Race and Science in America

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a theoretical physicist at the University of New Hampshire, is one of about 100 Black American women physicists, but she nearly left the field in her first semester in college. She isn't the only scientist of color who thought of giving up before her career began.

Why it matters: Scientists and institutions have stepped up efforts in the year since George Floyd's murder to redress the underrepresentation of people like Prescod-Weinstein and other scientists of color among their ranks. That marginalization affects not only who pursues science as a career but the problems scientists address.

The big picture: Latino and Black students leave science degree programs at higher rates than white students and receive fewer Ph.D.s.

"I didn’t understand that this was entirely a resource question — that they (white classmates) had more opportunities than I had," Prescod-Weinstein, who recently wrote a book about her journey, told Axios. "I just thought I wasn’t good at solving problems."

People of color are underrepresented on university faculties and, in some fields, they are funded at rates lower than their white colleagues.

Science limits itself by excluding these groups. 

For example, Indigenous knowledge about the history of repeated earthquakes predates scientific records in some places and can be used to reconstruct how often events occur, says geologist Rachel Bernard of Amherst College.

"One of the foundations of science is thinking about new ideas and questions. If you have people from similar backgrounds, there will be a narrow scope in terms of how they view the world. It is a danger to the field itself," says Pamela Padilla, a geneticist and dean of the College of Science at the University of North Texas.

Population genetics, which identifies the genetic differences among racial and ethnic groups, has a dark past in eugenics. Today, it aims to link those differences to a predisposition for disease. 

That has produced a dominant fundamental framework of the biological world as one driven "strongly and preeminently by genes," with less incorporation of experience, culture and systemic forces, says C. Brandon Ogbunu, an assistant professor at Yale University who studies disease evolution and ecology.

"It isn't flatly and flagrantly racist," he said. "But the perspective shakes out of a racist view of the world."

“There is a shadow around this field where I am compelled in a lot of ways to make this point about what is broken and wrong about these perspectives in the field,” Ogbunu says. “I want to just do my day job. I want to be a scientist the way everyone else is." 

What's happening:  Some institutions are putting resources behind hiring experts to evaluate their hiring initiatives. 

The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that would authorize the National Science Foundation, which administers about a quarter of the total federal funding for basic science at U.S. universities and colleges, to lead on bringing more diversity to science.

A program founded by Vashan Wright of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, called Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE), aims to educate geoscientists about racism and develop policies to fight it in a field that has been historically among the least diverse in science.

Between the lines: Improving representation alone won't solve racial injustices in science, Ogbunu and Bernard say. 

"There are cultural norms that need to change for everybody," says Ogbunu. "Discrimination lurks in the margins of fields." Examples include not citing a paper because a name isn't recognized, subjective decisions about who is an expert, and professional networks whose social norms aren't inclusive, he says.

There is a view of science advancing through the work of lone geniuses, typically white men, when in reality it's a highly collaborative endeavor. 

"If you just put butts in seats, you are going to create person-of-color versions of those scientists, and that isn't what you want. You want to change the whole thing," says Ogbunu.

1. What science is missing

Science limits itself by limiting people of color among their ranks.

Photo illustration of a medical illustration of a heart and Saturn surrounded by Katherine Johnson, Daniel Hale Williams, and two students studying physics

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photos: NASA/Donaldson Collection, Bertram/Three Lions via Getty Images

Deep Dive: Hard Truths – Science

Latin America and Latinos

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a theoretical physicist at the University of New Hampshire, is one of about 100 Black American women physicists, but she nearly left the field in her first semester in college. She isn&#x27;t the only scientist of color who thought of giving up before her career began.Why it matters: Scientists and institutions have stepped up efforts in the year since George Floyd&#x27;s murder to redress the underrepresentation of people like Prescod-Weinstein and other scientists of color among their ranks. That marginalization affects not only who pursues science as a career but the problems scientists address.

A look at the scientific breakthroughs changing the world, explorations in space and in worlds beyond our own and the threats posed to us by our own planet, both out of our control and of our own making.

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

The yearslong fight to stop the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii has laid bare the fractured relationships between researchers and the communities they rely on for science.

