CERSP Diversity
"There is no more fertile ground for innovation than a diversity of experience. And that diversity of experience arises from a difference of cultures, ethnicities, and life backgrounds. A successful scientific endeavor is one that attracts a diversity of experience, draws upon the breadth and depth of that experience, and cultivates those differences, acknowledging the creativity they spark." - Prof. Joe DeSimone on his website
This quote reflects our beliefs: Innovation is a social process and diversity plays a key role in that process. Diversity is not simply “throwing together” a diverse group. To harness the power of diversity we need to encourage contributions from everyone. Our ongoing leadership workshop aims to provide students with the confidence to participate fully and the tools to recognize our differences and to build upon those differences to improve output of collaborative efforts.
Diversity is an integral dimension of our Center—not only diversity in race and gender but diversity of thought, skills, and discipline. In our view diversity is a driver that can accelerate successful innovation. While brilliant ideas come from individuals, innovation requires diversity. We seek to elicit the benefits of diversity by recognizing differences and providing communication skills to bridge and capitalize on differences. We study past HBCU/Research I collaborations in order to identify factors for success or failure. We seek and support diverse populations at all levels—from K-12 students to faculty to members of our External Advisory Board. While we “count” extensively, more importantly we seek ways to increase diversity in the pool of scientists and engineers entering graduate schools.
Diversity Objectives
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Encourage members of underrepresented groups (URG) to seek and succeed in research careers in science and engineering by focusing on K-20 outreach, mentoring and recruiting |
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Enhance the support network for URG students on CERSP campuses |
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Provide students and faculty with tools to recognize, understand and employ diverse styles |
in order to help build a diverse workforce and harness the power of diversity to accelerate and enhance the innovation process
Means to achieve these objectives include:
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providing support to K-12 outreach programs, especially those targeting URGs |
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actively recruiting from those groups to fill CERSP positions |
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providing research linkages between Georgia Tech, NCSU and UNC-CH with NCA&TSU to encourage students to seek PhDs in engineering and science |
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providing support for NCA&T to strengthen its chemical engineering programs providing research experiences and mentoring to undergraduate students through REUs, SPGRE (Summer Pre-Graduate Research Experiences, EXPERT (EXperimental Program in Education and Research Training) at NCA&TSU and similar outreach programs |
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providing a climate in which diversity is valued and contributes to innovation |
Performance and Management Indicators
| Number of URG students contacted and participating in CERSP-sponsored events |
| Number and percentage of URG students participating in internships |
| Number and percentage of URG students and PIs participating in CERSP |
| Number of CERSP participants involved in diversity-enhancing activities |
| Number and percentage of URG students entering graduate programs, employed as scientists and engineers |
| Number of strategic alliances with national networking organizations devoted to URGs |
| Number of connections with HBCUs as measured by lectures and exchanges |
| Number of students entering and retained in EXPERT program |
Center Contributions to Development of Human Resources
CERSP actively recruits from underrepresented segments of society. Forty-one faculty, 8 post-docs, 78 graduate students, 74 undergraduates, one high school, nine staff and four visiting scientists received support from the Center this year. Thirty-three percent of faculty (including one visually impaired Caucasian male), 25% of post-docs, and 57% of graduate students and 88% of undergraduates—63% of all CERSP personnel—are from historically underrepresented groups (URG). Of all students, 72% are from URGs, and 85% of this group is minority or female.
These numbers are not significantly changed from last year except that we have half the number of post docs, and most of those remaining are Asian males. The percentage of undergraduates from underrepresented groups is up to 88% from 80% last year as the number of Caucasian males is down considerably. We have increased the number of undergraduates in our EXPERT program to 29, 28 of whom (97%) are African-American. On the other hand, while 95% of Psych-499 students were female only 31% were African-American far less than last year. Of 73 undergraduates included, 49 are in EXPERT or Psych-499 (Prof. Pam Martin’s project) where 96% are female or African-American (or both). The percentage of URG in other groups (graduate, post doc, and faculty) is down somewhat from last year. The percentage of URG graduate students is down 1% because an unusually high percentage of graduates in 2007 (72%) were from this group (a good thing!)
We lost three URG faculty members this year, all of whom completed their projects, with students graduating. We added eight new PIs, all but one of whom was from non-URG classifications. Overall trend for the eight years of CERSP is still good with 63% of the total population from URG classifications. A summary of performance over the history of CERSP is given in the following graph.
The following figure graphically shows distribution for the entire CERSP (n=215, including six who did not participate in demographics analysis). Groups which have been historically dominant numerically are shown by solid colors and underrepresented groups are shown in cross-hatch. Starting upper right and proceeding clockwise, solid dark blue is Caucasian male (23%), cross-hatched dark blue is Caucasian female (19%); cross-hatched light blue is combined Hispanic, Latino, Pacific Islanders, American Indian and physically impaired of both genders (6%); cross-hatched red is African-American male (12%); cross-hatched pink is African-American female (15%); cross-hatched green is Asian female (11%) and solid green is Asian male (14%).
last update: September 27, 2007