Comments on the Sociology of Science - Gender & Ethnic Diversity of Chemistry

In the March 23, 2014 journal Science, Prof. Yu Xie provided a perspective on the "Undemocracy" of science:  (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6186/809.summary).  It complemented nicely the theme of the special issue: The Science of Inequality.  Xie, a professor of sociology, statistics, and public policy at the University of Michigan (http://www-personal.umich.edu/~yuxie/), wrote about the intrinsic inequality of science, in general, and I will provide some context focused on chemistry.

Referring to work by Price (1963) and Cole & Cole (1973), Xie commented that "scientific outputs and rewards are much more unequally distributed than other well-being outcomes, such as education, earnings, or health."  Continuing, Xie wrote, "eminent scientists receive disproportionately greater recognition and rewards than lesser-known scientists for comparable contributions. As a result, a talented few can parlay early successes into resources for future successes, accumulating advantages over time."  But how do we diversify the successful set?

When I served on the ACS Board of Directors Committee on Grants & Awards as chair of the subcommittee on Nominations and Selections, director Valerie Kuck and I, among the entire committee of the Board, evaluated how ACS awards were distributed by gender, ethnicity, and profession (academic v. industry).  This Board committee spent several years reviewing the history of every ACS award and developed a strategy to enhance the diversity - using canvassing committees to promote diverse candidates from the field.  We also considered how we could avoid implicit bias (see https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/) in the selection process.  

Success in diversifying the ACS awards for excellence in the disciplines will require a counter-balance of "undemocracy" as long as traditionally-underrepresented members of the discipline are starting their careers with accumulated disadvantages, to paraphrase Prof. Xie.  Director Kuck recognized the undemocracy of the current system and, working with other ACS members such as Debra Rolison of the Naval Research Laboratory (http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2012/dr-debra-rolison-receives-dual-honors-for-advancements-in-chemistry), and many other protagonists, we are making progress.

Dr. Rolison has been an advocate for "Title IX for chemistry faculty"- striving to change the face of academic chemistry and recognizing the leaky pipeline of women in science (NAS Workshop, 2000).  A slow and steady increase over the past few decades of PhDs granted to women in chemistry (26% women in 1992, 37% in 2012 according the NSF: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/sed/2012/start.cfm), but fewer than 28% of women PhD chemists pursued an academic position in 2012.  In the same period of time, women chemists in industry have been increasing proportionately.  The pipeline into academics appears to be leaking into industry.  Not a bad thing for industrial chemistry, but a challenge for academic institutions.

If we intend to increase the number of women receiving awards from the ACS, it will require a campaign to improve our canvassing of women in industry for these awards in a partnership with ACS committees such as the Women Chemists Committee, the Younger Chemists Committee, and the Committee on Minority Affairs.  While we in academics should be improving the "undemocracy" of the academic setting to improve the diversity of chemistry faculty, professional member societies such as ACS should make every effort to recognize excellence while avoiding the pitfalls of being undemocratic in the canvassing, nomination, and selection processes.

How we improve the environment for diverse faculty in chemistry is another challenge... Join the OXIDE conversation about diversity at http://www.oxide.gatech.edu/ 

References:

J. R. Cole & S. Cole, Social Stratification in Science (Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, 1973)
D. J. Price, Little Science, Big Science (Columbia Univ. Press, New York, 1963)
D. Rolison, Title IX for Women in Academic Chemistry: Isn't a Millennium of Affirmative Action for White Men Sufficient? "Women in the Chemical Workforce" (National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 2000, pp. 74-93)
Y. Xie & K. A. Shauman, Women in Science (Harvard Univ. Press, Boston, 2003)
Y. Xie Science 344, 2014, 809-10.