The First Black Woman in Vanderbilt University’s Neurosurgery Residency Program
According to the American Society of Black Neurosurgeons, there are currently only 33 Black women who are in the field of neurosurgery in the United States. Tamia Potter, who completed her medical degree at Case Western Reserve University, will be the first Black women neurosurgery resident at Vanderbilt in the program's 91-year history.
Willie May Named President-Elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Since 2018, Dr. May has served as vice president of research and economic development and professor of chemistry at Morgan State University in Baltimore. Previously, he served as the U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Cato Laurencin Creates Institute for Regenerative Engineering at the University of Connecticut
The institute will integrate biology, medicine, surgery, chemistry, physics, engineering, and artificial intelligence/machine learning to create a powerful platform for addressing scientific and medical problems in the regeneration and healing of complex tissues, organs, or organ systems. Its goal is to achieve limb regeneration by the year 2030.
A New $150 Million Program to Boost Graduate Education for Underrepresented Students
Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and the Norman and Ruth Rales Foundation recently announced CMU Rales Fellows Program is expected each year to underwrite 86 graduate students in STEM fields in perpetuity, educating thousands of research and industry leaders in the coming decades.
African Americans Making Progress in STEM Fields, But a Large Racial Gap Remains
A National Science Foundation report finds that blacks were 14 percent of the U.S. population between the ages of 18 and 34 in 2020. They earned 10 percent of the associate's degrees awarded in science and engineering fields, 9 percent of the bachelor's degrees, 11 percent of the master's degrees, and just 7 percent of the doctoral degrees.
Dartmouth College Commits $100 Million to Increase Diversity in STEM Fields
Dartmouth's STEM-X program will focus on student diversity in STEM programs, faculty recruitment, and research and scholarship. The program will include an undergraduate scholarship program with the goal of enhancing STEM participation by students from underrepresented groups.
Study Finds Black Medical Students Publish Less Scholarly Research Than Their White Peers
In a new study of medical school students, researchers at Yale University found that there were only slight differences between Whites and members of underrepresented groups in research experience. But Black medical school students had 15 percent fewer publications than their White peers.
Southern Methodist University to Combat Bias in Artificial Intelligent Systems
Southern Methodist University in Dallas has established the Intelligent Systems and Bias Examination Lab (ISaBEL). The lab’s mission is to understand how artificial intelligence systems, such as facial recognition algorithms, perform on diverse populations of users. The Lab will examine how existing bias can be mitigated in these systems.
HBCU Students to Participate in Medical Research Program at the University of Pennsylvania
The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is expanding its Penn Access Summer Scholars Program to include students from five historically Black educational institutions. The selective program provides two summers of research for undergraduates with a goal of preparing them to matriculate into medical school.
New Report Shows Diversity Efforts in High-Tech in Academia and the Workforce Have Stalled
Despite comprising 15 percent of the K-12 student population, Blacks make up just 6 percent of students taking advanced placement computer science courses. In 2020, only 8 percent of bachelor's degrees conferred in computer science were earned by Black graduates, a decrease since 2016.
Meharry Medical College to Add a New Ph.D. Program in Biomedical Data Science
Students in the new program, scheduled to begin in August, will take courses in mathematics, computational science, biostatistics, biomedical informatics, biomedical image processing and analysis, artificial intelligence and deep learning, and computer programming.
Huge Racial Disparities Among Medical Residents in Specific Fields
A new report from the Association of American Medical College shows there were slightly more than 7,000 Black or African American medical residents in the 2020-21 year. They made up 5.8 percent of all medical residents. This is less than half of what would be called for if racial parity were to prevail. Many fields had no Black residents at all.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Commits $2 Billion to Diversity Efforts in Biomedical Science
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, based in Chevy Chase, Maryland, has announced a $2 billion commitment to advancing racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in biomedical science. The new initiative will focus on not only promoting diversity but also developing infrastructure needed to sustain increased diversity.
Vanderbilt University’s Renã Robinson Is Leading a National Organization of Black Chemists
Renã A.S. Robinson, associate professor of chemistry and Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips Chancellor Faculty Fellow at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, has been named president of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE).
Study Identifies the Whitest Corner of the STEM World
There has been no progress in geoscience Ph.D. degrees in racial and ethnic diversity in 40 years. There has been an increase of racial and ethnic diversity at the bachelor's degree level but most of this is the result of a larger number of Hispanic graduates. Blacks make up just 3 percent of bachelor's degree awards.
Selwyn M. Vickers Is the New President of the American Surgical Association
In 1994, Dr. Vickers joined the faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham as an assistant professor in the department of surgery. After serving as an endowed professor at the University of Minnesota from 2006 to 2013, he returned to Alabama to take the position of dean of the medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
A Major Gift Aimed to Address the Huge Racial Gap in STEM Doctoral Programs
Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg Philanthropies have announced the launch of a $150 million effort to directly address historic underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. Five partnering HBCUs will receive funding to build pathways toward doctoral degrees in STEM
Pew Research Center Report Documents Racial Gap in STEM Degree Attainment and Employment
Black students earned 7 percent of STEM bachelor’s degrees as of 2018, the most recent year data is available. This is below their share of all bachelor’s degrees (10 percent) or their share of the adult population (12 percent). Black adults are also underrepresented among those earning advanced degrees in STEM.
