As an undergraduate student at the University of New Mexico, Esa La Beau was on her way to a promising research career. She joined a lab, presented her work at three national conferences, and contributed a significant amount of data to the project’s findings. But when it came time to publish, there was an issue over the order of authorship. La Beau, who comes from a Native American and Hispanic family entrenched in traditional values, couldn’t bring herself to argue with the senior scientists about the order. “Typically people from my cultural background don’t speak up to elders,” she says. “So I just resigned to the fact I wasn’t going to get credit for 3 years’ worth of work.”
Diversity Supplement: Myths, Realities
But one of La Beau’s mentors, Maggie Werner-Washburne, a leader of the university’s Initiative to Maximize Student Diversity, stepped ...
