Last month, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute announced it will invest $2 billion in an initiative to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM. The funds will be spent over the next decade on all stages of the science, technology, engineering, and medicine pipeline, from undergraduate education to tenured faculty and laboratory heads.
HHMI’s new initiative aims to change a historical lack of diversity in science and related fields. In 2019, Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans made up only 23 percent of the United States STEM workforce, compared to 30 percent of the general workforce, according to the National Science Board’s Science and Engineering Indicators. Part of the reason for the disparity may be that members of underrepresented groups with an interest in science are less likely to stay in the STEM career pipeline than are their white counterparts: according to a 2019 literature review published in Educational Researcher, more ...
