Broadening Participation – Recruiting
and Retaining Outstanding Scientists in
the Botanical Sciences
Organized by Anna K. Monfils and Ann K. Sakai
BSA Human Diversity Committee
Sponsors
• iDigBio
• Ecology Section of Botanical Society of America
• Teaching Section of Botanical Society of
America
• American Society of Plant
Taxonomy/Systematics Section of Botanical
Society of America
Increasing Participation of African
Americans in Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology: Attitudes,
Experts and Interventions
Henry L. Bart, Jr.
Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Director, Tulane University Biodiversity Research Institute
hbartjr@tulane.edu
Outline of Talk
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My journey to EEB
My EEB and STEM-wide diversity efforts
Perceptions of African Americans toward EEB
Plan for stimulating African American
participation in EEB
– Attitudes:– professional survey
– Experts: accomplished EEB professionals
– Interventions: activities
• Proposal development and implementation plan
My Journey to EEB
• Born to a large, New
Orleans “Creole” family
(Creoles of Color).
• Raised as Catholics,
attended Catholic schools.
• Parents placed no
restrictions on the career
paths we could follow.
My passion for EEB (fishes)
• As boy growing up in New Orleans, I
enjoyed fishing in the estuaries and
bayous around the city.
• Soon developed into an all
consuming passion for fish.
• Favorite childhood movie:
Incredible Mr. Limpet.
• Childhood hero: Jacques Cousteau
• Favorite childhood book: Golden
Nature Guide on Fishes (my bible).
My passion for EEB (fishes)
• Enjoyed fishing as a boy growing up
in Gentilly area of New Orleans.
• Favorite Movie: Incredible Mr.
Limpet.
• Childhood hero: Jacques Cousteau
• Favorite book: Golden Nature Guide
on Fishes (my bible).
• Learned about field of IchthyologyDuck
in Pond
1977 while working for my
predecessor as a curatorial assistant
at the Tulane Museum of Natural
History…
My succession in EEB
• First learned about field of
Ichthyology in 1977 while
working with my predecessor,
Royal D. Suttkus, as a volunteer
curatorial assistant at the
Tulane Museum of Natural
History.
• Succeeded Suttkus as Curator
of Fishes at TUMNH 15 years
later.
EEB and STEM-wide Diversity
• Active in promoting campus diversity (faculty,
staff and students) my entire career:
– University of Oklahoma: Black Graduate Students
Association
– University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana: Black Faculty
Assoc.; Black Graduate Students Assoc.; awarded first
ever Chancellor’s Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship;
mentored minority students in S.R.O.P.
– Auburn University: Founder and first president of the
Auburn Black Caucus (Faculty and Staff organization ),
Advisor to Auburn Black Student Union.
Tulane LS-LAMP Campus Program
Tulane LS-LAMP Program Successes
• Served as Campus Coordinator for LS-LAMP at
Tulane from 1996-2010.
• 243 minority undergraduates from Tulane, and all
of Louisiana’s HBCUs participated in 10-week
summer program of faculty mentored research
and graduate school preparation (all STEM fields).
• 187 (77%) of program participants completed
bachelor’s degrees, 56 (23%) enrolled in graduate
school, 28 (11.5%) earned Master’s degrees, 7
(3%) earned doctoral degrees, and 12 (5%) were
candidates for doctoral degrees in the Fall 2010.
My Tulane LS-LAMP Mentees
• Personally mentored the research of 19 program
participants (18 African Americans and one
Pacific Islander).
• Three of the 19 students have earned Master’s
degrees in biological fields; one earned a Ph. D. in
Neuroscience.
• Although all of these students were engaged in
research in fish biology as undergraduates, none
pursued careers involving studies of fishes.
Graduate Alliance for Education in Louisiana
Graduate Alliance for Education in Louisiana
• Served as Project Director for GAELA from 2002-2012.
• STEM doctoral education program funded by NSF’s
Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate
(AGEP) program.
• 169 minority STEM doctoral degrees were awarded to
minorities at Tulane, LSU, and Southern Baton Rouge
during the GAELA funding period (twice the number
from the previous 10-year period).
• Only one African American (my lone African American
doctoral student) earned a Ph.D. in Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology.
My EEB Trainees
• I have mentored nine Master’s students, seven
Ph.D. recipients, and three postdocs in EEB.
• One postdoc, one of the Ph.D. recipients, and two
of the Master’s recipients are African American.
• Only the postdoc (a Belizean national) is
employed as an academic biologist who
specializes in the study of fishes.
• All of the non-minority Ph.D. recipients are
research-active fish biologists.
Xavier University of Louisiana
Xavier University of Louisiana
• U.S. Dept. of Education consistently ranks Xavier
as tops nationally in the number of bachelor’s
degrees awarded to African Americans in both
the biological/life sciences and the physical
sciences.
• For years, Xavier graduates have populated
Tulane STEM graduate programs in Cell and
Molecular Biology, Psychology, Neuroscience,
Chemistry, and doctoral programs in
Biochemistry, Interdisciplinary Molecular and Cell
Biology, Pharmacology and Physiology in the
Tulane Medical School (big factor in the success
of GAELA).
Doctoral Fellowships in EEB
• Each of the past 12 years, the Tulane EEB
Dept. has received one or more 4-year
doctoral fellowships from the Louisiana Board
of Regents for recruiting superior doctoral
students.
• Only one fellowship was awarded to an
African American student (left the program
after one year).
• In most years, no African American students
apply for the fellowships.
What’s Wrong with EEB?
• Why are so few African Americans pursuing
advanced study and careers in ecology and
evolutionary biology?
