Black STEM News

When Deon Nicholas launched his company Forethought, he set out to change the landscape of artificial intelligence. Now the tech entrepreneur is receiving support from the likes of Diddy and LL Cool J. According to Forbes, the company has raised $17 million in Series B funding.

Underrepresented U.S. women of color (UWOC)—Black Americans, Latina Americans, Native Americans, and Indigenous Pacific Islanders—have long been underrepresented among Ph.D. recipients in computer science. The number of computer science Ph.D. degrees annually awarded to UWOC is miniscule. Moreover, even when compared with white women, the discrepancies are overwhelming. The Computer Research Association's Taulbee Survey revealed that in 2019, only seven UWOC (U.S. citizens) received Ph.D. degrees in computer science—a mere 0.43% of all computer science doctorates attained that year and only 2.1% of the doctorates awarded to all women.

will.i.am is an international advocate for social justice and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math) education. His i.am.angel Foundation supports in-class and after-school STEAM education programs for disadvantaged youth in grades K – 12. As a member of the FIRST robotics organization’s board of directors, will.i.am also serves as a global advocate regarding the vital importance of STEAM skills development as the basis of an educated workforce that can fill the jobs of today, and tomorrow.

The School of Medicine, in alignment with antiracism initiatives begun by Duke University and Duke Health, announced its “Moments to Movement” anti-racism initiative this summer and has launched a strategic planning process to dismantle racism and create a diverse, inclusive and equitable School and nation. “This isn’t a new area of engagement for me,” said Dzirasa. “But now, the whole scientific ecosystem is listening. I felt that my colleagues needed to have a better understanding of the long history of structural racism in America and how history has led to this moment.”

Healthcare IT News takes this month to celebrate the contributions from black digital health tech leaders, while also reflecting on why black patients are more likely than white patients to use health tech tools.

Streaming giant Netflix and Norfolk State University are working together to help more college graduates of color enter the tech industry. Netflix announced its first Virtual HBCU Boot Camps, open exclusively to undergraduates, graduate students and recent graduates of all majors at Norfolk State University. In the spring, the 130 students selected will get a real-world education in technology through a curriculum designed by the Netflix Product Team and the faculty at NSU.

The largest study of historically Black colleges and universities’ successful methods of teaching and retaining STEM students is underway, with the aim of sharing HBCUs’ best practices and expanding STEM job opportunities for underserved students.

An essay by Vincent Anioke, titled: Reckoning with Blackness as a first-generation immigrant at MIT

The barriers to women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in the US, in particular, are many. Hooded: A Black Girl’s Guide to the PhD by Trinidad-born engineer Dr Malika Grayson asks the question, “How do you survive graduate school when you're the only Black woman in a predominantly white space?”

Robert F. Smith just donated $50 million to support STEM students at historically Black colleges and universities. The Student Freedom Initiative announced a $50 million personal gift from billionaire philanthropist, founder and Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, Robert F. Smith. The $50 million funding matches the initial $50 million given to the organization by the Fund II Foundation in June 2020.

“So many people have said that they used our paper to guide the first conversations that they organized in their lab surrounding anti-racism and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). I’m used to bringing up anti-racism in science spaces and getting silence and some cringes and some blank stares. And it really feels different this time, and I’m hopeful that the energy surrounding it will sustain.”

Walking to his lab one afternoon last year, physicist Charles Brown found his way blocked by a white student who refused to let him into the physics building and demanded to see his ID. A postdoc at the University of California, Berkeley, studying ultra-cold atoms, Brown says the incident reflects the barriers—both visible and invisible—faced by Black physicists like himself around the world.

The Howard University physics chair advocates admitting cohorts to graduate schools and supporting students facing financial barriers.

On Tuesday afternoon, over 100 students and professors gathered via Zoom for a talk titled “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Addressing Systemic Racism in STEM” given by Dr. Kuheli Dutt of Columbia University. Dutt — who serves as the assistant director for Academic Affairs and Diversity at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia — spoke about implicit and affinity bias in STEM.

