Article pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Diversifying Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM): An Inquiry into Successful Approaches in Chemistry Zakiya S. Wilson,*,† Saundra Y. McGuire,‡,§ Patrick A. Limbach,∥ Michael P. Doyle,⊥ Luigi G. Marzilli,‡ and Isiah M. Warner‡ †
Department of Chemistry, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, North Carolina 27411, United States Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, United States § Center for Academic Success, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, United States ∥ Department of Chemistry, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221, United States ⊥ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States ‡
S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: For many years, the U.S. has underutilized its human resources, as evidenced by the pervasive underrepresentation of several racial and ethnic groups within academia in general and the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, in particular. To address this underutilization, academic departments within U.S. universities must develop grassroots efforts that both recruit and retain students from all segments of the U.S. population. While many departments have noted this need and are earnestly trying to increase the diversity of their programs, very few have successfully achieved this laudable goal. This inquiry into the salient features of successful diversity agendas within STEM academic departments provides key insights into how departments can increase and sustain the doctoral degree attainment of students from underrepresented racial and ethnic minority groups. KEYWORDS: Graduate Education/Research, Public Understanding/Outreach, Collaborative/Cooperative Learning, Minorities in Chemistry, Administrative Issues, Women in Chemistry
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INTRODUCTION The leading position occupied by the United States in the global technological and economic enterprise has been largely unchallenged for many decades.1,2 Nevertheless, some key indicators suggest that the U.S. is losing its competitive edge. The increased investments in higher education in China, India, and other countries; the growth in the number of scientific papers published abroad; international student achievement in science and mathematics curricula in precollege settings; and the emerging economies of rapidly developing nations are all factors challenging America’s future competitiveness.1−6 Equally important is the fact that the U.S. is not reaching its full potential in workforce development in STEM disciplines. To meet these challenges, the U.S. must increase investments in its human resources, in education and in its research enterprise. While the U.S. clearly needs well-trained scientists to maintain its global competitiveness, the infrastructure for U.S. human resource development in the scientific and technological disciplines is not producing optimal results. For instance, only about 7% of the STEM doctorate degrees are earned by minorities.4,7 Although Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans make up almost 30% of the U.S. population (Figure 1),7,8 these minority groups are dramatically underrepresented at all © 2014 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
education levels within STEM disciplines, and within chemistry.8 This disparity in population and educational attainment in the scientific disciplines defines the scope of the underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minority groups (UREM) in these fields. Expanding access to doctoral level training for the entire U.S. populace benefits the nation through workforce development. As ideas are the currency that advances economic growth, Ph.D. level scientists are the idea generators that spur scientific and technological innovations. Consequently, the underproduction of scientists at this level, from any groups of U.S. citizens, is a cause for national concern. U.S. human resources must be fully developed to achieve the full potential of creativity that will advance basic and applied research and that will safeguard the country’s economic future and national security. The need for increasing diversity within the STEM fields is clear; however, demographical data on U.S. graduate programs indicate challenges in meeting this need. Consequently, this study was designed as an inquiry into best practices with demonstrated efficacy toward increasing and sustaining Published: September 3, 2014 1860
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mixed-method approaches. Further, empirical data can be based on observation, experience, or experiment. For this study, the empirical evidence includes (a) enrollment trends for the three departments, (b) a histogram of UREM enrollment data in chemistry graduate programs within institution with 2010 Carnegie classifications as Very High Research Active, and (c) a case-based observational analysis of strategies employed by the three selected departments to increase and sustain diversity in their graduate programs. Key faculty leaders in each department have collected and contributed observations on practices that were employed within each department. Accordingly, an analysis of the phenomenon of diversity in chemistry graduate programs is explored within this context, and details on each campus diversity strategy are provided in Supporting Information. Four common elements leading to diversity were analyzed using a comparative approach, e.g., faculty acceptance, graduate recruitment, applicant evaluation, and retention approaches. As many departments have attempted to increase diversity in their programs and have noted limited success in doing so, we posit that this observational analysis will provide a wealth of knowledge about common and also divergent approaches to achieving diversity goals.
