HR: 16:00h
AN: ED44A-01 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Painting by the Numbers: The Representation of Minorities in the Geosciences
AU: * Czujko, R
EM: rczujko@aip.org
AF: American Institute of Physics, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740 United States
AB: This paper provides detailed data on the representation of African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans in geology and other geosciences. It looks at current statistics as well as historical trends in degree production at the undergraduate and graduate levels for these under-represented groups. PhD data from the National Science Foundation and bachelor's data from the National Center for Education Statistics show the number of minorities earning degrees in the geosciences. Comparative data from other scientific disciplines put the level of under-representation into perspective. Data demonstrate that individuals from certain groups are underrepresented in science and engineering fields in general. However, no field has a poorer representation than do the geosciences. For example, 15 percent of all bachelor's degrees are earned by underrepresented minorities, but their share of geoscience bachelor's is only 5 percent. The role of minority women and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in minority degree production is also presented. An examination of the historical and current trends in the data provide the foundation for evaluation of the success of programs aimed at increasing the numbers of underrepresented groups in the geosciences.
DE: 6605 Education
DE: 6630 Workforce
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
SC: Education and Human Resourcese [ED]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting