SBE-UKRI:Centering Women of Color in STEM: Data-Driven Opportunities for Inclusion

有色人种女性--尤其是美国黑人女性和拉丁裔，以及英国的亚裔黑人--在一些STEM学科中的代表性严重不足，主要是物理学/天文学/天文学、计算机科学、数学、航空航天工程、土木工程、电气工程和机械工程(国家科学基金会和国家科学与工程统计中心，2019年)。坚持这些领域的女性，特别是有色人种女性，会经历孤立、微侵犯和性骚扰(Barthelemy，McCormick，&Henderson，2016；Gonsalves，Danielsson，&Pettersson，2016；Johnson，Ong，Ko，Smith，&Hodari，2017)。然而，人们对这种代表性不足的更细微细节知之甚少：有色人种妇女在哪些机构中的任职人数明显偏低，她们在哪些机构中茁壮成长；导致包容性文化的体制政策和做法；什么构成业绩高于平均水平的基准。需要获得良好的数据来解决所有这些差距。因此，我们请求提供资金，以创建一个可供公众使用的门户网站，STEM专业人员和其他人可以通过该门户网站获取有关这些领域中有色人种妇女代表性不足的数据。我们设想这个门户的受众如下：-STEM教授，他们想要创建更具包容性的部门，需要关于自己机构的基线信息，以及一种衡量他们随着时间的推移进步的方法；-需要信息的研究人员，以更好地了解代表性不足的动态，并确定纳入的有效做法；-寻找更具包容性的学习或工作场所的女性。这个项目源于我们之前对STEM部门的研究，在那里，女性报告他们正在蓬勃发展。这项研究指出，教授们采取了具体行动，使他们的系具有包容性。在那个项目中，一位数学专业的女生告诉我们，数学就像一个家庭，如果你对它表现出丝毫的兴趣，所有的教授都会说，让我让你看看数学有多有趣。一位物理学专业的女生说，教授们愿意和你合作。因此，如果他们看到你在努力工作，他们会投入额外的时间来确保你理解这一点。另一位物理专业的学生告诉我们，关于她所在的系，“我真的想不出任何我不喜欢的东西。”我们发现STEM教授渴望创造这样的环境；我们这个项目的目标是为他们提供数据，帮助他们实现这一目标。来自尤里卡科学公司、奥尔德西、圣玛丽马里兰学院和英国伯明翰大学的研究人员将通过创建一个门户网站来支持那些关注解决这种代表性不足的机构，通过这个门户网站，美国和英国的STEM部门可以衡量他们在让女性(特别是有色人种女性)毕业于同类机构和她们之前的表现方面的成功。该门户网站将利用复杂的可视化工具，方便用户访问。该门户网站的用户将包括：-STEM教授，他们希望通过招聘和支持各种背景的最有才华的年轻科学专业人员来促进科学进步，并需要关于本机构的基线信息以及衡量其随时间推移的改进的方式；-需要信息的研究人员更好地了解代表性不足的动态，并找出扩大参与的有力做法；-学生寻找更有效的学习场所。该项目将允许识别以白人为主的模范男女同校机构，并为同行机构创造机会，记录它们在融入社会方面的进展。由于大多数有色人种妇女在以白人为主的机构就读，这项工作有可能改善这些妇女中的大多数工作和学习的中学后教育环境。

Women of color-particularly US Black women and Latinas, and Black Asian Minority Ethnic in the UK-are deeply underrepresented in some STEM disciplines, principally physics/astrophysics/astronomy, computer science, math, aerospace engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering (National Science Foundation & National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 2019). Women who persist in these fields, especially women of color, experience isolation, microaggressions and sexual harassment (Barthelemy, McCormick, & Henderson, 2016; Gonsalves, Danielsson, & Pettersson, 2016; Johnson, Ong, Ko, Smith, & Hodari, 2017). However, little is known about the finer details of this underrepresentation: the kinds of institutions where women of color are markedly underrepresented and those where they thrive; institutional policies and practices that lead to inclusive cultures; benchmarks about what constitutes an above-average performance. Access to good data is needed to address all these gaps.Thus, we request funding to create a publicly available portal through which STEM professionals and others can access data about the under-representation of women of color in these fields. We imagine the following audiences for this portal:-STEM professors who want to create more inclusive departments and are in need of baseline information about their own institution as well as a way to measure their improvement over time;-Researchers in need of information to better understand the dynamics of underrepresentation and identify powerful practices for inclusion;-Women seeking out more inclusive places to study or work.This project grows out of our prior research into STEM departments where women report that they are thriving. That research pointed to concrete actions professors took to make their departments inclusive. In that project, a woman majoring in math told us "Math is like a family. If you show the slightest interest in it, all the professors are like "let me show you how much fun math can be." A woman majoring in physics said "the professors are willing to work with you. So if they see you trying and working hard, they're going to put in the extra time to make sure you're understanding it." Another physics major told us, about her department, " I can't really think of anything I don't like." We have found a hunger among STEM professors to create environments like this; our goal in this project is to provide them with data to help in this goal.Researchers from Eureka Scientific, Inc., AlderSEA, St. Mary's College of Maryland, and the University of Birmingham, UK, will support institutions concerned with addressing this underrepresentation by creating a portal through which US and UK STEM departments can measure their success at graduating women (especially women of colour) to that of comparable institutions and to their own prior performance. The portal will make use of sophisticated visualization tools and will be accessible and user-friendly.Users of this portal will include: - STEM professors who want to contribute to progress in science by recruiting and supporting the most talented young scientific professionals of all backgrounds,and are in need of baseline information about their own institution as well as a way to measure their improvement over time; - Researchers in need of information to better understand the dynamics of underrepresentation and identify powerful practices for broadening participation; - Students seeking out more effective places to study.The project will allow for identification of exemplary predominantly white, coeducational institutions, and to create opportunities for peer institutions to document their own progress towards inclusion. Since most women of colour attend predominantly white institutions, this work has the potential to improve the postsecondary educational environment where the majority of these women work and learn.