Date:
Location:
Donna Garcia
Professor, Department of Psychology
California State University, San Bernardino
Broadening Representation in STEM Fields: Challenges and Strategies for Change
Abstract: Many STEM fields lack gender and racial/ethnic diversity. Dr. Garcia will discuss factors that influence the participation of groups underrepresented in STEM fields broadly and ecology and evolutionary biology specifically. She will present a series of studies that highlight the role of STEM stereotypes and identity threat on women’s sense of belonging, interest, and performance in STEM. Next, she will examine how these gender effects can vary at the intersection of race/ethnicity. She will then present research on factors that influence students’ sense of belonging and interest specifically in ecology and evolutionary biology, with a focus on how these factors vary across different racial/ethnic groups. Finally, she will present a successful intervention that increased underrepresented minoritized women’s academic achievement in STEM (e.g., GPA) and discuss strategies to broaden participation in ecology and evolutionary biology.
Host: OEB DIB Committee