Breaking the Mold: Diversifying STEM Academia

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Scientific and technological innovation arises from new approaches and diversity of ideas. Too few women and individuals of color pursue and complete STEM degrees, leaving an untapped talent pool. It’s clear that U.S. colleges need to do a better job recruiting and retaining these individuals, but how? Can institutions attract students from underrepresented groups when their STEM departments don’t reflect the diversity of students they aim to serve?

The data make these disparities palpable: Although women with STEM Ph.D.’s are likelier to start their careers in academia, their male peers get more of the highly coveted faculty appointments at research institutions, giving them an early advantage to climb university ranks. And faculty of color are severely underrepresented in the top 100 STEM departments, accounting for just five percent.

Since colleges and universities exert great influence over the makeup of our future STEM workforce, the American Institutes for Research hosted a discussion to explore the hurdles underrepresented groups face when pursuing an academic STEM career. Panelists also talked about which policies universities and colleges should consider to be more inclusive.