Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations Beyond Broadening Participation (2023) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 102-153
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2] There were very few moments when I didn't realize I was one of the few Black students in a majority White institution .
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. I got used to being the only African American quite often.
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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.
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LIVED EXPERIENCES AND OTHER WAYS OF KNOWING IN STEMM 105 Not infrequently, White folks will say you're just being too sensitive. But when you have a Black colleague, you can share the experience and say I had the same thing or here's something you can try.
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6] When you come from a predominantly African American college under graduate where you had just a lot of support, a lot of friendships .
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You need peer mentors, that is people in your same stage of life and doing what you're doing at that time. And you have people older than you.
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6] Peers, Ingroups, and Outgroups Interview participants also emphasized the importance of having supportive peers and allies during their education and professional pursuits.
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. there was another Asian woman who was in the class with me as well as an African American man.
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8] I think there were probably about 20 of us that identified as Black or African American.
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5] I think we have to find ways of helping take that financial burden off especially Black Americans, African Americans who are so often first generation and just do not have the support and don't want to necessarily be in debt the rest of their lives.
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One Tewa scholar (Cajete, 1999) defines Indigenous science as: a broad category that includes everything from metaphysics to philoso phy to various practical technologies practiced by Indigenous peoples past and present .
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The committee also recognized it is important to continue collecting lived experiences and to include voices that are not well represented in the research including those of Black, Indigenous, and other minoritized individuals. In the context of the information gathered through the structured interviews with Black STEMM professionals and understanding the nature of evidence and multiple methods of gathering knowledge, the committee came to the following conclusion: CONCLUSION 4-1: Oral history and other means of exploring the lived experiences of scholars from historically and systemically minori tized groups in STEMM offer valuable insights that supplement findings from other kinds of research.
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. The lived experience of patients with obesity: A systematic review and qualita tive synthesis.
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As discussed in the first four chapters, the evidence has demonstrated that minoritized individuals have faced numerous systemic barriers, including macro-level policies and practices that have negatively impacted their opportunities, representation, and ability to thrive in STEMM careers. This chapter shifts the lens of analysis from an examination of racial bias at the systemic level to an examination of racial bias as it occurs at the individual and interpersonal levels.
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SOCIAL COGNITIVE PROCESSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF RACIAL BIAS People carve the world into social categories or groups along many axes, including race and ethnicity, a tendency that can be seen in the social cognitive process of social categorization. The first part of this section details how creating such groups can lead to psychological experiences of "us" and "them." This includes a consideration of how individuals may be members in particular social groups and subjectively identify with their groups to varying degrees (social identity)
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. Research using social identity theory (Tajfel, 1978; Tajfel and Turner, 1979)
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This includes sections on the negative impacts of predominantly White contexts, stereotype threat and social identity threat, imposter phenomenon, stigma and coping, attributional ambiguity, physical health impacts, and race-based rejection sensitivity. Negative Impacts of Predominantly White Contexts For minoritized individuals in STEMM, navigating classrooms and environments in which they are a clear numeric minority has measurable psychological, physiological, and behavioral effects (see Chapter 3 for a summary of issues that contribute to numeric representation)
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. Stereotype Threat and Social Identity Threat Stereotype threat is situation-induced worry that arises in achievementoriented situations when individuals feel apprehensive that their performance will be judged in ways that confirm negative stereotypes targeting their ingroup (Steele, 1997, 1998, 2011)
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. Thus, social identity threat is closely related to the imposter phenomenon, a term coined more than three decades ago (Clance and Imes, 1978)
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. Attributional Ambiguity Even when situations do not activate social identity threat specifically, they often create a feeling of uncertainty in minoritized individuals about the cause of someone else's behavior toward them, be it positive or negative (Major et al., 1994; Mendes et al., 2008; Smith and Wout, 2019)
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or the result of racial bias. In the context of race, this ambiguity occurs when minoritized individuals interact with White individuals; in such interactions, the minoritized individual may wonder whether positive feedback from the White individual is genuine or the result of overcompensating, and if negative feedback is deserved or the result of stereotyping or prejudice (Major et al., 2002)
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. In terms of psychological health, racism faced by minoritized individuals is associated with increased anxiety (Stein et al., 2019)
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Additional research studying these individual-level differences is necessary and important for better understanding the discussed range of adverse cognitive, emotional, and physiological consequences. Summary The committee wishes to highlight a key finding that emerged from the information summarized in the above sections: Minoritized individuals experience a range of adverse cognitive, emotional, and physiological consequences as a result of facing racial bias.
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Additional research and expanded sampling to include larger and more representative samples of all minoritized racial and ethnic groups is necessary to better understand these potential similarities and differences. Minoritized Individuals' Responses to Racial Bias The following section reviews three noteworthy ways in which minoritized individuals respond to experiences of racism.
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These strategies are discussed next. Disidentification is one exiting strategy that minoritized individuals may use to deal with persistent social identity threat and belonging uncertainty.
