Communications of the ACM
Minorities, Women Often Discouraged From Entering Engineering, Science Fields
Credit: The 45 Connection
Many female and minority scientists claim they were discouraged from going into their chosen profession, according to Bayer's Facts of Science Education XV survey, which polled science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) department chairs at the U.S.'s top 200 research institutions. The survey found that 40 percent of minority and female STEM researchers were discouraged from studying STEM subjects and 44 percent say that it was college professors who discouraged them.
Most of the department chairs polled in the survey gave their institutions grades of C or lower in terms of recruiting and retaining women and minorities in STEM programs. About 33 percent of the respondents said they believed that minority students were less likely to graduate with a STEM degree than women or majority students, and women were considered less likely to graduate than men.
"The chairs felt the underrepresented minority students faced a lack of limited quality science in elementary and secondary school, as well as a lack of role models," says Bayer USA Foundation executive director Rebecca Lucore. The participants recommended keeping curricula the same, but said colleges needed to provide more tutoring opportunities for women and minorities.
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