Scholars discuss what it’s like to be a Black professor in 2020, who should be doing antiracist work on campus and why diversity interventions that attempt to “fix” Black academics for a rigged game miss the point entirely.

Social scientist and education researcher Julie Posselt warns that we must learn from previous efforts or we are doomed to repeat past mistakes. She focuses on case studies from geoscience, psychology, chemistry and applied physics that serve as potential models for universities and colleges looking to recruit and retain women and people of colour in STEM graduate education.

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields lack diversity. It is an issue that a group of University of Minnesota-led biology education researchers is aiming to address through a targeted effort to bring diverse perspectives to the foreground. Equity and Diversity in Undergraduate STEM (EDU-STEM) is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Black In Cancer week was founded by two cancer research scientists; Dr Henry J. Henderson III, a postdoctoral researcher at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and Sigourney Bell, a PhD student at the Cancer Research U.K. Institute at the University of Cambridge in the U.K.

In today’s climate, racial equality and equity is top of mind. The tech industry has a renewed focus on giving girls in underrepresented communities access and exposure to STEM, particularly in the pre-teen and teen years that are critical to keeping girls interested in STEM subjects. Giving adolescent girls access to skills like coding and introducing them to open source prepares them for college and career and opens new doors and opportunities.

Aaron Fender, one of the founders of an Atlanta-based, Black-owned coffee company, will be receiving $50,000 from Google out of it’s $2.35 million funding for Black businesses, The Atlanta Journal-Constituent reported. Portrait Coffee is Fender’s company and it’s one of the 35 Black Georgian tech businesses to be funded by the Google for Startups program.

Not even the rules-based world of mathematics is safe from the PC inquisition, with the Mathematical Association of America claiming it is inherently racially biased. This madness threatens to halt progress in its tracks. This month, Americans got another bitter taste of ‘progressive’ insanity from one of the most unexpected of places. The Mathematical Association of America (MAA), which prides itself as “the world’s largest community of mathematicians, students, and enthusiasts,” came out and declared that “mathematics is created by humans and therefore inherently carries human biases.”

In the fight to meet her potential, Elayne Arrington found the right formula for staying determined and opening doors for those rising up behind her.

From 1970 to 1985, the number of African Americans enrolled in engineering in the United States tripled and continued increasing during the 1990s. The number of PH.D.s in STEM also increased in those years. The increase peaked in the early 2000s and has been falling ever since. While the total number of black STEM graduates increased from 17,000 in 2004 to 22,000 by 2016, the increase was not proportional to the growth of total graduates in these areas, causing an increase in the representation gap.

Million Girls Moonshot is not just a program, or an initiative, it is a movement. “It’s a movement that’s really focusing on the representation, inclusion and access for girls in areas where we haven’t quite been as successful as we would like to be to really leverage the full range of talent that this country has to offer...”

The hybrid cloud data warehouse company Yellowbrick Data announced it is donating advertising space to Black Girls CODE (BGC). These placements are designed to raise awareness of BGC at a critical time in society and during a period of high investment and high growth expectations at BGC itself.

Author Ebony O. McGee, an associate professor of Diversity and STEM Education at Vanderbilt University, spoke about institutional barriers people of color face in STEM fields during a Gutman Library Book Talk webinar Monday. McGee’s forthcoming book, “Black, Brown, Bruised: How Racialized STEM Education Stifles Innovation,” focuses on how racial stereotypes affect the experiences of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people in STEM fields.

TikTok marked U.K Black History Month by reaching a multiyear partnership with the Black Tech Fest digital conference, under which the video creation platform will become an innovation partner and help boost awareness of the event by livestreaming sessions and promoting it on its platform. The goal of Black Tech Fest is to help Black professionals expand their network and influence while celebrating inclusion and allyship in the technology sector.

Roger Arliner Young’s brilliance made her the first black woman in the US to hold a doctorate in zoology. But her academic promise was failed by a system too rooted in prejudice to accept her as an equal.