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Passing is only possible if a person can conceal their disadvantaged group membership, which may be the case for individuals from poor or working-class origins, individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, and Black, Indigenous, and Latine people with light skin color who can pass as White. This is a form of exiting as well, wherein an individual "exits" their own social identity and no longer thinks of themselves as a member of the racial or ethnic group (Brown, 1986)
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. There is critical literature examining resilience in STEMM among minoritized individuals (Gonzalez et al., 2021)
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Codeswitching is a context-dependent impression management strategy where minoritized individuals adjust their self-presentation in predominantly White contexts to fit in and be accepted by mirroring the White majority (McCluney et al., 2021)
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Shifting to an "asset-based" framework (Denton et al., 2020) identifies the strengths, social, and cultural capital among minoritized individuals and returns power to these individuals to counter structural racism; thus, such a shift may prove beneficial (Yosso, 2005)
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Using Slack has allowed LatinXinBME to create BOX 5-1 Finding Community on Social Media The purpose of this box is to highlight that spaces on social media have been a place where minoritized individuals in STEMM can find community and start mobilizing. As an example, Nature recently published a piece focusing on the emer gence of a movement on social media that came about in response to racially motivated incidents (Gewin, 2021)
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Some individuals have focused on teaching about the history of discrimination against many different peoples in the history of science and medicine in the United States. This has taken many forms, including organizing town halls, teach-ins, op-eds, reading groups, and other initiatives to help STEMM faculty and other members of the scientific community broaden their understanding of the causes and consequences of racism in 1 This section draws on an expert review commissioned by the committee (Smith, n.d.)
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. The committee's approach is motivated by a growing body of research that demonstrates that when local STEMM cultures are redesigned to foster social connections among minoritized individuals, increase exposure to experts from minoritized groups, and link STEMM with communal values, these cultural cues act as social vaccines.
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In a way, these diverse exemplars of success act as important role models. In fact, women students' subjective identification with success stories of women engineers predicts greater self-confidence in their own ability, which in turn predicts stronger intentions to pursue careers in engineering (Stout et al., 2011)
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Build a Critical Mass of Minoritized Individuals Building a critical mass of minoritized individuals in a local context reduces feelings of evaluation apprehension and elevates performance and full participation. Research shows that Black women's academic performance is enhanced when they are in a group of same-race peers compared to when asked to perform in the context of being the only Black person in an all-White environment (Inzlicht and Ben-Zeev, 2003; Sekaquaptewa and Thompson, 2002)
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. These "near peers," who are only slightly more senior, mentor early career colleagues, a form of mentorship that has been found to be effective, including for minoritized individuals in STEMM environments (Dennehy and Dasgupta, 2017; the National Academies, 2020; Rockinson-Szapkiw and Wendt, 2020; Thiem and Dasgupta, 2022; Wu et al., 2022)
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One benefit of ingroup peer mentors and other peer role models derives from their relatability and shared experiences. For example, a national sample of African American undergraduates majoring in STEM disciplines found that from these students' perspectives, perceived similarity of values rather than demographic similarity was the most important factor associated with protégé perceptions of high-quality mentorship, which in turn was associated with stronger personal commitment to pursue STEM careers (Hernandez et al., 2017)
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For example, summer bridge programs that take place during the summer before college starts help first-generation students, low-income students, and students from minoritized racial and ethnic groups make a smoother transition to college (Ramirez et al., 2021; Strayhorn, 2011)
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. As with summer bridge programs, research suggests that living-learning communities are particularly beneficial for orienting students to campus resources.
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Curriculum Change Initiatives Curriculum change initiatives also contribute to increased performance and persistence for minoritized students. One significant intervention to increase inclusion has occurred with the adoption of course-based undergraduate research experiences, sometimes called Freshman Research Initiatives.
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. Mentoring relationships are complex and have a substantial impact on the professional and personal lives of the mentees (the National Academies, 2020)
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Results showed longitudinal support demonstrating that quality mentorship ex periences were significantly associated with the integration of minoritized individuals in STEM (Estrada et al., 2018)
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It is important, therefore, for academic STEMM departments to form relationships with STEMM organizations dedicated to nurturing diverse talent, such as SACNAS, NSBE, and the Annual Biomedical Conference for Minoritized Scientists. In addition, it is important for STEMM departments to create and support local chapters of these organizations and create annual opportunities for cohorts of students to travel to their conferences to build a network of peers and professionals from similar identity groups.
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b. Hire more minoritized individuals, especially in positions where minoritized role models are often missing (e.g., leader ship, mentorship)
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organizations, higher education, and human resource offices can improve minoritized people's individual and interpersonal experiences in STEMM educational and professional environments through the following practices: 1. Create and provide continued investment in programs that fa cilitate working relationships between minoritized individuals to high-status professionals: a.
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g. Provide access to culturally responsive mental health provid ers or resources with experience in addressing racial stress, trauma, and aggressions for minoritized individuals who have experienced distress and would like to pursue these options.
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. The effects of in-group versus out-group social comparison on self-esteem in the context of a negative stereotype. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36(5)
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. Social identity theory: Past achievements, current problems and future chal lenges.
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Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85.
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. Clearing the air: Identity safety moderates the effects of stereotype threat on women's leadership aspirations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(2)
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. Identity threat at work: How social identity threat and situational cues contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in the work place. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 20(4)
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