Figure 1. Comparison of 2010 U.S. Census demographics with STEM and chemistry degrees conferred at the bachelors, masters, and doctorate levels in 2010.4,7,8 Racial and ethnic minority groups represented include African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans.
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diversity at the departmental level. One primary research question guides this inquiry: • How can science and engineering faculty and administrators (chairs, deans, graduate schools, etc.) increase and sustain diversity at the departmental level?
PARTICIPANTS The academic department is the primary unit in the university at which human resource capital is developed at the doctoral level, and the cultivation of talent in scientific disciplines must occur through grassroots efforts within such units. Academic departments must have the tools needed not only to increase educational access and opportunities for U.S. citizens who have historically been underrepresented in scientific disciplines, but also to provide an infrastructure for supporting these populations as they advance through doctoral programs. The challenges encompass both recruitment and retention through graduation. We describe here three programs that provide guidance in achieving such goals. The universities selected for this study have demonstrated efficacy toward increasing and sustaining diversity at the departmental level in the chemical sciences: the Louisiana State University Department of Chemistry (LSU-Chem), the University of Cincinnati Department of Chemistry (UC-
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METHODOLOGY A case-based observational analysis was conducted to investigate the varied approaches three departments of chemistry have used to increase and sustain diversity at the graduate level. This case study approach was selected as the primary investigative strategy because of its efficacy in advancing understanding about an important phenomenon in graduate education.9,10 By definition, a case study is “an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-life context.”9 Herein, case studies, i.e., empirical inquiries, allow for descriptive, exploratory, or explanatory analysis to deepen understandings about real-life phenomena, and can include qualitative, quantitative, or
Figure 2. Enrollment profile of underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities in selected chemistry graduate programs. 1861
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narrative of each program is described in the Supporting Information, and the integrative analysis is provided below.
Chem), and the University of Maryland at College Park Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (UMD-Chem/ BChm).11,12 All three of these universities are doctoral granting institutions with 2010 Carnegie classifications as “Very High Research Active.” LSU, the flagship institution of higher education for the state of Louisiana, is a public land-, sea-, and space-grant institution with over 24,000 undergraduates and nearly 5000 graduate students. An urban public research university, UC serves more than 30,000 undergraduates from all 50 states.13 As the flagship of the Maryland institutions of higher education, UMD has an undergraduate population of 27,000 undergraduate and 12,000 graduate students. This empirical inquiry analyzing the best practices gleaned from the successful (and often sustainable) expansion of diversity, inclusive of all UREM groups, at the graduate level at these universities can serve as a descriptive study for expanding these successful approaches to other STEM departments across the nation.
Faculty Acceptance
While the departments at LSU, UC, and UMD have established diverse communities, this was not a simple and straightforward task for any of these universities. A salient feature of all, however, was faculty receptivity to the recruitment of UREMs. This is particularly important because faculty members are the persons for whom the UREM students will conduct research, who will teach their classes, and who will sit in judgment of the overall performance of these students. Without such faculty support, diversity efforts will struggle to succeed from the beginning; nevertheless, intrinsic biases may be overcome through thoughtful communication and the successful documentation of student outcomes. Disruptive Change at LSU. Within a 3-year period during the early 1990s, the UREM population within LSU-Chem dramatically increased from 6 to nearly 20 Ph.D. students. This rapid growth was a direct result of the hiring of a nationally known, tenured UREM analytical chemist, and his bringing a group of minority Ph.D. students to LSU. Simultaneously, several students from nearby minority serving institutions (MSI) applied and were accepted into the doctoral program. The consequence was a rapid change that ultimately represented a disruption in the status quo. At first, many LSU-Chem faculty and graduate students questioned the credentials of the UREM graduate students. These concerns were quickly addressed through a retreat, involving both faculty and graduate students, at which all segments of the student and faculty population were able to voice their concerns. In the end, the minority student achievement in coursework, in oral examinations, in the production of peer-reviewed publications, etc., assuaged many of these concerns. In addition, the sudden influx of major companies, targeting