Advancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Leadership of Competed Space Missions (2022) / Chapter Skim
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3 Diversity of NASA Competed Missions Teams and Space Science Workforce
3 Diversity of NASA Competed Missions Teams and Space Science Workforce
Pages 44-69
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From page 44... ...
Currently, the demographic information gathered on mission proposal teams by NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is mostly limited to gender or sex, often inferred, and sometimes conflating the two categories (see Chapter 1, Box 1.3 for definitions of these terms)
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From page 45... ...
grants. Thus, to understand the diversity of the leadership of competed space missions, accurate demographic data need to be collected and analyzed on the leadership and team membership of missions, on grant proposers, as well as the research workforce across the four science divisions of NASA's SMD: Astrophysics, Heliophysics, Earth Science and Planetary Science.
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From page 46... ...
, while in both Heliophysics and Planetary Science ~38% of proposals submitted by women were TABLE 3.2 Number of Proposals Funded and Denied Between 2010 and 2019 for Each NASA Science Mission Directorate Science Division and Inferred Gender of Principal Investigator Total Astrophysics Earth Science Heliophysics Planetary Science 524 101 108 96 219 Funded Denied Funded Denied Funded Denied Funded Denied Men 22 72 11 92 30 58 27 144 Women 0 7 0 5 3 5 18 30 Total 22 79 11 97 33 63 45 174 SOURCE: Heidi Jensen and Lorenzo Pappas, NASA Science Mission Directorate.
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From page 47... ...
In fact, if the funding rates were the same, only about 10 women out of 48 that submitted competed mission proposals as PIs in Planetary Science would have been expected to be funded. In the analysis of the data, it is noted that there were 18 women PIs funded in Planetary Science between 2010-2019 (see Table 3.2)
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From page 48... ...
While such trends provide some explanation for the low representation of women PIs, they do not explain the stark variation across SMD divisions. Further analysis of the data on proposals selected for funding demonstrated that both the number of accepted mission proposals and the rate of acceptance varies between divisions, depending on mission size and on inferred gender (see Figure 3.3)
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From page 49... ...
accepted between 2010 and 2019 by PIs for each of the four science divisions, sorted by academic age (defined as years since PhD) and by inferred gender.
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From page 50... ...
submitted and accepted between 2010 and 2019 by women PIs for each of the four science divisions, compared with (Right) percentage of PhDs in physics and in astronomy awarded to women over the past 40 years.
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(Bottom) The percentage acceptance rate of mission proposals, sorted by mission size and by inferred gender, noting that for Astrophysics and Earth Science the numbers for women are 0/0.
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From page 52... ...
accepted between 2010 and 2019 for PIs in each of the four science divisions, sorted by team size and by inferred gender. Note the scales are similar between divisions but different left versus right for submitted vs accepted proposals.
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From page 53... ...
gender identity of members of proposal teams, information about race, ethnicity, and disability are lacking in NASA's analyses. Conclusion 3-2: During 2010-2019, fewer than 10% of all competed mission proposals to the Astrophysics, Earth Science, and Heliophysics divisions of NASA SMD were submitted by women PIs.
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From page 54... ...
women in science roles on competed mission proposals (averaged over the year) plotted versus proposal submission year.
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From page 55... ...
is divided by the total number of proposals submitted, the average number of Investigators per proposal ranges from 3.2 to 4.2 across the divisions. When the total number of proposals submitted are averaged for each year, there are notable differences between the divisions, with Earth Science and Planetary Science submitting roughly twice the number submitted by the Astrophysics and Heliophysics divisions.
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From page 56... ...
TABLE 3.3 Proposals Submitted to NSPIRES Across NASA Science Mission Directorate Science Divisions Total Astrophysics Earth Science Heliophysics Planetary Science 524 101 108 96 219 Funded Denied Funded Denied Funded Denied Funded Denied Men 22 72 11 92 30 58 27 144 Women 0 7 0 5 3 5 18 30 Total 22 79 11 97 33 63 45 174 NOTE: Data for 2020 were not complete. SOURCE: Office of the Chief Scientist, NASA Headquarters.
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From page 57... ...
