In the coming decades, millions of aging Americans will find themselves needing medical services more than ever before—right in the midst of a projected massive physician shortage. The seas will rise, as will the need for scientists to further develop carbon-free energy and engineers to build the infrastructure to protect people and ecosystems from extreme weather events. And as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and data science advance and become more enmeshed in everyday life, the expertise to harness them in an ethical and effective manner will depend on those with advanced training in these fields.
And yet America is nowhere near drawing on all of the American people’s talents to solve these problems. Our future depends on a robust scientific workforce. But racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in these fields, and millions of people who should be making important breakthroughs are instead—whether because of inadequate public education where they live, a lack of resources and support for college and graduate school, discrimination as they try to get their first job, or a culture of science that weeds out rather than encourages undergraduates—doing other work. While African Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population and Latinos 18 percent, they were just 4 and 5 percent, respectively, of new natural-sciences and engineering (NSE) doctorates in 2016. If more people of color were able to join the ranks of scientific researchers across America, our society would be much stronger for it.
This isn’t a new problem. For decades, leaders in higher education have lamented the lack of diversity in these fields. ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
