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女性，以及英国的亚裔黑人少数族裔——在一些STEM学科中代表性严重不足，主要是物理学/天体物理学/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（美国国家科学基金会和国家科学与工程统计中心，2019）。坚持在这些领域工作的女性，尤其是有色人种女性，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细节知之甚少：哪些机构的有色人种女性代表性明显不足，哪些机构的有色人种女性表现出色；促进包容性文化的体制政策和做法；关于什么构成高于平均水平的表现的基准。要解决所有这些差距，需要获得良好的数据。因此，我们要求资助创建一个公开的门户网站，通过该门户网站，STEM专业人员和其他人可以访问有关有色人种女性在这些领域代表性不足的数据。我们设想这个门户网站的以下受众：-希望创建更具包容性的部门并需要有关其所在机构的基线信息以及衡量其随时间改进的方法的stem教授；-需要信息的研究人员，以更好地了解代表性不足的动态，并确定有效的包容性做法；——女性寻求更具包容性的学习或工作场所。这个项目源于我们之前对STEM部门的研究，在那里女性报告说她们正在蓬勃发展。这项研究指出了教授们采取的具体行动，以使他们的部门具有包容性。在那个项目中，一位主修数学的女生告诉我们：“数学就像一个家庭。如果你对数学表现出一点点兴趣，所有的教授都会说：“让我告诉你数学有多有趣。”一位主修物理的女生说：“教授们愿意和你一起工作。所以如果他们看到你努力学习，他们会花额外的时间来确保你理解它。”另一位物理专业的学生告诉我们，关于她的专业，“我真的想不出任何我不喜欢的东西。”我们发现STEM领域的教授们渴望创造这样的环境；我们在这个项目中的目标是为他们提供数据来帮助实现这一目标。来自尤里卡科学公司（Eureka Scientific, Inc.）、AlderSEA、马里兰圣玛丽学院（St. Mary's College of Maryland）和英国伯明翰大学（University of Birmingham）的研究人员将通过创建一个门户网站，为关注解决这一代表性不足问题的机构提供支持，通过该门户网站，美国和英国的STEM部门可以衡量他们在毕业女性（尤其是有色人种女性）方面的成功程度，以及他们自己之前的表现。该门户将利用复杂的可视化工具，并将易于访问和用户友好。该门户网站的用户将包括：-希望通过招募和支持各种背景的最有才华的年轻科学专业人员来为科学进步做出贡献的STEM教授，并且需要有关其所在机构的基线信息以及衡量其随时间进步的方法；-需要资料的研究人员，以便更好地了解代表性不足的动态和确定扩大参与的有力做法；-学生寻找更有效的学习场所。该项目将确定以白人为主的男女同校的模范机构，并为同行机构创造机会，记录它们在实现包容性方面取得的进展。由于大多数有色人种女性主要就读于白人院校，这项工作有可能改善大多数有色人种女性工作和学习的高等教育环境。

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.