• Not from lack of opportunity, recruitment effort,
or availability of support.
• Something about the perceptions of African
Americans of careers in ecology and evolutionary
biology is creating roadblocks.
• Decided to study the problem and explore
solutions.
Stimulating Diversity in EEB
• Developed a concept paper called Stimulating
Diversity in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
• Discussed the concept at a meeting held in the
NSF BIO Directorate in October 2012, involving
Dr. John Wingfield, the Assistant Director of BIO,
Dr. Parag Chitnis of MCB, Dr. Penelope Firth of
DEB, Dr. Shirley Malcom and Ms. Yolanda George
of AAAS.
• Presently discussing proposal development with
DEB program officers.
Possible Roadblocks
• Family and/or financial pressure for students with
high aptitude for biology to pursue biomedical
training.
• Negative family and/or religious-based
perceptions of evolution.
• Limited outdoors experience (especially urban
minorities).
• Avoidance of environmental biology is a residual
effect of past or lingering hatred directed a blacks
(especially in rural areas of the south).
Family/Financial Pressure
• Many students completing LS-LAMP
applications said they wanted to study
medicine or biomedical fields to treat diseases
affecting family members or people in their
communities.
• Some GAELA scholars admitted to succumbing
to financial pressure to study medicine to
repay college loans or justify the high cost of
education at private universities (e.g., Xavier).
Anti-Evolution Sentiments
• Public opinion polling over the last few
decades has shown that between 40% and
50% of Americans consistently reject the very
idea of natural evolution, largely on the
grounds that it conflicts with biblical accounts
of creation.
• African Americans, especially Evangelicals, are
less likely to accept evolutionary explanations
of human origins than other groups.
Anti-Evolution Sentiments
All
White
Black
White
respondents Evangelicals Evangelicals Protestants Catholics Seculars
Humans and other living
things have…
Existed only in present form
42%
65%
65%
32%
33%
13%
Evolved over time
52%
28%
23%
62%
59%
83%
Guided by supreme being
21%
20%
11%
26%
31%
90%
Through natural selection
26%
6%
8%
31%
25%
69%
Don't know how evolved
4%
2%
4%
5%
3%
5%
7%
7%
12%
6%
8%
5%
Don't know
http://www.pewforum.org/Science-and-Bioethics/Science-in-America-Religious-Belief-andPublic-Attitudes.aspx
Limited Outdoors Exposure
• Little studied.
• Finney, C. 2006. Black faces, white spaces:
African Americans and the great outdoors.
PhD dissertation, Clark University.
– Explores how the environment is represented in
African-American history and how this affects
current attitudes.
– “Issues of fear, exclusion, little sense of ownership
and lack of awareness” all influence attitudes.
http://nature.berkeley.edu/community_forestry/People/Final%20Reports/Finney%20Final
%20Report.pdf
The Plan
• Attitudes: survey attitudes of African American
students toward careers in Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology.
• Experts: Convene a panel of accomplished, highprofile, African-American ecologists and
evolutionary biologists to speak to students
about their career paths and accomplishments.
• Interventions: engage African American
undergraduates in activities likely to entice them
to pursue careers in EEB.
Attitudes
• Survey the attitudes of African American
students, and comparison groups of students
from other racial groups, about advanced
STEM education in general and advanced
study in EEB in particular.
• Use survey results to develop effective
intervention strategies.
• Survey results will also inform topics discussed
by expert panel addressing a student forum.
Attitudes
• Survey will be developed by
Laurie O’Brien, Social Psychologist
Tulane University
• Developed survey of attitudes of women
toward careers in STEM.
Experts
• Five accomplished, high-profile, African American
ecologists/evolutionary biologists have agreed to join
me on a panel before a forum of undergraduate
students at Xavier University of Louisiana.
• Will talk to students about how we became interested
in the EEB, our training, early careers,
accomplishments and the professional rewards we now
enjoy because of our career choices.
• Will also engage students in a prolonged Q&A session,
answering questions about applying to graduate
school, expenses of graduate education versus other
kinds of professional schools, kinds of support available
for graduate education, importance of postdoctoral
training, early career advancement, etc.
Experts
• Scott V. Edwards, Harvard MCB, OEB
(Ornithology)
• Tyrone B. Hayes, UC Berkeley IB
(Herpetology/Physiology)
• Shirley M. Malcom, AAAS
(Behavioral Ecology)
• Charles H. Nilon, U. Missouri
(Wildlife Ecology)
• Muriel E. Poston, Pitzer College
(Plant Systematics)
Interventions
• Actual interventions proposed will be guided by
the attitudes survey.
• Possible helpful interventions, include field
courses or other emersion experiences at field
stations (e.g., OTS, STRI), EEB-based internships
(Smithsonian NMNH Summer Internships).
• Will request support to allow 10-20 forum
participants to participate in intervention
activities.
• Student would be tracked to follow (and further
influence) their career paths.
Proposal Development and Outcomes
• Plan to submit a proposal to DEB and EHR this
fall.
• Attitudes survey is in preliminary stages of
development (seeking input from experts).
• Forum would be held in Spring 2014 (may be
repeated elsewhere in future years).
• Intervention activities would be offered starting
in Summer 2014.
• Hope to sow a number of seeds and grow some
big, fruit-laden trees.
Acknowledgements
• Ann Sakai and Anna Monfils for inviting me
• Botany 2013 for gracing our fair city with your
presence and your great theme, Celebrating
Diversity!
• iDigBio for co-sponsoring the symposium
• All of you for your attenton!