 the series I'm really delighted to welcome Dr. Brandon Jones from the National Science Foundation. So Dr. Jones is a marine biologist and biochemist and he has spent much of his career in public service. He worked as a program officer at the EPA. He's now an NSF where he works on programs including geopaths, the tribal colleges and universities program, the HBCU excellence and science program and the geo opportunities for leadership program which some of you may know as the gold program. So Brandon is going to be talking to us on challenges and opportunities for increasing participation of underrepresented groups in the geosciences and over to you Brandon. Thank you so much Greg and to those that have organized this summer session it's a pleasure to be with you. I was looking forward to being there in person. I think the meeting was supposed to be in May but obviously things have changed but we are here and we're here to share. I'm gonna go ahead and see if we can start this slideshow. If someone could let me know that they can see that. Yes. Thank you. Okay so we're gonna go ahead and get started. I think I have around 14, 15 minutes. I want to move through these slides. The slides can be shared later on. I'm giving permission for that to happen and we also have the follow-up breakout session as Greg mentioned so looking forward to more discussion there but here's the title and I have on this first slide three books that have helped frame this conversation or at least my thoughts about this conversation over the past three years and I just I just wanted to put those books out there as a potential sources of information for individuals to you know if you're really interested in the topic to to dig in there's a whole lot of literature out there not just books but also published literature from geoscientists as well as social scientists around this issue and I'll be talking a little bit more about that in a minute. So let's just jump into the discussion. Many of you may have maybe not. I've seen this paper came out in 2018 by Bernard and Cooper doc. They used NSF data and it was in Nature and the title there is is stark no progress on diversity in 40 years in the geosciences but they mainly looked at the number of PhDs and as you see in the geoscience geoscience disciplines and they were looking at people of color with PhDs and so really the emphasis of the paper or the point of the paper is that you know four decades later after targeted efforts and programs and emphasis and REU's and emphasis at institutions and funding agencies etc something is happening between all of the individuals that have been recruited maybe at the undergrad or the early pipeline level and there's all of this attrition that happens by the time they're moving into or attempting to move into academic position so you see the numbers at the bottom are just basically flat for all groups of color in the geosciences there is a little bump for Asian and non-Hispanic peoples around 95 I'm not sure what that is but again this these are NSF data sources so that the main take-homes as we're moving along is that one the STEM workforce cannot operate at full capacity if all available and qualified minds are not engaged and individuals who are in the workforce and this is any sector they cannot operate at full capacity if they're stressed so if you're just thinking about ecological law organisms can operate the best in optimal zones and that's what we would like for all human beings who are engaging in any type of work and really importantly in the sciences and as we're talking about geoscience and disciplines and thirdly our planets facing all hands on deck problems doesn't matter what it is any sector but all hands are not on deck and all hands have not been on deck over we could say centuries in this country and much longer in other parts of the world and it's time for everyone to be able to bring all of themselves to whatever it is that they're engaging in in particular in the sciences when we're talking about science actually when we're talking about diversity and equity and inclusion issues what we're talking about is bringing in multiple perspectives we do that as scientists we always as part of the scientific process we collect data we rightly analyze it we write it up we publish and part of the publishing process is peer review because we want other perspectives we want to make sure everything that we are putting out it has been critiqued to whatever level by experts and so we should certainly apply that that process to engaging people from different backgrounds and so that's what this is about it's bringing in different perspectives and when tackling Jedi issues and Jedi is yes that's a that's a nod to Star Wars but really Jedi is an acronym that stands for justice equity diversity inclusion so that's what the acronym or as I refer to you'll know what it means so when tackling these issues as scientists we want solutions but we understand we can't collect as much data or all the data that we need our sample sizes are small when we're dealing with groups of people that we're trying to recruit in etc and so often we have to make up assumptions to fill in the blanks and that's okay we do that when we collect data we make assumptions and we incorporate or we ensure that the assumptions are part of our analysis our statistical process or whatever so having assumptions it you know everyone has assumptions but we have to make sure that they are disclosed and that they're dealt with properly so but when we're talking about engaging underrepresented groups we have to ensure that our assumption we have to know where the source of those assumptions are so that we can deal with them if they happen to be barriers so for instance this book the loudest duck is based on an idea that in China that parents and teachers teach students about the loudest duck and the loudest in the U.S. or in Western society we have a saying where the squeaky wheel gets and I think some of you probably have already answered that either out loud or in your head the squeaky wheel gets the grease and that's the way that we train our students we train our undergrads we train early-career faculty you have to speak up you have to be at the table you have to advocate for yourself etc but in China with the loudest duck which would be the analog to the squeaky wheel okay in China the loudest duck gets shot the loudest duck does not get the grease and so say for instance that you had Chinese students in your lab or in your class or you were engaging with Chinese colleagues etc you have to be aware that your Western idea of how they engage in the science process may be different from yours and trying to place them into a system that doesn't allow them to be all of themselves because of their thousands of years of cultural history well that's just that's inappropriate okay so we have to be aware of where people are coming from we also have to be aware of what we've been taught in this country and from our from kindergarten on up about certain