Why it matters: At almost 14,000 feet, the dormant volcano is a coveted location for astronomers looking to answer deep questions about the universe. But for many Native Hawaiians, it's a sacred place that has already been desecrated by past telescopes.

What's happening: Construction of the TMT has been stalled since about 2015, when protests on the mountain blocked equipment.

The protests also forced those pushing to build the telescope to reevaluate their plans and work more closely with the Native Hawaiian community to find a potential path forward for the project.

The organization building and developing the telescope has had clearance to proceed with construction since 2019, but before moving forward it's waiting to see what a major report that helps the astronomy community set priorities says about the telescope.

It's not yet clear what the survey will recommend for the telescope, with some astronomers advocating for an alternate site in the Canary Islands.

How it works: The TMT is designed to be one of the most powerful ground-based telescopes ever built, with the ability to take more-detailed photos of distant objects, including planets that may harbor signs of life, and probe the nature of dark matter and dark energy — a mysterious substance and a force that dominate the cosmos.

Many astronomers argue that it is needed to answer some of the biggest cosmological questions out there today, like how galaxies in the earliest days of the universe formed.

If built, it would join 13 other telescopes already on Mauna Kea.

The debate around whether the TMT should be built on Mauna Kea is often framed by supporters of the telescope as a struggle against an Indigenous population that didn't understand or appreciate the science of the telescope.

Yes, but: Those against the building of the telescope don't see it that way. Many of the protestors — who refer to themselves as protectors — see their stance as pro-science.

Those protesting have witnessed damage to Mauna Kea and broken promises about when older telescopes will be decommissioned and removed.

"It's science that informs our understanding of the sacredness of this mountain. It's science that gives us the concern that the damage that could be done to this island could have ramifications for the whole ecosystem on the island of Hawaii," said Davianna Pōmaikaʻi McGregor, professor of ethnic studies at the University of Hawai'i Mānoa.

Between the lines: Native cosmology and knowledge passed down through generations have historically been dismissed by mainstream science as legends, but Polynesian communities have studied astronomy for thousands of years, using it to navigate vast areas of the ocean.

"It is a common experience to hear cultural knowledge dismissed as stories, anecdote, 'not science,'" said Aurora Kagawa-Viviani, a post-doctoral researcher and scientist at the UH-Hilo Hawaii Cooperative Studies Unit at the University of Hawai'i Hilo. "This kind of thing tends to concentrate power in the 'expert' and perpetuate hierarchies of power in unnecessarily small-minded ways."

2. The fight over the Thirty Meter Telescope reveals science's shortcomings

Cultural knowledge is often dismissed as anecdote, "not science."

Photo illustration of a collage featuring a rendering of the Thirty Meter Telescope and differently colored brush strokes.

Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios, Telescope rendering: TMT International Observatory

The yearslong fight to stop the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii has laid bare the fractured relationships between researchers and the communities they rely on for science.Why it matters: At almost 14,000 feet, the dormant volcano is a coveted location for astronomers looking to answer deep questions about the universe. But for many Native Hawaiians, it&#x27;s a sacred place that has already been desecrated by past telescopes.

The pandemic mantra has been to "trust the science" — but many people of color don't and won't. The reasons range from the abuses of eugenics to historic hurdles to getting care.

Why it matters: Science that supports medical breakthroughs has long taken advantage of people of color. Overcoming the resulting suspicion could take generations.

What's happening: Mistrust in science has a multilayered foundation and goes back more than a century.

1. The legacy of eugenics — the now-discredited belief that certain genetic traits were desirable, while others, such as dark skin and homosexuality, were undesirable — maintains a foothold in science and medicine. 

Then: Since the late 19th century, these unfounded ideas were presented under the guise of science and used to justify atrocities like the genocide by Nazis and enslavement in America. 

Now: Myths that people of African descent have a higher pain threshold may be the reason Black Americans still don't get the pain assessment and treatment they need, despite research disputing the misinformation. 

A 2016 study found almost half of the sample of white medical students believed Black people have thicker skin than white people, notes Danté Morehead, community health educator at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

"Race-norming" is another example of past eugenics theories underlying current practices. The NFL pledged in June 2021 to stop making Black players show a larger cognitive decline than others in brain injury settlements.