UREMs but recruiting all LSU students, was a major advantage of this diversity, such that many of the staunchest skeptics of the diversity approach became strong advocates. Adaptive Change at UC. The approach at UC was to build from the ground up by hiring UREM Assistant Professors (to provide the mentorship and effect change at the faculty level). This change within the faculty ranks could then support recruitment and diversity efforts within the graduate student population. This approach was selected because the existing faculty recognized that UC was an institution that did not have the credibility, history, or infrastructure for advancing UREM participation. Thus, the faculty knew they could not transplant an already established leader to the UC department, but had to start from the ground up. This approach focused on working within the resources available by developing a culture of “buyin” by first getting faculty comfortable with and, in fact, quite supportive of diversity through their support of a burgeoning critical mass of UREM assistant professors. These assistant professors could then be effective and passionate supporters of diversifying the graduate population, such that buy-in was not really needed, but was a natural evolution in the department’s growth. Seizing Opportunity at UMD. Beginning in 2004, UMDChem/BChm embarked on a deliberate effort to increase diversity within its graduate student body, its faculty, and its staff. The motivational goal of this initiative was to allow UMD’s diversity to reflect that of the community it serves. Although “change is good” when it moves in a positive
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FINDINGS A number of institutions are earnestly trying to increase diversity and sustain diversity growth in their graduate programs and within their faculty ranks. Recent studies on trends in U.S. chemistry graduate education14 and numerous national workshops on diversity15,16 chronicle a widespread appreciation of the larger need to increase diversity and sustain this diversity in the chemical sciences. Yet, a general lack of diversity is still pervasive (Figures 2 and 3).4 In fact, an analysis
Figure 3. A comparative analysis of the UREM chemistry graduate enrollments in U.S. doctoral granting institutions with 2010 Carnegie classifications of Very High Research Activity. The histogram represents the average UREM graduate student composition from 2007 to 2011 of over 100 universities with very high research activity.
of institutions with Carnegie 2010 classifications of Very High Research Activity demonstrates a general dearth in the racial and ethnic diversity in their chemistry graduate student populations (Figure 3). This phenomenon persists in spite of increases in UREM degree completion at the undergraduate level. In an effort to assist department-level diversity efforts, this inquiry provides a framework of some of the major issues that the selected STEM departments encountered while developing and advancing the diversity agendas of their graduate programs. Lessons learned from the divergent approaches taken by LSU, UC, and UMD provide meaningful guidance for other programs grappling with this issue throughout the nation. A 1862
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flexibility in increasing base stipends of the Yates Scholars and using those funds for additional career development goals.22 This department has also benefited from very strong support at the College level, as well as through the UC Graduate School. The additional stipend enhancement funds provided thus ensured that the department could match competing stipends from other institutions and attract strong students. UMD-Chem/BChm. The department actively recruits UREM students for its graduate programs using the Milligan Fellowship as one incentive. Letters are sent to representative faculty at MSIs in the fall of the year to encourage applications, and the department relies on current graduate students to pass on their experiences to students at their undergraduate institutions. Requirements for admission are uniform in the department, and additional financial incentives are provided to selected applicants based on merit. UREMs admitted to the graduate program who identify themselves as such are encouraged to apply for the Milligan Fellowship, and resources are identified that could be used to provide additional financial incentives for Milligan Fellowship finalists who do not receive the award. All admitted domestic students are invited to attend “Maryland Day” with a travel subsidy, and UREM applicants meet with UMD National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) members to give them a firsthand look at what to expect at Maryland and in the community. With programs that support minority graduate students, such as the Ford Foundation Fellowships and the NIH Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research, opportunities for further enhancements emerge. Leadership workshops such as those from P&G and the Dow Chemical Company offer experiences that are particularly valuable for career selection. One final recruiting point should be made. It is not mandatory to have a UREM on the faculty to achieve critical mass. However, it is noteworthy that most programs that have achieved the desired diversity have either a UREM faculty member or someone who has established rapport with MSIs. Such relationships greatly aid in recruiting.
