Honoring history through STEM

Photo of Nikky Finney, available from
her official website .  

On her Facebook page, Maya Angelou recognizes the work of Nikky Finney, a professor at University of Kentucky and winner of the 2011 National Book Award for poetry.  Born in South Carolina, she was the child of activists and came of age during the civil rights and Black Arts Movements. From an early age she recognized and grew to understand the powerful synergy between history and art.
In addition to recognizing and congratulating Professor Finney on this achievement, I think it's also worth a moment to reflect on the connections between (Black) history and modern science. How does your history (be it personal, cultural, societal, etc.) empower and motivate your decisions and efforts?

For me, I'll admit, this is not a question that I've long been attuned to... although, my years spent living in Germany and China have made this question far more personally relevant and important to me. By going into science--I had always thought that I was "doing my part." During my doctoral studies, I decided I'd "done" enough.  I felt that academia (at least not in a biophysics lab) was not a place where I would thrive.

This personal reflection, my overall interest in the science workforce, persistent evidence that Blacks in general are not thriving in research environments, and others' perspectives on what to do about it are influencing how I perceive the "dilemma". How can Black scientists benefit from reflecting on the continuing struggle for the broad acceptance African American Studies as a discipline important to more than African Americans. How might this pertain to science and its conduct?

I don't know the answers and I'd love to hear your views on whether these are the right questions, but I am coming to believe that focusing on getting minority students to study and pursue a career in science is not enough. I'd like to challenge my own assumptions about how research "should" be done and how the "right" questions are framed. I am sure people who are far more intuitive than I am have put forth some great questions and perspectives on this. If you know of any, please share!  For change (evidenced by increasing participation and a less "leaky" STEM pipeline) to happen we must find a way to make our voices coherent, aims cohesive, and efforts persistent. Perhaps we can find a way to do this through history.

The NIH Requests Your Opinion on Diversity in the Biomedical PhD Workforce

The NIH has put out a request for information concerning diversity in the biomedical workforce. All comments submitted by the February 24, 2012 deadline will be considered by the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director Working Group on Diversity in the Biomedical Research Workforce. You can find more information through the working group's web page. Here is the charge of the committee.

Its charge will focus on five key transition points in the pipeline: (i) entry into graduate degree programs; (ii) the transition from graduate degree to post-doctoral fellowship; (iii) the appointment from a post-doctoral position to the first independent scientific position; (iv) the award of the first independent research grant from NIH or equivalent in industry; and (v) award of tenure in an academic position or equivalent in an industrial setting. The Committee will provide concrete recommendations to the NIH Director on ways to improve the retention of underrepresented minorities, persons with disabilities, and persons from disadvantaged backgrounds through these critical periods. The DBRWG's analysis will include both the NIH intramural research community and the NIH extramural research community.

Also of note, there is a public meeting to be held on February 14. Here is a copy of the agenda. It looks like after opening comments by a representative of the committee, there will be a series of presentations by an array of White House initiatives concerning the various under-represented communities (Note: While the committee's charge is broader, only presentations on ethnic groups are scheduled).  There is also a public comment period. Each organization will be allotted 5 minutes. You may email request a slot (deadline is 5pm February 10, 2012) in advance (see agenda for details). Same day requests will be considered at the discretion of the Chairperson.