A week of talks, panels and discussions seeks to counter an impression “that this talent pool just does not exist.”

Biomedical engineer, Khari Johnson, explains how underrepresentation in STEM fields is not due to lack of interest, aptitude or talent, but instead due to a number of systemic barriers.

"The social media crusade began after a Twitter user observed that the site consistently left out Barack Obama’s face when cropping an image containing portraits of the former president and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. In several ‘experiments’, the politicians’ ties were changed and more portraits of Obama were added to the image, with each case resulting in the former president’s face being cropped out when posted to Twitter. This can mean only one thing, according to socially-conscious internet sleuths: Twitter’s photo-cropping algorithm is a big fat racist."

"As a Black woman science fiction writer/content creator, Yvette Kendall is the definition of a rarity. Kendall is the author of The GOD Maps series and also the creator of the new sci-fi sub-genre Biblical futurism. Owner of her own publishing company, Stravard Lux Publishing House, Kendall will be publishing her brand of zombie anthologies named The American Zombie Chronicles and a children’s book called A Zombie For Mommy!"

"Amazon applied science manager Dr. Nashlie Sephus has lived in New York City, Atlanta, Silicon Valley, and Seoul while pursuing her education and work in machine learning. She knows the look of a community that’s thriving from technology and innovation, but she didn’t see that growth happening in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. That’s why last week she concluded an 18-month process by signing contracts to secure 12 acres of land that will be home to the Jackson Tech District.The Bean Path, a nonprofit organization created by Sephus, will operate a maker and innovation space on the land. There will also be restaurants and residential lofts spread across eight buildings, all located near the historically Black Jackson State University."

"The Black Future Co-op Fund was launched in May by four Black women leading organizations working to end systemic racism plaguing our community; Angela Jones, CEO of Washington STEM; Michelle Merriweather, President and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle; Andrea Caupain, CEO of Byrd Barr Place; and T'wina Nobles, President and CEO of Tacoma Urban League. The fund was launched with over $2.5 million in committed donations, including $100,000 from the Seattle Seahawks Charitable Foundation, and a $250,000 donation from the Paul G Allen Family Foundation."

"Facial recognition technology is not widely employed in Africa, partly because the technology available up till now has not been adept at identifying and differentiating the faces of Black people. US government tests of the best Western-developed facial recognition systems have shown them to misidentify Black people at rates up to five to 10 times higher than they do white people."

"Sherlock Biosciences, an Engineering Biology company dedicated to making diagnostic testing better, faster and more affordable, today announced the formation of The 221b Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to addressing the global COVID-19 pandemic by enabling access to intellectual property associated with the company’s SHERLOCK™ CRISPR-based technology. Proceeds from any company or third-party sales of SHERLOCK CRISPR COVID-19 products will support racial and gender diversity in science, technology, engineering, and math—disciplines collectively known as STEM."

"The #FaceTheSTEMGap project includes three parts to address the need for more women in STEM by 2030. The first goal is to double the total number of women in STEM careers. The second goal is to triple the number of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) women in STEM positions. For the third component, Olay says it is making a $1 million pledge to fund scholarships and internships for women in STEM fields. To kick off this initiative, Olay donated $520,000 to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF)."

"Good news for Fintech startups, the Black Unicorn Factory in Los Angeles has raised an historic funding for an African American Startup Accelerator program. It’s historic because on 1% of venture capital in invested in African American businesses each year. In spit of the lack of funding being provided they have found a revolutionary way to raise capital. It’s taken eight long years perfecting this game changing strategy that transforms startups into billion-dollar tech companies or “unicorns”. This comes on the back of their revolutionary new mobile application that is scheduled to be launched in October called “Follow me for Equity“."

"Cree donated $4M to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University on Monday to establish the Cree | Wolfspeed Endowed Scholars Program. Cree, Inc., and N.C. A&T said the new initiative will provide scholarship support to students within the College of Engineering Helping Orient Minorities to Engineering (H.O.M.E.) Program and the College of Science and Technology Inspiring Minds Program."