direction, faculty do not always see that change will provide a “good” outcome. The initial reaction is skepticism, and often resistance, but faculty often respond favorably to positive outcomes and arrangements that brighten their future. At UMD the demonstrated positives−a graduate fellowship and additional financial resources for offers to graduate student applicants, the successes of UREM students in their graduate programs and in job placement, the opportunities for faculty and students to express these efforts in presentations of “broader impacts”, and the heightened visibility of the department−outweighed the perceived negatives−additional time and effort to bring UREM students into the faculty member’s laboratory culture. Graduate Recruiting
It is very important that a critical mass of UREMs be established as soon as possible in order for a diversity program to have a chance at sustainability.17−20 “Critical mass”, which can loosely be defined as approximately 10−15% of the total population in a given department,17,18 reduces the minority marginalization and supports self-sustainability of the minority group.17,21 LSU-Chem. At LSU, a critical mass was achieved in one year when a UREM faculty member brought in 10 graduate students, five of whom were UREMs. This brought the total number of UREMs to 11 in a total graduate population of about 110. As a result of overall positive experiences, this number soon grew to more than 30 as the total graduate student population grew to approximately 150. Over the past 10 years, the UREM population, primarily African Americans, has remained on average above 30. For many institutions, this number can be achieved through extensive recruitment. For the last six years, the department has had a staff member focused on graduate recruitment and outreach. This individual centralizes recruitment activities, works collaboratively with faculty to set up recruitment visits at nearby colleges and universities, maintains a database of potential student contacts, seeks extramural funding sources for students, and leads other similar activities that support the recruitment agenda of the department. Collectively, these activities have developed a critical mass of minority chemistry graduate students. Once critical mass is achieved, and if these recruited students have generally positive experiences, recruiting will often be self-sustaining.21 UC-Chem. Beyond diversifying the professoriate, three other factors can positively impact UREM student recruitment: geographical proximity to large research facilities, leveraging unique resources, and research collaborations and outreach to UREM faculty, particularly at MSIs. For instance, UC-Chem now has several UREM faculty; however, most of the domestic students in this department are recruited more regionally than nationally. Through its geographic proximity to the corporate research headquarters for Procter & Gamble (P&G), UCChem gains exposure to a national population of UREM students. Specifically, the P&G minority/diversity summer program provides a mechanism for a number of UREM students to become more aware of UC and the southwest Ohio region than might otherwise occur, enhancing the national recruiting ability of UC-Chem for UREM students. UC-Chem has very strategically leveraged a variety of department, college, and university level resources to provide UREM students with highly competitive packages and opportunities. For example, the Yates Scholarship is a university-wide program that gives UC-Chem significant
Applicant Evaluation
Many representatives of graduate institutions in STEM disciplines indicate that a low level of UREMs is a result of a refusal to lower academic standards. These institutions tend to cite the lower average Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores for UREMs as the rationale for this concern. LSU-Chem. For several years, the department has used a comprehensive approach to evaluate students’ credentials. This approach was adopted after an in-house study found that the best students cited by faculty included a number of majority and minority graduate students with “low” GRE scores. Accordingly, LSU-Chem began to evaluate student credentials by using the GRE in combination with other criteria comprising (1) the undergraduate grade point average, GPA; (2) letters of recommendation; and (3) personal interviews. This is done for all domestic applicants. Once selected, the department does not provide additional resources to UREM graduate assistants; however, the department has used state, university, and federal resources to provide fellowships to the best candidates. These resources include the Louisiana Board of Regents Graduate Fellowship, the LSU Huel Perkins Diversity Fellowship Program, U.S. Department of Education Graduate Assistant1863
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ships in Areas of National Need (GAANN), and the NSF Louis-Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship. UC-Chem. Similarly, UC-Chem holistically reviews students’ credentials with a purposeful intent of identifying students who would be a good fit for its program. Notably, the UC review committee does not differentiate between UREM and majority students during admissions decisions. All domestic applicants are evaluated on the basis of their overall record, with each component weighted differently depending on the student and their undergraduate background. Notably, the GRE is just one component under consideration. UCChem hosts all of its domestic students who have received offers for an on-campus recruiting weekend sponsored by the UC Graduate School. During these visits, interviews are conducted, and Yates Fellowship nominees are selected within the department. UMD-Chem/BChm. Applications from potential graduate students are evaluated with all requested evidence at the committee’s disposal: college or university attended, letters of recommendation, GPA, prior research experience, and GRE scores. Decisions are made based on a combination of these factors, as well as the anticipated graduate student openings in research groups. Domestic students who have been admitted to UMD are invited to visit the campus, and most come during “Visit Maryland Day,” at which personal interviews are conducted with students, and additional financial incentives may be provided based on the impression provided during the visit.
