Asian American Investigators Decry 'Glass Ceiling' In Academic Administration

DISCRIMINATING: Cecelia and Cabriel Manrique's research reveals bias against Asian Americans in academia. Chang-Lin Tien, chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley; Henry T. Yang, chancellor of UC-Santa Barbara; David Chang, president of Polytechnic University; Alice Huang, dean for science at New York University; James Wei, dean of engineering at Princeton University. These names are mentioned prominently when discussion turns to distinguished scientists and engineers of Asian ance

Written byMyrna Watanabe

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DISCRIMINATING: Cecelia and Cabriel Manrique's research reveals bias against Asian Americans in academia.

Chang-Lin Tien, chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley; Henry T. Yang, chancellor of UC-Santa Barbara; David Chang, president of Polytechnic University; Alice Huang, dean for science at New York University; James Wei, dean of engineering at Princeton University. These names are mentioned prominently when discussion turns to distinguished scientists and engineers of Asian ancestry who have reached the highest levels in United States academia.

Yet among Asian scientists of all backgrounds, talk of the Asian experience in U.S. academic science often includes scenarios such as the following: A Caucasian postdoc is greeted as a colleague by a Caucasian professor while his senior professor, who is an American of Asian ancestry, is greeted as the postdoc. An outstanding U.S.-raised M.D.-Ph.D. student with an Asian-sounding name is approached about his work by a major researcher in his field ...

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