"Amazon announced it is expanding its computer science education program, Amazon Future Engineer, to more than 5,000 schools, benefitting over 550,000 students in need each year. The expansion more than doubles Amazon Future Engineer’s reach, adding more than 3,000 new schools across the U.S. Nearly all Amazon Future Engineer schools serve a student body with a significant percentage of students from groups currently underrepresented in computer science and tech, hundreds of schools are rural, and more than 80% are Title I schools. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon Future Engineer coursework can be done virtually to help ensure students stay on track and continue to prepare for the jobs of the future."

IBM joins a number of companies trying to make the tech industry more inclusive, by reevaluating industry terminology. There are several terms they want to change. For example, criminal hackers are put on a "blacklist," information barriers are called "Chinese walls," and the relationship between primary and secondary storage devices are described as "master and slave."

James S. Jackson, who changed the way scholars examined Black life in the United States, leading to new insights on health, social support systems and more, when he founded the Program for Research on Black Americans at the University of Michigan in 1976, died on Sept. 1 at his home in Ann Arbor, Mich. He was 76.

When Shirley Malcom decided in 1963 to forego the University of Alabama, the still fitfully integrating school just 50 miles from her native Birmingham, and instead enroll at the University of Washington in Seattle, she says she ended up being the only Black person among 800 zoology majors. Eventually, Malcom says, another Black student saw her doing well academically and joined her. “He switched out of his major and came over to zoology,” she said. “Then there were two of us.”

University of Washington ecologist Christopher Schell is studying how coronavirus shutdowns have affected wildlife in Seattle and other cities. But when planning fieldwork, he also thinks about how he's perceived in neighborhoods where he installs wildlife cameras. “I wear the nerdiest glasses I have and often a jacket that has my college logo, so that people don’t mistake me for what they think is a thug or hooligan,” said Schell, who is African American.

As protests continue in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, the tech industry has responded with pledges from individual companies to address their own shortcomings in supporting Black employees and diversifying their workforces. The biggest tech corporations – Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and others – came out with initial statements in support of Black Lives Matter and promises for more robust action. Some have followed up with detailed action plans for hiring and monetary compensation.

“When I saw scientists, I saw Einstein. I saw white people,” she says. “For me, it felt so far-fetched.” This was Nelson Mandela’s South Africa, where Black women like her could now aspire to be an engineer or maybe a doctor. She could dream of being a lawyer or a teacher. But a scientist? “That still wasn’t for someone like me,” she says.

"NYC-based Indie is a new music discovery and fan engagement app bridging the gap between independent artists, big name brands, and listeners. In the music industry, it is far too common for valuable opportunities to be guarded by gatekeepers and held out of reach of talented independent artists. Indie is addressing this opportunity gap with a revolutionary platform that uses conversational commerce to give up and coming artists and content creators the chance to get their content seen by big name brands – through an easy-to-use, multidirectional marketplace that facilitates content submissions, audience feedback, and brand engagement. "

"According to the National Science Foundation, the share of Black people pursuing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) bachelor's degrees has steadily declined since 2013, and at the doctoral level, representation has been abysmal. Physics, for example, has only graduated a total of 100 Black women. The renewed desire to attract Black students to graduate programs has brought up a whether a test that is cited as a barrier for minority applicants actually addresses the underpinnings of anti-Black racism in the academy."

"The Education Trust–West and over 30 education and policy partners released "A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction," a toolkit for supporting equitable access to math standards for grades 6-8 focusing on students gaining proficiency in English and Black and Latinx students. The toolkit offers actionable resources immediately available for teachers to implement during hybrid learning."

"In the midst of a pandemic and a national reckoning regarding racial discrimination, two Northeastern students started Build for Black Lives, an organization that connects students willing to work pro bono with Black businesses who need technological help. Fourth-year computer science students Nupur Neogi and Ifteda Ahmed-Syed, the founders of Build for Black Lives, were both previously part of HackBeanpot, an annual hackathon for students across Boston, and decided to use their computer science skills for good when they started seeing the Black Lives Matter protests in the news."

"With higher pay, better benefits and more resilience in a challenging economy, jobs in the fast-growing tech sector are highly sought after positions. Yet, Blacks and Latinos make up only a small fraction of this workforce. Now, coding academies for middle and high school students are helping to debug this diversity gap."

There are many Black hosted podcasts about a variety of topics. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other platforms have many Black podcasters and Black voices to hear. On these platforms, you can find Black podcasters discussing a wide range of topics. From corporate success to technology, Black podcasters are talking about it all.

For decades, HBCUs have been a bright spot in the training of Black scientists including chemists. Despite their small numbers—there are just 101 HBCUs out of thousands of US colleges and universities—HBCUs send a larger percentage of their Black students on to get graduate degrees than other schools. Many of the top Black chemists who go on to successful careers in industry and academia are HBCU graduates.

The hit parade of big companies making cash infusions into black-led financial entities keep growing. The latest one occurred Thursday after it was announced that Biogen Inc. is depositing $10 million into OneUnited Bank. The move will help support the #BankBlack Movement.

Young Black scientists thrive in the supportive environment at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. But predominantly white schools don’t have the same success, in part because of barriers erected by introductory chemistry courses. No matter their path, though, 6 Black chemists talk about their hopes for the future

Urrgent Technology is an Atlanta-based business focused on tech solutions for commercial, nonprofit, and government organizations. Founder Shantell "Charisma" Graham has just announced two new offerings from the company; StoopUp, a free social networking app that allows users to build a digital "Neighborhood" by supporting things they love and being supported in return and Urrgent.com. This platform enables freelancers to market their skills for free.

NASA has assigned astronaut Jeanette Epps to NASA’s Boeing Starliner-1 mission, the first operational crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on a mission to the International Space Station.

Founded in 1990, MLK VPSP honors the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. by increasing the presence of and recognizing the contributions of scholars from underrepresented groups at MIT. MLK Visiting Professors and Scholars enhance their scholarship through intellectual engagement with the MIT community and enrich the cultural, academic, and professional experience of students. The program hosts between four and eight scholars each year.

Polo Leteka is a South African black women with an early-stage technology business idea or concept are encouraged to apply to I’M IN’s new pre-accelerator programme. Titled “I’M IN” Accelerator, the accelerator programme is aimed at supporting and the upliftment of all-Black women-owned tech startups. The first installment of the program will kick-off in September 2020.

Ashley Wisdom, a Howard University alum who has a Masters in health from NYU, is attempting to bridge the gap between Black women and health providers through a digital platform called Health in her HUE. While 13% of Americans are Black, Only 5% of physicians in the U.S. are Black, according to the U.S. Census and the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Google says its Google Career Certificates offer job-ready skills to start or advance your career in high-demand fields. The courses are 100% online, and there are no in-person requirements. The featured Google Career Certificate available now is IT Support Specialist. According to Grow with Google, 61% of learners enrolled in this course do not have a four-year degree, and the average learner completes the IT support program in three-to-six months.

"Adji Bousso Dieng will be Princeton's School of Engineering's first Black female faculty.Not only has Adji Bousso Dieng, an AI researcher from Senegal, contributed to the field of generative modeling and about to become one of the first black female faculty in Computer Science in the Ivy League, she is also helping Africans in STEM tell their own success stories."

As the co-founder and chief marketing officer of edtech startup Tanoshi, a company that makes affordable laptops for kids, Lisa Love is working hard to make sure all children—especially those from underrepresented communities—have the technology they need to succeed. Love spent most of her career as a corporate marketing strategist for brands like Heinz and Del Monte before striking out on her own as an entrepreneur.

"We are being incredibly intentional about our hiring decisions and how we approach each and every team to make sure it aligns with the communities in which we operate," said Mark Irvin, Best Buy's chief inclusion, diversity and talent officer, in an interview.

Over the last few months, Jessup has spoken with educators and parents about future research projects that could highlight the role of parents and parental partnerships in math education, and she hopes she can spotlight Black families’ experiences and voices in engaging in math at home.