2. Symptoms or worries raised by people of color are disregarded.

"Medical gaslighting, where people of color's symptoms are ignored or downplayed, leads to further negative health outcomes," Morehead says. "Not only is this poor quality care, but by the time it manifests itself, you can be at stage three for cancer."

Even the rich and powerful are not immune. Beyoncé and Serena Williams have both described how doctors ignored their symptoms before near-fatal pregnancy complications. 

3. Past atrocities conducted in the name of science on Black Americans, Latinos and Indigenous people — such as the Tuskegee syphilis study — "is a huge reason for mistrust," says Namandjé Bumpus, chair of the pharmacology department at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 

Morehead says he's heard from many Black women "who just don't feel comfortable in a clinical setting" because of historical experiments like those from the "father of modern gynecology," James Marion Sims, who operated on enslaved women without anesthesia.

Suspicion over a trial's goals or concerns over privacy help lead to low participation in key research, Bumpus says, including vaccine trials. This contributes to low COVID-19 vaccination rates for Black and Hispanic Americans, despite suffering a disproportionate impact from the pandemic.

What to watch: Lack of representation of people of color in the sciences — from doctors to professors to the people designing and conducting drug trials — needs to be addressed, Bumpus and Morehead say. 

"If you look at the scientific workforce ... there are people missing in that picture," says Bumpus, the first African American woman to lead a department at the JHU School of Medicine and who's written about the struggles people of color in the sciences face.

Clinical trials, many narrowly designed to focus on men of European descent, need to include more underrepresented communities to fully demonstrate the safety and effectiveness for all people, Bumpus says.

But one deterrence is their lack of proper logistical support or financial incentives, Morehead points out. To participate in a clinical trial, often people need child care, vacation days or ways to travel distances, and a $25 gift card as compensation does not show "you value that community," he adds.

The FDA tried to address some of these issues in its 2020 guidelines on enhancing trial diversity, all of which are "nonbinding recommendations."

The bottom line: "I'm not saying that our medical system or our science is itself completely racist, but it is rooted in inequities that have historically exploited people of color for research, mischaracterized our symptoms or pain, and hasn't provided us with equal quality access. ... And, these things affect our outcomes," Morehead says.

3. Why some people of color don't trust science

It starts with the warped science of eugenics

 Photo illustration of an anatomical diagram surrounded by health care workers’ hands.

Photo illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios. Photo: Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The pandemic mantra has been to &quot;trust the science&quot; — but many people of color don&#x27;t and won&#x27;t. The reasons range from the abuses of eugenics to historic hurdles to getting care.<ul><li>Why it matters: Science that supports medical breakthroughs has long taken advantage of people of color. Overcoming the resulting suspicion could take generations.</li></ul>

The U.S. faces a range of health care flashpoints — unaffordable drugs, opioids, vaping — as we debate whether to adopt universal care. For now, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, but Republicans want to issue it a final death blow.

Health

Data: NSF Survey of Earned Doctorates, U.S. Census Bureau; Chart: Connor Rothschild/Axios

Students from underrepresented communities are earning more Ph.D.s, yet doctoral degrees in science and engineering are still overwhelmingly conferred on white students, according to an analysis from the National Science Foundation.

Why it matters: Today's doctoral candidates are tomorrow's teachers, mentors and researchers who can help the next generation of students see themselves as scientists and guide the areas they explore.

By the numbers: In 2019, nearly 70% of doctorate recipients who were U.S. citizens or permanent residents were white.

10% were Asian, 8% were Latino, 7% were Black and 3% identified as more than one race.

Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans earned about 5,500 doctorates in 2019, a 6.7% jump from 2018. 

Black, Latino and Native American students are least likely to have a parent with a bachelor's degree or higher, and often enter programs with an immense lack of diversity — two major factors that block the pipeline to higher education. 

About 75% of doctorate recipients who were Asian or white came from families with at least one parent with some type of degree in higher education, compared with between 49% and 59% of doctorate recipients who were Black, Latino or Native American.

4. Science and engineering doctoral candidates slowly diversify

Today's doctoral candidates can help the next generation of students see themselves as scientists.