Black Students in STEM and Health Graduate Programs Increase But a Large Racial Gap...
New data from the National Science Foundation show that in pre-pandemic America enrollments in graduate programs in science, engineering, and health fields at U.S. academic institutions were increasing. The increase in Black enrollments in these disciplines increased faster than the rate for enrollments as a whole.
Academic Disciplines Where African Americans Received Few or No Doctorates in 2019
In 2019 there were 2,512 African Americans who earned doctorates. They made up 7.1 percent of all doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens or permanent residents in the U.S. But there are many fields where Blacks earned only a tiny percentage of all doctorates. For example, African Americans earned only one percent of physics doctorates.
Racial Microaggressions May Be Pushing Black Students Out of STEM Disciplines
The study by researchers at the University of Illinois found when students of color in STEM majors felt excluded, invisible, or isolated on their college campus because of their race, sometimes combined with discouraging experiences in academic settings, they were less likely to continue in STEM.
National Science Foundation Teams Up With Nine Universities to Boost Diversity in STEM...
The alliance will provide underrepresented minority doctoral and postdoctoral students training opportunities to learn and network at partner institutions, conduct research exchange visits, and access resources for placement into faculty positions.
NASA Teams Up With Four HBCUs to Promote Engineering Initiatives
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has awarded 14 planning grants to Minority Serving Institutions through its Minority University Research and Education Project, part of the agency's Office of STEM Engagement. Four of the grant recipients are historically Black universities.
The First African American Woman to Chair a Department at Johns Hopkins Medical School
Namandjé Bumpus was appointed chair of the department of pharmacology and molecular sciences. She is the first African American woman to chair an academic department at the medical school and the only African American woman currently chairing a pharmacology department at any medical school in the nation.
15 HBCUs to Have the Opportunity to Design STEM Teacher Preparation Programs
The National Math and Science Initiative has received a planning grant from the Fund II Foundation to design UTeach STEM teacher preparation programs at up to 15 historically Black colleges and universities in six states and the District of Columbia.
Cornell University Seeks to Boost Retention of Black Students in Computer Science
Two seniors have formed Underrepresented Minorities in Computing at Cornell, a club that seeks to support and inspire students of color in computer and information science. Faculty have received grants to offer a four-week summer program to rising sophomores in computer science.
Report Examines Recruitment and Retention of Black Students in Physics and Astronomy
According to the report from the American Institute of Physics, "The persistent underrepresentation of African Americans in physics and astronomy is due to the lack of a supportive environment for these students in many departments, and the enormous financial challenges facing them."
New CUNY Program to Help Minority Entrepreneurs Learn Emerging Technologies
The City University of New York has announced the creation of an emerging technology mentorship program that targets 250 small businesses owned by veterans, minorities, and women throughout New York City.
Xavier University of Louisiana Debuts a Physician Assistant Degree Program
This new program makes Xavier one of four colleges in Louisiana, one of two in New Orleans, and one of only three historically Black colleges and universities in the nation to offer a physician assistant program. Xavier University now offers 12 master's degree programs.
IUPUI Seeks to Boost Research Opportunities for Underrepresented Students in Neuroscience
The new program includes a summer bridge program and a first-year science seminar that introduces students to neuroscience. The program also provides paid research opportunities, making it possible for students to conduct research in lieu of a paid job off-campus.
Penn State’s Program to Increase Black Doctoral Students in STEM Meets With Success
About half of all Millennium Scholars at Penn State have gone on to be accepted in doctoral degree programs in STEM fields. The first two are expected to receive their Ph.D.s this coming spring.
Eighteen HBCUs Get Grants From the Defense Department to Buy Research Equipment
The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded $23.2 million to minority-serving institutions as part of the fiscal year 2019 Department of Defense Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions Research and Education Program.
Georgia State Program Seeks to Boost Number of Black Male Teachers in STEM Fields
The U.S. Department of Education estimates that just 2 percent of teachers are Black men. A new initiative at Georgia State University is seeking to encourage more Black men to become teachers in STEM disciplines.
The University of Florida Has the Most Black Women Faculty in Engineering
According to the American Society for Engineering Education, a nonprofit dedicated to engineering education, the seven Black women faculty members in engineering are the most among the 338 four-year degree-granting engineering schools in the United States.
The First Black Woman to Earn a Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics at Florida State...
A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Kalisa Villafana decided at the age of 12 that she would be a physicist.
University of Wisconsin Looks to Raise Number of Black Students in Chemistry Doctoral Programs
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has partnered with the American Chemical Society to train more students from underrepresented groups in chemical research. The goal is to increase the number of these students in chemistry doctoral programs.