"The face of Silicon Valley has to change in every single respect," Brown-Philpot, one of Silicon Valley’s few Black CEOs and one of its most prominent Black women leaders, told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview.

“The whole system was designed to keep white males in power. Our whole history is evidence of that. So why is it a surprise then that white people do not know much about us? In my own family background there are doctors, lawyers, nurses, judges, engineers, etc., despite all of the obstacles that were placed in their way. How can you not be impressed? But we were overlooked. We had very little voice, so many people think that what I am saying about our impressive past cannot possibly be true.”

"Our hope is that [by bringing] in educators who are Black and brown, and [providing] unique opportunities for kids to try something; to ask questions; to be curious; to practice that scientific way of thinking early, that those different things layered together will create the type of outcomes that we want to see: Which is a really robust and enriched pipeline of Black children who are starting to go into STEM fields,"

The nonprofit /dev/color, an organization of Black software engineers, is seeking candidates for its 2021 A* Program, a year-long leadership development program for those seeking to be tech industry leaders. /dev/color cites the program’s curated programming, peer-to-peer exchange model and access to resources designed to promote professional growth.

he creators of the Bed-Stuy-based tech start-up Digital Park are hoping their new app will help ease some of that stress. Digital Park, co-founded by Jeffery Antwi, Oyin Antwi and Steven Antwi, has launched an app called Drift-wellness + sleep that supports mindfulness, focus and sleep anytime and anywhere. The company also creates branding and advertising for websites.Digital Park was founded after product designer Jeffery was left feeling excluded in the tech space, so he got his wife Oyin, an engineer, and brother Steven together to create their own.

"Vitoria Mario, a young Black woman who was "unable to utter a word in English" when she moved to the UK from Portugal in 2016, still achieved top grades in her GCSEs -- exams usually taken by English students at the end of their fifth year in secondary school -- in 2018. This summer, she achieved the highest grades possible in her final high school exams, receiving an offer to study Mathematics at the University of Warwick."

"Gerald A. Moore, Sr., a Norfolk State University grad committed to introducing a variety of technologies to Black boys, is the founder/CEO of Mission Fulfilled 2030, a nonprofit committed to impacting 100,000 Black boys in the STEM field by 2030. This fall, Moore will roll out an improved online platform through The Gerald Moore Technology School for Black Boys where course offerings include: Coding; Web Design; App Development; Basic Electricity; Automotive Technology; Google Docs; and Technology Entrepreneurship."

"My perspective is based on my experiences as a Black and African scientist in South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as in African nations through the African AIDS Vaccine Program. I've had the opportunity to interact with a range of Black African colleagues, from young African scientists to African scientific leaders in their fields or in their institutions. We often discussed our dreams, aspirations, and passions as well as work environments in the Western world where Black scientists (African or otherwise) are not well-represented or valued—where Black scientists have felt like aliens of the scientific enterprise."

"We also need to address the chronic underfunding of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs)—great scientific, economic and cultural drivers. They accomplish a lot with very modest investment. Just consider that although only about 9 percent of America’s Black students enroll in HBCUs, roughly 16 percent of all Black scientists and engineers are their graduates. Imagine what they could achieve with more funding."

“Definitely, when it comes to working at Silicon Valley, and working as a software engineer, and being Black, I feel like you have to overemphasize sometimes the value that you provide,”

"Lt. Gen. Crawford was honored as the 2020 Black Engineer of the Year for his efforts to mentor the next generation of American scientists, technologists, and engineers. The three-star Army general joined the select number of active-duty officers who have won the prestigious award since 1987. The list includes Capt. Donnie Cochran (1989), Lt. Gen. Albert Edmonds (1996), and Lt. Gen. Joe Ballard (1998)."