Students from underrepresented communities are earning more Ph.D.s, yet doctoral degrees in science and engineering are still overwhelmingly conferred on white students, according to an analysis from the National Science Foundation.Why it matters: Today&#x27;s doctoral candidates are tomorrow&#x27;s teachers, mentors and researchers who can help the next generation of students see themselves as scientists and guide the areas they explore.By the numbers: In 2019, nearly 70% of doctorate recipients who were U.S. citizens or permanent residents were white.<ul><li>10% were Asian, 8% were Latino, 7% were Black and 3% identified as more than one race.</li><li>Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans earned about 5,500 doctorates in 2019, a 6.7% jump from 2018. </li></ul>Black, Latino and Native American students are least likely to have a parent with a bachelor&#x27;s degree or higher, and often enter programs with an immense lack of diversity — two major factors that block the pipeline to higher education. <ul><li>About 75% of doctorate recipients who were Asian or white came from families with at least one parent with some type of degree in higher education, compared with between 49% and 59% of doctorate recipients who were Black, Latino or Native American.</li></ul>

Reproduced from Pew Research Center; Chart: Axios Visuals

The representation gap in STEM jobs is largest among Hispanic workers, according to data from Pew Research Center, and that could consign them to lower paying jobs.

The big picture: STEM occupations, which tend to be higher-paying, are projected to grow in the next decade, especially in computer science and information security. Black and Hispanic people, especially women, may not benefit from that job growth because, as the Pew authors write, education trends "appear unlikely to substantially narrow these gaps." 

There's a need for STEM workers: 3.4 million skilled technical jobs are expected to be unfilled by 2022.

Latino workers, who make up the second-largest population in the U.S., could help to meet that need while boosting global competitiveness, per a 2020 report from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation.

"It is in our best interest to prepare students to compete globally," says Alejandra Ceja, vice president of social impact and inclusion at Panasonic and executive director of the Panasonic Foundation, which partners with organizations like Code as a Second Language, an initiative to improve access to computer science and coding skills to prepare students for the future workforce. "We want to close this gap and create a pathway into our industry, and it starts with access and early exposure."

What's happening: Hispanic workers make up 8% of all STEM jobs but 17% of the total workforce.

That underrepresentation is rooted in earlier education experiences: Hispanic students have similar levels of interest in STEM subjects and careers as white and Asian students, according to the report from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. 

But Hispanic high school seniors were less likely to report taking seven or more STEM courses, which help prepare them for further studies and work. They tend to have less access to calculus and high-level science courses and fewer connections to Hispanic adults who work in STEM fields. The Skyhook Foundation, Code.org and others are trying to fill that gap with courses, activities and competitions geared toward boosting access to computer science education. 

And those students who do have access to courses are less confident in their STEM abilities compared to their white and Asian peers. In part, that's because Hispanic students are subjected to biases, says Pamela Padilla, the dean of the College of Science at the University of North Texas and president of SACNAS, the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science.

"I was told growing up, 'You don’t look like a scientist'," she says. "It was never about my capacity or creativity or ability to understand science. It was about the features of being female and Hispanic. It wears on you."

5. Mind the Latino gap in STEM jobs

3.4 million skilled technical jobs are expected to be unfilled by next year.

