CONNECTING UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES AND WOMEN TO SCIENCE 1Connecting Underrepresented Minorities and Women to Science: A Reflection of the past ThirtyYearsLamont Moody PughSUNY-Buffalo State CollegeAuthor NoteLamont Moody Pugh, Department of Physics, SUNY-Buffalo State CollegeCorrespondence concerning this article should be addressed to Lamont Moody Pugh, Department of Physics, SUNY-Buffalo State College, 1300 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo, NY 14222 E-mail: [email protected] UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES AND WOMEN TO SCIENCE 2ABSTRACTOver the past thirty years there’s been a concerted effort to improve the quality ofeducation deployed to the citizens of America. Embedded within this mission has been a greateremphasis on recruitment of minorities and women into the science field. Data from the NationalScience Foundation (2009) show that minority students, particularly African Americans,Hispanics, and Native Americans, are highly underrepresented in the science and engineeringworkforce. As a possible prelude to being underrepresented in the workforce, these groups arealso underrepresented in the number of graduate level degrees they are awarded in the scienceand engineering fields. According to the National Science Foundation (2009), in 2004 thepercentages of master degrees awarded to African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans,were only 7.46%, 5.08% and 0.54% respectfully. Women on the other hand have madesignificant strides in both the number of graduate level degrees obtained in the science andengineering fields and the number of employment opportunities in the workforce. According tothe National Science Foundation (2009) women were awarded 43% of the master degrees and39% of the doctorates in science and engineering in 2004. The purpose of this study is toexamine why women have been able to make significant strides in the science and engineeringfields and the underrepresented minority groups have not. We will examine the factors that mayinfluence both the pursuit and obtainment of the graduate level degree in science, as well asthose factors that may influence the transformation of these degrees into employment in theworkforce.CONNECTING UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES AND WOMEN TO SCIENCE 3Connecting Underrepresented Minorities and Women to Science: A Reflection of the past ThirtyYearsIntroductionThe mission to increase the number of minorities and women participating in the scienceand engineering fields began more than twenty-five years ago, yet the journey still continues.Women have made great strides in both pursuing and obtaining some success in the science andengineering fields, however Some minority groups, although there has been growth, have doneso at a much slower pace. According to the National Science Foundation (2009), in 2004 womenwere awarded 43% of the master’s degrees and 39% of the doctorates in science and engineeringfields; in 1985 women were awarded 34% of the master’s degrees and 27% of the doctorates inscience and engineering. Data from the National Science Foundation (2009) show that thepercentages of master degrees awarded in 2004 to African Americans, Hispanics, and NativeAmericans, were only 7.46%, 5.08% and 0.54% respectfully. Additionally, the percentages ofdoctorates awarded in 2004 to African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans were 3.0%,3.2% and 0.36% respectfully. Asians on the other hand were awarded 8.57% of the master’sdegrees and 5.5% of the doctorates in 2004. Although these numbers are very small percentagesfor African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Women, they also represent anincrease in the number of degrees earned in the fields of science and engineering for these groupsover the previous three decades. Data from the National Science foundation (2009) show that minority students,particularly African American, Hispanics, and Native Americans, are highly underrepresented inCONNECTING UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES AND WOMEN TO SCIENCE 4the science and engineering workforce. The term “minority” refers to all groups other than white,“underrepresented minorities” includes three specific groups whose representation in science andengineering is less than their representation in the population; Blacks, Hispanics, and AmericanIndians, (Davis, 1996). In 2004, the underrepresented minority groups made up approximately27.0% of the United States population, yet they earned only 13.08 % of the master’s degreesawarded in the science and engineering fields; between 2003 and 2004, the underrepresentedminorities composed approximately 9.0% of all employed scientists and engineers in businessand industry. Likewise, women comprised 51% of the United States population between 2003and 2004, they earned 43% of the master’s degrees awarded in science and engineering fieldsand were employed in 27% of the science and engineering jobs in the workforce. In contrast, theAsian population, another minority group, composed approximately 4.2% of the United Statespopulation, earned 8.57% of the master’s degrees in science and engineering fields, yet theycomposed approximately 14% of all employed scientists and engineers in business and industrybetween 2003 and 2004, (National Science Foundation, 2008). As we examine the historical datapresented, although the percentages for the underrepresented minority groups and women maynot be great, there appears to be a correlation amongst all groups, between the obtainment of thegraduate level degree in the science and engineering fields and working in the science andengineering fields; if this postulate is true than the opposite may also be true, no degree, no work.Although the underrepresented minority groups and women are both moving in the samedirection in terms of growth in the science and engineering fields, a closer look at the datasurrounding both groups also reveals another similarity. For example, data from the NationalScience Foundation (2009) show that although Africa Americans were awarded 7.46% of themaster’s degrees in science and engineering in 2004, in the fields of chemistry and physics theyCONNECTING UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES AND WOMEN TO SCIENCE 5were awarded only 0.07% and 0.02% respectfully; in the social sciences, African Americanswere awarded 2.5% of
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