This year, change is again the story, as NSBE presents its 46th Annual Convention, its first-ever Virtual Annual Convention, from Wednesday, Aug. 19 through Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020. More than 8,500 STEM students; technical professionals; and corporate, government and community leaders are expected to participate in the convention, which is designed with robust interactive features enabled by state-of-the-art technology to create a powerful, educational, career-enhancing, entertaining experience for attendees. Originally scheduled to be an in-person event in San Antonio, Texas, in March, NSBE’s 46th Annual Convention (#NSBE46) has been reimagined as an online event because of health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The theme of the convention is “#NSBE46: Engineering the Revolution.”

"Companies have been trying to improve diversity among new hires for years. The problem may be getting people to stay. Being a minority of one in a team or being asked to take on the extra work of representing a company that wants to demonstrate its diversity is wearing. Ellen Pao, CEO of non-profit Project Include, which uses data to improve diversity in the tech industry, suggests companies must focus not just on who they hire but on who chooses to leave."

"Scrolling through a list of famous scientists, it’s pretty obvious science has a diversity problem. Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Neils Bohr, Stephen Hawking – notice a pattern? It’s important to remember that not all scientists are white men – others just don’t make it into our textbooks nearly as often as they should."

"Black medical pioneers, like the notable Daniel Hale Williams, have battled for equality and representation in today’s healthcare systems. In 1891, Williams established the first nonsegregated hospital to provide medical care for anyone seeking it, and medical training for anyone aspiring to make a change."

"Dr. Lonnie Johnson might be one of the most brilliant inventors of our time. The scientist and engineer is responsible for over 100 patents, including a thermoelectric energy converter and a thin film lithium battery. But his most famous invention? One of the best toys of the 20th century, the Super Soaker. And it came to existence all thanks to an accidental discovery."

"Companies are looking to improve their inclusivity efforts, and employee resource groups are one way of doing so, particularly for Black employees. ERGs and other programs enhance the employee experience by increasing engagement, providing a safe space and building a sense of community for people who share a specific cultural lens."

"Jasmine Bowers has made history as the first-ever African American student to receive a doctorate degree in Computer Science from the University of Florida."

"The initiative led by GlaxoSmithKline will fund programs that close gaps in the region’s workforce pipeline and give career opportunities to underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering and math."

"If you've been keeping tabs on MC Hammer lately, you may have noticed that he spent the last few weeks enthusiastically talking about science on Twitter. He tweeted about a gene found in neurons, about worm RNA, about slime molds, and much more."

"Emmie Chiyindiko grew up in Zimbabwe dreaming of superheroes and watching Captain Planet and the Planeteers, but now she's a chemist exploring green chemistry: reducing the carbon footprint by making industrial processes more efficient."

"Racial categories historically developed and endorsed by scientists led to a hierarchy of groups seen as superior or inferior. Although unsupported by biological evidence, these categories have had devastating effects on non-white communities throughout history. The myth that racial groups were fundamentally different was used to justify colonialism, slavery, genocide, and eugenics, and it still governs policies today."

"Leaders from 27 firms that represent many of New York’s dominant industries banded together to create the New York Jobs CEO Council, which aims to hire 100,000 people from low-income Black, Latino and Asian communities by 2030, according to a release. The co-chairs of the new organization include JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna and Accenture CEO Julie Sweet.The 100,000 figure includes 25,000 jobs and apprenticeships for students from the City University of New York."

"America is poised to invest billions of dollars to remain the leader in artificial intelligence as well as quantum computing. But in order to get the most from this investment, we have to create an environment that will produce innovations that are not just technical advancements but will also benefit society and uplift everybody in our society.This is why it is important to invest in fixing the systemic inequalities that have sidelined Black people from contributing to AI and from having a hand in the products that will undoubtedly impact everyone. Black scholars, engineers, and entrepreneurs currently have little-to-no voice in AI."

"Black in Neuro started with a tweet by Angeline Dukes, a PhD student in neurobiology at the University of California, Irvine, and attracted organizers from around the world. Social media has been a critical force in bringing together Black scientists, who can be isolated in their departments and schools due to underrepresentation in most STEM fields. The National Science Foundation reports that just 4.8% of people employed as scientists or engineers in the United States are Black."

