I know many readers here are not academics. It is now time for us to take on the important work of increasing the diversity of our field by making our classrooms more inclusive and equitable. We learn by our own practice, by reading the literature, and through discussion of best practices with other educators. Most academic chemists have little formal training in education. Some institutions, like mine, have Deans of Faculty who are gently pushing faculty to evaluate their instructor mindset, their classroom ecology, and their curricular practices. Workshops and conferences devoted to discussion of diversity, equity, inclusion, and racism in science are now easy to find. I know from attending ACS workshops geared towards department chairs that many institutions are evaluating the inclusivity of their introductory sequences. Thankfully, folks in higher education are paying attention. This paper, along with David Asai’s informative manuscript titled “Race Matters”, are valuable resources for scientists wanting to learn more about structural inequities in STEM education (2,3). Equitable and inclusive foundational courses are needed for all students, regardless of preparation and background, to thrive and learn. The problem is how are students are experiencing our classrooms. They argue, like many other experts in DEI practices, that we must investigate the role of bias, marginalization, systematic racism, and microaggressions in order to create an inclusive and welcoming environment in our classrooms and laboratories (2). stated clearly in their 2020 article, “We need to move beyond traditional arguments of merit and preparedness to start to question how these individuals experience our institutions in the classroom, the research laboratory, and the scientific culture” (2). That is, that students who have a stronger background or are highly motivated to learn can be successful, while students with weaker backgrounds may not be able to rise to the rigour of STEM courses. The problem has long been thought to be the students. First generation students are also more likely to feel excluded and struggle in introductory courses. At many institutions, the DFW rate (the percentage of students that earn a D or F grade or withdraw from a course) in introductory STEM courses is higher for minoritized students than it is for white or Asian populations. In fact, national trends show that only 14.7% of STEM bachelor’s degrees are awarded to minoritized students (1). I know that racially minoritized students express interest in STEM at the same rate as their white peers, yet do not persist at the same rate through STEM courses and majors. So, I guess these numbers shouldn’t have been quite as shocking to me as they were. I have been reading about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in introductory science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses for several years now.
The data are not broken down by sub-discipline, but I would imagine the representation in the separations community is quite similar.
reported that “only 6.2% of chemists and materials scientists, chemical engineers, and chemical technicians identified as Black or African American, and only 7.0% identified as Hispanic or Latinx, percentages that are far lower than in their total U.S. I recently read a paper in the Journal of Chemical Education that cited some statistics regarding diversity among chemists. Understanding the Lack of Diversity in STEM To fix this problem, we must start at the beginning of the pipeline. Yet many chemical industries, including separation science, lack the diversity that is representative of the population. In the 1980s a kid even died from sniffing the stuff.Increased diversity in the workplace brings broader perspectives and innovation. But why White Out? Did the caretakers finally get sick and tired of cleaning it out of the carpet? Were teachers scared that students would hurl the little white bottles at each other?Īs it turns out, I guess in some schools sniffing correction fluid has been an issue. My first thought was “Huh?! Why in the world are they banning White Out?!” I considered this to be another example of elementary schools going nuts with silly rules. What caught my eye, however, was a note on one of my kid’s supply list that White Out (aka Liquid Paper, white correction fluid, etc.) wasn’t permitted “for safety reasons.” This was the first time for this sort of notice. Most of the items are standard: duotangs, paper, pens, pencils ( HB pencils of course!), etc. My kids all go back to school next week, so naturally we have been getting together their school supplies for the year.
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