of the report to learn more about understanding organizations and the role of leadership in developing a culture of ADEI.

Collect data on gatekeeper decisions, include ADEI responsibilities in job descriptions for leadership roles, develop systems for more inclusive decision-making processes and shared authority over resource allocation

Leaders of STEMM organizations and directors of human resource offices can improve people from minoritized group’s individual and interpersonal experiences in STEMM educational and professional environments through the following practices:

Importance of STEMM to the United States and its Residents

The economic prosperity of the United States and that of its residents depends on the nation’s continued success in STEMM.

Pursuing careers in STEM fields is highly attractive for a number of reasons. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an increase in STEM and medical occupations compared to non-STEM ones (2022). Also, STEM jobs typically have higher-than-average wages than non-STEM jobs (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022) and employment rates that are more resistant to economic shocks (Board, 2021).

Vector illustration of a pixelated map of the United States of America territories

HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT

STEMM organizations in the U.S. operate within the overall context of the nation’s history, which provides critical context for understanding the unequal representation of minoritized populations in STEMM higher education and workplaces.

Visit Chapter 2 of the report to learn more about the historical and current context of racism in the United States.

Violent Extralegal Enforcement of Jim Crow Laws

From the 1870s to the 1960s, “Jim Crow” laws enforced segregation of Black individuals in the realms of schooling, transportation, public accommodations, and in access to public facilities. In 1896, in Plessy vs. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of establishing “separate but equal” facilities for Black persons and White persons—yet, in practice, these facilities were often far from equal.

Between 1882 and 1968, 3,446 African Americans were lynched in the United States (Tuskegee University Archives Repository, 2010). Many victims were falsely accused of rape, murder, robbery, or other serious crimes, while others were lynched for perceived disrespect of White individuals.

In many locales, when Black individuals started to gain ownership of small businesses and began to accrue wealth, White individuals would often respond by forming mobs, burning down the business district, raping and/or murdering Black people, and running all surviving Black individuals out of town.

Land Ownership Without a Deed

As many as one-third of Black-owned land in the South was passed from generation to generation as “heir’s property” without a deed (Dreier & Ba Tran, 2021).

As a result, many Black families in the rural South were denied Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) loans when a natural disaster damaged their homes because they did not have a deed to their home, which was required to obtain a FEMA loan.

“Redlining” of Black Neighborhoods

The term redlining refers to the red marks that were made on maps to indicate neighborhoods that were comprised of predominately or a significant proportion of African American individuals.

The racist practice of redlining, a legacy of policies enacted during the Great Depression and post-World War II, codified racial and ethnic segregation in ways that that still affect people from minoritized groups today.

During the Great Migration from the 1920s to 1970s, some six million Black Americans left the repressive conditions in the South for employment opportunities in northern and western cities. Of the Black persons living outside of the South, 90% lived in urban areas (Farley, 1987).

Under the terms of the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC), lenders had to consider the riskiness of the neighborhoods in which properties were located based on color-coded “Residential Security Maps” that HOLC officials and local Realtors created. Black neighborhoods, and adjacent neighborhoods, were colored red, designating that they were excessively risky and therefore ineligible for HOLC-backed loans (Rothstein, 2018).

The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) loan program, which relied on the color-coded Residential Security Maps, encouraged the use of racial covenants to protect FHA-insured homes, and included other provisions that disincentivized investment in Black neighborhoods.

By 1940, nearly 90% of Black Americans lived in redlined neighborhoods (Krimmel, 2018), and of the $120 billion in FHA loans issued between 1934 and 1962, only 2% went to non-White families (Solomon et al., 2019).

Separate but Unequal Education

In the decades after the Civil War, Black students were prohibited from attending Southern colleges because of Jim Crow laws and legal segregation, and they had limited access to Northern schools because of quota systems.

Though there were exceptions, Black students did not begin to enter predominantly White colleges and universities until the 1960s. In the 1970s, institutions of higher education in the U.S. abolished segregation for non-White students (Byrd-Chichester, 2000; Halperin, 2019).

The segregated system of higher education turned away 55% of the 1.2 million Black veterans who served in World War II who were seeking the educational benefits of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 – known as the “GI Bill” (Perea, 2015). While 28% of White veterans went to college on the GI Bill, only 12% of Black soldiers did so (Turner & Bound, 2002).

Schools in non-White neighborhoods received less funding since public school funding relied heavily—and still relies heavily—on local property taxes that are based largely on property values.

Districts and schools currently located in formerly redlined neighborhoods receive almost $2,500 less per pupil in combined federal, state, and local funding, and report lower average math and reading test scores compared with districts and schools located in neighborhoods that were not redlined, according to a 2021 study from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University (Lukes & Cleveland, 2021).

Black college graduates owe an average of $25,000 more in student loan debt than White college graduates, according to a study by the Education Data Initiative (Hanson, 2022).

Among STEM Ph.D. recipients, Black graduates were more than twice as likely as White, Asian, and multi-racial graduates to have debt exceeding $30,000 (Zeiser et al., 2013).

Black Representation in the Criminal Legal System

The United States Department of Justice found that as compared to White men, Black men were 5.7 times as likely to be in imprisoned in 2020. Black men aged 18-19 were 12.5 times as likely to be imprisoned, as compared to White men of the same age range (Carson, 2021). While more than 25% of people arrested for drug law violations—the most frequent reason for incarceration—were Black people, drug use rates to not differ substantially by race and ethnicity (Edwards et al., 2020).

Unemployment rates for formerly incarcerated Black men and Black women were 35% and 43 %, respectively, compared to 18% and 23% for White men and White women, respectively (U.S. Council of Economic Advisors, 2008).

The Lived Experiences of Black STEMM Professionals
  • “There were very few moments when I didn’t realize I was one of the few Black students in a majority White institution... This was... the early ’70s. The civil rights movement was still going on. … you knew there were communities you just don’t go in. That was a sense of the White students that I was in class with. They didn’t get it. It was a sense of being separate from the majority of my classmates.”

    —Anonymous, interview conducted by L.M. on June 14, 2022

  • “… racism, it’s a tough thing, tough issue... even in this year—not directed to me personally, but even on our campus within science and engineering buildings, I mean, there have been a number of incidents where students who were legitimately supposed to be inside buildings and people called police on them. And these are students trying to do research and mind their own business... you see that and, wow this is still going on. Something that I thought yeah, I shouldn’t have to see that again, and it’s happening.”

    —Anonymous, interview conducted by L.M. on June 30, 2022

  • “I went on to an HBCU. And largely because of the high school that I went to was, though diverse, it was largely White. And so I just wanted to experience something where we were the majority. And it was a great experience. And I learned a lot. I learned a lot of history that I don’t necessarily think, in that time, I would’ve learned elsewhere. And so it was a pretty nurturing environment and affirming in a lot of ways.”

    —Anonymous, interview conducted by L.M. on June 14, 2022

  • “If you were White, it was the best of times all the time, and they just answer all my questions, and they invite me over to the house and go meet me at the bar, and for Black students, I can’t get a professor to talk to me; when they [professors] talk to me they talk down to me. I don’t belong here. I’m supposed to figure all this out and the White students are getting old tests from somewhere that I don’t ever get to see. I’m supposed to perform at the same level as them.”

    —Anonymous, interview conducted by L.M. on May 24, 2022.

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