Raynard S. Kington, president of Grinnell CollegeImage: Justin Hayworth/Grinnell CollegeA recent experience reminded me of the challenges related to identity and experience in the scientific realm. Two years ago, after leaving my job as principal deputy director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to assume the presidency of Grinnell College, I was senior author of a paper about differential funding rates between African-American and white applicants for NIH grants. Our paper, published in Science in August 2011, demonstrated that African-American scientists are significantly less likely than their white counterparts to receive NIH funding, even when they are similarly qualified.
Our study generated a great deal of media attention; and in every news interview I gave on this topic I repeatedly made two points. First, while our findings suggested that the NIH review system might contain an anti-African-American bias that warranted further analysis, I did not believe that review bias, if confirmed, was the major driver of the differential funding rates between African-American and white applicants. Second, I emphasized my belief that funding differences were instead more likely to reflect subtle and insidious, if unintentional, differences in the experiences of African-American scientists.
And so I was dismayed by a recent news story on www.the-scientist.com about our report that seemed to prove our point about the existence of such unintentional bias. The story identified me as ...