subjects in particular with the history of the country so and then we end up being faced or we have we're squarely have to deal with a mirror effect about really looking at ourselves and reflecting on what we were taught so this report here ethnic cleansing in America's creation of the national parks wait a minute everyone likes the national parks this is where many of us in the geoscience and field sciences especially in the earth science disciplines we go we're in national parks all the time and maybe we hadn't thought about how did the national park system actually come about and if you read the report you see that there was an unpeopled fallacy that was pushed to create the national park system if you weren't aware John Mir we know where he sits within ecological and historical context as far as being a person who who pushed forward the understanding of conservation it's not a natural conservation but he did push forward an uninhabited wilderness mantra that prevailed and one of the reasons that Mir's vision prevailed is in this particular paragraph from the article where it says through the existence of this drastic change of paradigms it's readily apparent from the writings of Catlin who identified that Native Americans were part of the wilderness and Mir the more difficult question is why Mir's perspective arose and prevailed and in red I have there the answer is around the time that that this idea was being discussed and pushed there was increased racism against Native Americans and so we have to be we're now faced when oh my gosh when what I've been taught over all of these years is tarnished by actual truth then we're running into how do we deal with truth and I can't think of a sector that is more qualified to deal with truth other than science so so that's also a layer that we want to want to make sure that we can grapple with okay again back to justice equity diversity and inclusion in the sciences as I mentioned before we make assumptions because we don't have all the data but often if we have our if we're biased that we have biases that we're unaware of unconscious etc having those biases and using assumptions then to maybe create programs or sit on tenure and promotion committees or awards committees we could often do some damage if we're not aware of the bias that is then that rides the assumption as we are sitting in these places of power so for instance over the years and some of you may have been involved in programs or to even develop different activities to increase the numbers of underrepresented groups there was a big push over the last 30 years I would say we need to get more people of color we need to get more women we need to we need to target this recruitment effort in in those communities to increase the numbers but we never thought about or maybe some did where we weren't recruiting them into okay so we sold the early career faculty position as oh come to this university or be a researcher in at this facility or come to this are you and it's gonna change your life it's gonna be awesome we have this all these great mentors and these great research activities etc but the students experience was not what was sold to them because it was all about the recruitment and bringing them in but it wasn't about dealing with the environment and the toxicity that they then moved into the isolation or what have you so as we're moving forward into really digging into the details of this work and and making sure all individuals can bring all of themselves we have to ensure that the program environment is such that the individuals can thrive we wouldn't go to the pet store and and buy a fish and come home and the fish dies then we go back to the pet store buy another fish and come home and that fish dies and then we want to blame the pet store it might be your water quality so we want we are at a point now and of course with all the civil discussion and the civil unrest that's going on in this country and around the world at a point where we really got to look at our environments micro macro wherever where individuals are are moving into so that they can thrive and bring those perspectives that we talked about earlier the issue with the natural scientists I'll say as as being a natural scientist is that I'm interested in in this diversity work and I'm approaching it as I would approach any any other effort as far as science is concerned but I don't have that expertise to deal with humans and human behavior okay because this issue that we're facing as far as diversity in the science is concerned is a sociological problem it's not a problem with science it's not a problem with research this is a human problem and if you have problems or you need to under have a better understanding of how humans are interacting then you need social scientists to be part of the discussion to bring in the appropriate methods and to help deal with this issue one of the problems is natural scientists still have a bias against social scientists that's not real science that's not you can't reproduce it because whatever group that they did the survey on how can anyone reproduce that etc etc so we have to deal with our own discipline biases if we're really going to to move forward in this area so some some considerations and I'll try to to move through these quickly so we'll have a little bit of time for discussion understanding that we started late so the big picture in the United States because a lot of this is not just a Western issue it's a US specific issue especially when you're talking about racism we have to understand and peel back what we were taught as I mentioned earlier about America being a melting pot and America being a land of immigrants and all of those things that that's just not true because Native Americans Mexican Americans of Puerto Rico well really natives Mexicans of Puerto Ricans weren't immigrants they were already here and people of African descent were brought over here they weren't immigrants they didn't come over here on their own so all of these groups were involuntarily incorporated into the US and it just so happens that these are the groups that we've had issues with as far as inclusion for the last four centuries so we had to really go back and look at how the US was founded how it was built and the systems that still perpetuate these barriers for certain people in particular people of color so one consideration if you're dealing with colleagues of color students of color what have you you have friends you have church members you're in in a professional society at GSA or AGU or what have you let people of color tell their own stories I hear oftentimes people say we want to give a voice to these people they have a voice how about you just be the speaker system okay they you don't need to give them anything they have it but they're not they haven't been allowed to express it and so that's one thing that we can do is let them tell their own stories and also let them have their own spaces because oftentimes there if there's there is that one