The representation gap in STEM jobs is largest among Hispanic workers, according to <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="data" data-vars-click-url="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2021/04/01/stem-jobs-see-uneven-progress-in-increasing-gender-racial-and-ethnic-diversity/?utm_source=adaptivemailer&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=21-04-01%20diversity%20in%20stem%20gen.%20distribution&amp;org=982&amp;lvl=100&amp;ite=8263&amp;lea=1781971&amp;ctr=0&amp;par=1&amp;trk=" data-vars-content-id="7e33daef-3225-4f58-ba8c-fc2580a6c421" data-vars-headline="Mind the Latino gap in STEM jobs" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2021/04/01/stem-jobs-see-uneven-progress-in-increasing-gender-racial-and-ethnic-diversity/?utm_source=adaptivemailer&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=21-04-01%20diversity%20in%20stem%20gen.%20distribution&amp;org=982&amp;lvl=100&amp;ite=8263&amp;lea=1781971&amp;ctr=0&amp;par=1&amp;trk=" target="_blank">data</a> from Pew Research Center, and that could consign them to lower paying jobs.The big picture: STEM occupations, which tend to be higher-paying, are <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="projected to grow" data-vars-click-url="https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-10/why-computer-occupations-are-behind-strong-stem-employment-growth.htm#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Bureau%20of%20Labor,3.7%20percent%20for%20all%20occupations." data-vars-content-id="7e33daef-3225-4f58-ba8c-fc2580a6c421" data-vars-headline="Mind the Latino gap in STEM jobs" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-10/why-computer-occupations-are-behind-strong-stem-employment-growth.htm#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Bureau%20of%20Labor,3.7%20percent%20for%20all%20occupations." target="_blank">projected to grow</a> in the next decade, especially in computer science and information security. Black and Hispanic people, especially women, may not benefit from that job growth because, as the Pew authors write, education trends &quot;appear unlikely to substantially narrow these gaps.&quot;

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Congress is mulling a number of proposals aimed at investing in technology and traditional scientific research and development that could make huge strides on racial diversity in science.

Why it matters: The proposals come as science institutions face pressure to hire and cultivate more teachers of color, diversify research fields and ensure that there is greater diversity in the STEM workforce overall.

Details:  The U.S. Senate last month passed the mammoth U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, also known as the Endless Frontiers Act. The bill focuses on making major investments, on the order of about $250 billion, in the federal funding of scientific research and development. 

The bill would establish a chief diversity officer at the National Science Foundation, to be appointed by the president and subject to Senate confirmation, to "provide advice on policy, oversight, and guidance." The $8.5 billion a year agency is one of the biggest science grant providers, doling out about a quarter of academic grants for basic scientific research, according to Nature News. 

The bill would push more diversity initiatives in the STEM workforce and education. These would include "awarding grants to institutions of higher education to address STEM workforce gaps," among other steps.

The U.S. House also passed two competing measures that earmark unprecedented federal investments in a slew of emerging technologies, but it remains to be seen how the bills will be reconciled. The House Science Committee has also been focused on diversity issues, including gender diversity, in the sciences, but its bills would not create the same NSF position.

What they're saying: “The whole meritocracy system that we believe science is based on is not actually applied the same way to Black, Hispanic, Native American people and people with disabilities,” Yaihara Fortis Santiago, associate director for postdoctoral affairs and trainee diversity initiatives at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, told Nature after the death of George Floyd.

As Black Lives Matter protests broke out across the country, institutions publicly pledged their commitment to inclusion.

At the same time, awareness of the disparities in the STEM workforce, specifically the absence of Black, Hispanic and Native American people and those with disabilities has grown in recent years and is viewed as harmful to the scientific enterprise. 

For example, certain topics, such as exposure to harmful pollutants, might be more relevant to Black or Latino populations but are understudied because they do not occur to researchers in white, male-dominated fields. Such blind spots exist especially in the geosciences, astronomy and physics. Gender diversity is still a challenge in many other scientific fields as well. 

The bottom line: More money won't solve the entire problem. But pending science research and development legislation, combined with additional funding contained in infrastructure spending proposals, would be a bold step toward diversifying STEM fields. 

6. New federal actions aim to tackle diversity in STEM fields

A Senate bill would invest $250 billion to fund scientific research and development.

Illustration collage of hands and a molecule model

Congress is mulling a number of proposals aimed at investing in technology and traditional scientific research and development that could make huge strides on racial diversity in science.Why it matters: The proposals come as science institutions face pressure to hire and cultivate more teachers of color, diversify research fields and ensure that there is greater diversity in the STEM workforce overall.

Race and Higher Education in America

A college degree in America translates to better jobs and more wealth. But students of color still face barriers, including high tuition, when pursuing higher education.

A college degree in America translates to better jobs and more wealth.

Illustration of a man in a graduation cap and gown from behind

Deep Dive: Hard Truths - Higher Education

A college degree in America translates to better jobs and more wealth. But students of color still face barriers, including high tuition, when pursuing higher education.

New federal actions aim to tackle diversity in STEM fields

Illustration of a microscope on top of swirling lines and circles.