Astrophysics The most recent workforce survey in astrophysics was conducted in 2018 by the AIP in preparation for the National Academies' Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020, and the survey results reflect demographic data for members of the AAS (Pold and Ivie 2018)
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From page 58... ...
To get a sense of the U.S. Earth Science workforce as it relates to NASA space missions, the committee relied on two sources: the 2018 NSF Report of Earned Doctorates in the United States (NSF 2018)
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From page 59... ...
, the percentage of the workforce identifying as Latinx/Hispanic varies between the disciplines, and Black/African Americans are the least represented in the overall space science workforce. The non-White populations within the space science workforce are clearly small in number and there is considerable uncertainty with respect to demographic data on these populations associated with the range in: methodologies used to collect these data, wording of questions Percent 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 74 Male 83 62 60 26 Female 17 38 34 Other/non‐respondent 6 82 White 81 75 78 9 Asian / Asian American 13 11 8 Workforce 2 Black / African American 1 4 Astrophysics Heliophysics 1 Earth Planetary 5 Latinx / Hispanic 2 9 3 7 Other/non‐respondent 3 2 10 FIGURE 3.8 Demographics of the space science research workforce (PhD scientists working in the United States)
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From page 60... ...
Gender Women remain underrepresented among the leaders of competed mission proposal submissions, NSPIRES PIs and Co-Is, and within certain sub-areas of the space science workforce relative to their share of the U.S. STEM workforce and the overall national workforce.
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From page 61... ...
As previously mentioned, gender is inferred in the demographic data on PIs for competed mission proposals provided to the committee by NASA SMD. Figure 3.10 also shows the inferred gender statistics for competed mission PIs compared with the workforce in NASA SMD fields, the STEM workforce holding PhDs in physical sciences, the overall U.S.
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From page 62... ...
workforce identified as Asian/Asian American, compared to 26% of PhD-holding STEM workforce and 29% of the STEM workforce with doctorates in physical sciences. Asian/Asian Americans were less represented in the space science workforce (ranging from 8% in planetary science to 13% in Heliophysics)
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From page 63... ...
Additionally, the lack of data on the racial/ethnic identities of competed mission proposal PIs makes it difficult to determine whether the patterns of underrepresentation and overrepresentation within the larger space science workforce and NSPIRES PIs and Co-Is described above hold for the competed mission proposer pool. Nonetheless, given the low representation of Black and Latinx/Hispanic among NSPIRES proposer pool, it is reasonable to assume that these groups experience underrepresentation within the competed space mission proposer pool as well.
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From page 64... ...
Statistical Division who sent the survey to the email addresses of all members of the Space Physics and Aeronomy section of the American Geophysical Union, the AAS Solar Physics Division, attendees of the Space Weather Week conference, and National Science Foundation principal investigator lists. The survey of the heliophysics community had the least demographics questions (perhaps reflecting it was carried out over a decade ago)
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From page 65... ...
Other None I prefer not to reveal my disabilities/health conditions Workforce Survey of 2018 U.S. AAS Members Question/Category Options What is your gender identity?
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From page 66... ...
66 ADVANCING DEIA IN THE LEADERSHIP OF COMPETED SPACE MISSIONS TABLE 3.A.1 Continued Do you identify as Heterosexual or straight Gay or lesbian Bisexual Other Prefer not to respond What is your race or ethnicity (Please check all American Indian or Alaska Native that apply) Asian or Asian American Black or African American Hispanic or Latino Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander White Other (please specify)
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(Please check all that apply) No No, but I would benefit from accessibility accommodation No, and I am afraid of disclosing my disability or chronic condition Not applicable 2011 Survey of Solar, Space & Upper Atmospheric Physicists Question/Category Options Are you: Female Male To what racial or ethnic group do you belong?
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From page 68... ...
American Indian or Alaska Native Asian or Asian American Black or African American Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander White Addition (please specify if you wish) Prefer not to answer Please indicate which of the following apply to I am deaf or hard-of-hearing you.
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From page 69... ...
Yes, but accommodations were not available No No, but I would benefit from accessibility accommodations No, and I am afraid of disclosing my disability or chronic condition Not applicable SOURCE: Data from the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluations System (https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external)
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