cognitive domain of Bloom’s taxonomy and provide strategies that help them move away from the memorizing, understanding, and applying of information they experienced as undergraduates to the analysis, evaluation, and synthesis that are required in graduate courses and research.27,28 Many students, minority and otherwise, struggle in their first year of graduate school owing to lack of sufficient learning strategies, not lack of academic ability. The learning specialists have helped many students who were placed on probation after their first semester to earn a 4.0 GPA in their second semester. Also, the specialists have helped students who failed most of their cumulative examinations in their first year to pass most of them in their second year. The metacognitive learning specialists also guide faculty in understanding how to help students excel academically. The faculty now appreciates that students, who may not have been prepared for the rigors of graduate study, can be among the best students in the department when they are taught how to learn at the graduate level. In fact, LSU-Chem has observed that many students who initially struggled during their first year in graduate school end up finishing near the top of their class and winning many of the departmental awards for outstanding performance. This success allows the faculty to encourage students to persist, even in the face of initial failure, and to ascribe failure to correctable causes as opposed to lack of intelligence. When underrepresented students become aware that faculty believe in their ability to succeed and work with them to develop key learning strategies, they are not paralyzed by the stereotype threat that plagues many minority students in a predominantly majority learning environment.29,30 UC-Chem. Academic support for UREM students begins from the moment they accept an offer to join UC-Chem. A particularly effective approach for UREM and majority students is to offer an “early-start” option. This option allows new graduate students the ability to join the department in the summer prior to the start of classes. Students participate in mentored research with faculty, engage in professional development workshops and activities (scheduled concurrently with other summer programs in the department), and are assessed by mentoring faculty, senior graduate students, and the Graduate Program Director. The benefits of this early start option include helping students integrate into the departmental culture and identifying those students whose graduate-level research skills require enhancement. This latter group can then be targeted for specific academic support and encouragement prior to and throughout their first semester of coursework. UMD-Chem/BChm. The UMD Office of Diversity and Student Experience provides administrative support aimed at identifying, recruiting, retaining, and graduating a diverse graduate student body. Specifically, this office develops academic initiatives−such as colloquia, workshops, and lectures−that facilitate campus conversations on diversity in graduate education at UMD and beyond. The office also assists the University’s various colleges and departments in creating an environment supportive of the academic success of women and UREM graduate students. Learning Community. Establishing and participating in a learning community are often critical to success in graduate school.31,32 Many majority students take this important resource for granted because it tends to fall into place for them without much effort. It is critically important that UREMs understand early on that study groups are important in graduate education. Sometimes, UREMs are intentionally
Retention Approaches
Studies on doctoral student attrition have cited academic and social integration as major factors supporting degree completion.23−25 Some contend that UREMs often come from schools that prepare them poorly for graduate school. This claim is certainly not supported by data in the literature suggesting that UREMs who graduate from small undergraduate institutions such as HBCUs attend graduate schools at higher rates and have higher completion rates in graduate programs than those who graduate from more prestigious and highly ranked undergraduate institutions.26 Nevertheless, biases can negatively impact faculty perceptions of who can do science, and these biases are barriers to the academic and social integration of UREM doctoral students. Hence, targeted efforts are critical for supporting UREM persistence through degree completion. Academic Support. The transition from undergraduate courses and research to graduate-level work proves challenging for many students, whether UREM or not. In addition to taking courses, most first-year graduate students are involved in teaching undergraduate laboratory sections, selecting and joining a research group, and taking monthly cumulative examinations. Most students need to develop new learning, test-taking, and time management strategies to excel at the graduate level. LSU-Chem. Metacognitive learning specialists, from the LSU Center for Academic Success (CAS), provide workshops and individual consultations for all interested students. Focusing on helping students to develop effective and efficient learning strategies, CAS learning specialists teach students how to become independent, self-directed learners through instruction on the role that metacognition plays in developing higher level thinking skills. The specialists introduce students to the 1864
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access for all segments of the population. To pursue this laudable goal, comprehensive recruitment, admissions, and retention approaches must be employed. While not all departments will be able to fully implement the strategies employed by model universities, these academic units can assess their strengths and review their internal recruitment and training processes in order to integrate some of the strategies described in this article. Finally, the strategies outlined here focus on UREMs in chemistry departments because that is the available data at the three institutions studied within this inquiry; nevertheless, we believe that such strategies are generally applicable to UREM groups in any STEM discipline.
