Black Involvement in STEM Fields: More Than Just Recruitment

In recent years there have been many successful initiatives, (such as Upward Bound), with an aim to push Black students to take a greater interest in STEM careers. These initiatives have been successful in a few colleges and universities across the country. However the higher educational system in this country generally needs to do a better job at making sure information about STEM majors and/or careers reaches Black high school students before it is time to apply to college or university. Within universities such as Rutgers University there are organizations, (such as LSAMP and ODASIS), which specifically cater to minority students who are studying medicine, engineering, or mathematics. During my time at Rutgers University I have met fellow Black students, through organizations like those mentioned, who were driven and empowered to study these topics. However after my experience working in the Firestein Neuroscience Laboratory for a year, I began to wonder whether or not these initiatives were enough to combat the staggering lack of diversity in these sections of academia.

It was while working in this lab that I began to doubt if the current recruitment efforts are enough. It was rare that I saw other students or researchers who were Black. This lack of representation often led to some other researchers assuming that I was lost or did not belong in that area of the laboratory. Several times I had been asked if I was looking for an office when I was on my way to complete an experimental procedure. It was clear that for some reason there was a vibe that I did not fit into the academic environment due to my appearance. There are stereotypes surrounding Black people and where they fit in when it comes to the world of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Even if Black students are studying hard and making it to medical school and doing groundbreaking research, they will eventually need to work in this kind of environment.

This kind of environment does not fully foster academic growth if it does not even embrace the idea of Blacks flourishing in a place of higher education. This is a topic that connects to the racism that is deeply embedded into our society. Even though we have the privilege of living in such a multicultural nation, we cannot use that as an excuse to ignore the reality of racism. Diversity is not just being surrounded by people of different skin colors. It is having a mental representation of different groups of people that does not restrict them to certain roles. If we ignore this topic for too long it will hinder the success of Black students and limit the contributions that they can make to academia and the world of medicine. An open conversation needs to be had so that solutions for this problem can be created through teamwork and collaboration.

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Rutgers University