The Persistent Lack of Diversity in the Science

Despite years of attention, the rate of participation of women and minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is far lower than the overall representation of women and minorities in society at large. Increasing the diversity of participation in STEM fields has been identified as a national priority for the U.S., yet the origin, solution and importance of diversity related issues remain murky and controversial. On top of the broad and complex societal issues at play, research continues to systematically reveal psychological effects, such as unconscious bias and stereotype threat, that stifle efforts to increase diversity in STEM fields.\ud We will tackle just a narrow range of topics related to: i. What is the problem? ii. Why is change slow to come? and iii. What can be done to instigate change? We will explicitly consider the role of developing awareness, a primary goal of this class, when confronting the third question. This seminar is designed with science students in mind. However, there are no pre-requisites and any student may take this course