excluded from the groups that form or may be overlooked because they do not always assimilate with their peers.33 UREM students can benefit from targeted efforts that guide their early integration into department learning communities. LSU-Chem. At the onset of increased diversity at LSU, a concerted effort was employed to inform UREM graduate students of the need to form peer study groups. Consequently, LSU-Chem UREM students established a student chapter of NOBCChE to provide both academic and social support for themselves and their peers. In recent years, UREM students have also held leadership positions within the department’s Chemistry Graduate Student Council (CGSC), which provides support to all LSU-Chem graduate students. This integration into the larger graduate student population substantiates the critical mass theory that over time sustained high UREM enrollment numbers can normalize UREM student achievement and success in graduate programs. UC-Chem. Notably, not all universities have a critical mass of minority students. In these cases, departments can naturally create these learning communities and study groups as a component of the full entering cohort experience. All of UCChem incoming graduate students take the same three “core” courses (based on broad Chemistry topics) along with two shorter courses (Scientific Writing and Scientific Ethics). With this alignment of courses, the Graduate Program Director knows how all students (UREM and majority) are faring in the program throughout their first semester. Because from day 1 the incoming class is together as a cohort, students naturally start to work together on these common classes. Accordingly, no specific groups are singled out for additional assistance; instead, the entire cohort is monitored through these courses to ensure they are all appropriately prepared to begin their research projects. This approach effectively integrates all studentsUREM and majorityinto the program as a coherent unit. UMD-Chem/BChm. With very few exceptions, all graduate students are enrolled as graduate teaching assistants (GTA). Their employment is to teach undergraduate students, mainly in lower division laboratories, and most have not been previously exposed to the challenges of being a teacher. In response to the growing need to aid in the transition from student to teacher, UMD-Chem/BChm developed a GTA preparation program. The team-taught, six-week GTA development course is offered as an annual event for all new GTAs. This effort supports GTAs in adjusting to the teaching role and fosters a sense of community among the first-year GTAs.34 In concert with community building through GTA training, UREM students are supported by a strong NOBCChE student chapter. Established in 2006, the UMD student chapter of NOBCChE provides a motivated learning community that offers peer support for students throughout their graduate career. Over the years, the chapter has worked to establish itself as the “go-to” organization for those seeking leadership as well as volunteer and professional development opportunities. The payoff in these efforts has been substantial. For example, several of these UREM Ph.D. graduates have published up to seven journal articles in high-impact journals as graduate students, and many of them secured exceptionally attractive industrial, academic, and/or postdoctoral positions.
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ASSOCIATED CONTENT
S Supporting Information *
Further details on each individual department’s diversity strategies. This material is available via the Internet at http:// pubs.acs.org.
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected]. Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
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REFERENCES
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CONCLUSIONS Academic departments within the nation’s research institutions must be the primary innovators in increasing doctoral training 1865
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