"Senamile Masango’s destiny was sealed on the day that her high school geography teacher, Mr. Ziqubu, told his students about astronauts. She’s a nuclear physicist and an esteemed researcher and scholar presenting her work on some of the biggest science stages in the world, looked up to by hundreds of girls she mentors through her foundation, and praised and honoured by the likes of South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa."

"Over the past several weeks, we saw a large increase in conversations about employers’ roles in addressing systemic racism and support for the Black Lives Matter cause. Our team decided to quantify the insights from these conversations, and polled employees on whether they expect their companies to speak out. We found that the majority of employees expect a public statement, but it varies significantly by industry."

"Women have long been underrepresented in the tech industry. But women of color even more so: One study, by the National Center for Women in IT, reported that Black women in particular held only 3.1% of computing jobs in 2019. Kimberly Bryant is the founder of Black Girls Code, an organization that helps young women of color from underrepresented communities learn skills to help prepare them for STEM careers (science, technology, engineering and math)."

"The foundation will aim to help Black men and women get their first jobs, get jobs out of high school and/or college, and advance their careers once employed. There will be emphasis in STEM skills and education, as well as support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities."

"The coronavirus pandemic has been a setback for many higher education initiatives. But not so for Project Kaleidoscope, according to Dr. Kelly Mack, its executive director. She thinks the initiative for STEM higher education reform is only getting started — and the unforeseen pause of in-person learning could help the project heighten its offerings for next year. Project Kaleidoscope, or PKAL, is an Association of American Colleges & Universities. (AAC&U) center dedicated to making transformative change in undergraduate STEM education including diversifying the ranks of STEM degree holders."

"The retailer announced it will give Summit Academy OIC space in the Regional Acceleration Center (RAC) in North Minneapolis to help Summit Academy establish the North Star Innovation Center (NSIC).The NSIC aims to serve as a cornerstone of the Northside STEM District, which Summit Academy and other Northside organizations created, offering early learning and after-school programming. The Northside STEM District provides access to equipment and STEM experiences, in addition to increasing job opportunities and business connections for Black STEM professionals."

"To understand the dearth of diversity, we reached out to past and present biotech employees, recruiters, and the county’s research institutes, universities and colleges. People highlighted several issues, including limited diversity in academic pipelines that feed into biotech, companies recruiting within their own network bubbles, and explicit and implicit bias in reviewing applications. And getting hired is just the beginning. Black people within the industry said they had to work even harder to get noticed and rewarded for taking on challenging projects that would allow them to climb the corporate ladder."

"In early June, a racist incident in Central Park sparked #BlackBirdersWeek: a week-long social media effort which celebrated and amplified the voices of Black nature enthusiasts. Since then, several social media movements have emerged to celebrate Black academics across a variety of disciplines, including #BlackInAstro (June 22 - 26), #BlackBotanistsWeek (July 6 - 11) and #BlackInAnimalBehaviour (July 23 - 27)."

"Dr. Oscar Barton, Jr, the man who was the first Black engineer to gain the rank of tenured professor at the Naval Academy—and the first within the academy’s Division of Engineering and Weapons—is recognized for serving as a role model during his 22 years teaching future leaders of the Navy and Marine Corps. Dr. Barton was advisor to two Trident Scholars, the flagship research program, and was famously present at every engineering-related event in Annapolis, Maryland. As a department chair, he oversaw the re-accreditation of the Mechanical Engineering program, initial accreditation of the General Engineering program and the creation of the Nuclear Engineering program."

"After seeing the way that social media was recently able to connect and network groups of people from all over through hashtag campaigns and efforts to share experiences and interests, a fourth year PhD student at the University of California, Irvine, Angeline Dukes, asked Twitter when they were going to have a Black in Neuro week. But she had no idea the response she would get. Within days a group of neuroscientists, neuro-engineers, and science communicators mobilized, creating not a day, but an entire week (July 27th-August 2nd) to bring together, celebrate, amplify, and support Black voices in the brain space."