person of color in the lab or in the office or in the department they're isolated already and they may be isolated in some other layers that you're unaware of so sometimes they just need to be by themselves or find their community and that's okay for them to do that another consideration critical self-reflection by white colleagues and white administrators and this is mainly targeted at institutions of higher learning universities colleges etc and there's a whole suite of information and journal articles in this particular volume of the journal geoscience education that gives all kinds of insight from all kinds of experts on how to go about doing that a few other points recognition that bias impacts tenure promotion and awards there has to be a recognition if you're sitting on these committees or you have sat on these committees in your reflect or maybe you've been on the negative side of that that this is a real thing and it's that assumption and bias piece that oftentimes causes the barrier in the promotion and the career enhancement of people of color mentoring support assistance and allyship allyship allyship is key this is a system issue as well as there's a bit of human issue but we're all going to have to work at this together and we need allies all from all areas all sectors all colors to help move these things forward and this is the last slide take home message develop cross racial relationships and this is going to involve if you're really serious about this having to sit in difficult conversations having to deal with emotional expressions and not shying away or not backing away from that it's going to happen and but we can be respectful as it happens but we need people not to get so uncomfortable that they move away it's going to be uncomfortable develop racial stamina and that's part of those two first that first and second bullet kind of go together be human you know if you see someone at a meeting just speak to them you know don't don't act like you don't see them don't we don't want to hear well I don't see color I was brought up not to see color that's not helpful because people there are people of color so if you say you don't see color then you're saying you don't see them and now you dehumanizing them in a way that you really probably didn't mean to and so and I'm guilty of that on the opposite so I have to constantly remember I'm a human they're human I can add very at least just speak to them and say good morning hello how are you last point it's okay to be quiet and just listen I know that's hard lots of times for scientists because we like to talk we like to discuss ideas etc the different cultures operate differently when it comes to vocabulary communication etc so to do a little bit of homework and then just to sit and listen and try to walk in that individual shoes as you're listening and again be human and and just recognize that everyone needs an opportunity to thrive and bring all of themselves so they can operate at full capacity in the science enterprise and that way the science enterprise can then operate at a much higher capacity than it is now so I'll stop there and stop sharing my screen and turn things I guess we have time for questions Greg or Lynn do we have time yeah we should have time I'm gonna turn it over to Albert to moderate questions thanks Albert thank you for your talk Brandon it was quite insightful and I remember some or I see so many things that you brought up that apply here for the University of Colorado so it's a great start of this summer series I think let's see if anybody has a question here in the chat and if I can see that or not so if you have a question please go to the bottom of your screen there is a participants button I think if you click on that there should be a raised hand and that will actually put a little blue hand up there for me to see so then I can unmute you and I see one why is this not so okay I'm gonna try to I see Nicole raised her hands Jets could you maybe unmute her I cannot I think I'm unmuted can you hear me yes yes hi Brandon thanks so much for your talk I'm a professor in a science department and my experience has been that some of our most insightful comments and ideas are coming from our students our graduate students and our undergraduate students and I was wondering I as a faculty member would like to be a bridge for these students I would like to be able to voice their ideas to the faculty because as you know faculty can be very hierarchical and do you have any suggestions as to how we can as faculty set up spaces where students feel comfortable talking to us because that has been one of once I can have the students talk to me I hear so many good ideas but there's this trust issue that is very hard to break down right so so are these students needed just a tad bit more information or these students of color or they're just they so what I my experience has been with students of color so American citizen students of color but then also students of color who may be coming from different countries but who still experience otherness if that makes sense no that year that's a great point that the otherness for instance all African all students of African descent aren't the same so for instance if you have a Jamaican student or a student from Trinidad and a student from Philadelphia they may all look this they may all have the same skin color but they're totally different so yeah so that you bring up a interesting point there's a couple of things going probably three things I could think of so there's the the the model of academic preparation which is being challenged right now it's been challenged probably the last ten years of the master apprentice model and professors have students but because undergraduate training is changing and students are a little older they're nontraditional they can get some courses online and some at a community college so they don't really need to go to a four-year institution to be so all of that is challenging and I don't have an answer for that other than recognizing the challenges and and figuring out ways to provide students those spaces to express their ideas there's also a generational diversity layer here just the when people were born and what was going on in society at the time has shaped how they approach work and even approach science so young people are so much more collaborative because they've grown up in a time with social media and personal computers and they they just they just know how to connect with each other but that flies in the face of you need to do your own research you know so I would say for you as you know to be an ally is maybe to ask them what they need and and and you know create a space for them to trust you they feel comfortable with each other and then ask them what do you need and how can I help you be the bridge and move forward and then you'll have to do maybe some some of your own strategic thinking on how to move their ideas up the chain to the to the faculty faculty senate department chair head whoever so I hope