[Grad-postdoc-assn] Lecture, June 28th: "Geosciencing While Black: 20 Years of Unsettling Racial Discrimination and the White Gaze in Earth Sciences Research and Workforce Preparation”

[Valerie Sloan]

Hello, and Happy Summer Solstice!

This lecture is open to all, and promises to be interesting. Atmospheric scientist Dr. Vernon Morris from Arizona State University will be giving the 2023 Ambrose Jearld, Jr. Lecture on June 28th at 11 am MT/1 pm ET.

"Geosciencing While Black: 20 Years of Unsettling Racial Discrimination and the White Gaze in Earth Sciences Research and Workforce Preparation.”


You can register here. <https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hrGimHdVRpC5-dN5gA8ffw#/registration>  Dr. Morris' biography, the lecture abstract, and Zoom registration are available on the Jearld Lecture website <https://www.woodsholediversity.org/events/ambrose-jearld-jr-lecture/>. The lecture abstract is also pasted below. Here are a flyer (PDF and PNG) that can be shared.

The Ambrose Jearld, Jr. Lecture is given every summer in Woods Hole by invited scholars, scientists, authors and others who can challenge the status quo to bring perspective, knowledge and expertise to the subject of building a more diverse and inclusive community.




Lecture Abstract by Dr. Vernon Morris

The Geoscience community is a microcosm of the larger STEM community as well as that of US society. Calls to eradicate systemic racism in U.S. institutions have both amplified and received greater attention over the past few decades. Systemic racism is a multidimensional challenge that often frames the day-to-day experiences of both racialized scientists and their “seemingly“ unracialized counterparts.  The scientific community – especially academic institutions and federal science mission agencies – have been challenged (most recently by the Biden administration) to self-reflect on systemic racism in their policies, procedures, and practices.  But self-reflection is not a substitute for action. Inaction reinforces many of the persistent disparities that we observe across all dimensions of the STEM experience from admissions practices (opportunity gate-keeping), exclusionary cultures and professional networks (access to information and belonging), to funding (access to resources), to citation and award practices (access to recognition). These systems of erasure can commute what were previously de jure barriers into de facto and nonphysical impediments to equity. 

In this talk, I will discuss six forms of erasure that undergird racial discrimination in science and how they manifest. I will then highlight a number of programs and countermeasures to the numerous systemic factors entrenching racism in STEM. Design thinking that removes the hyperfocus on and the conflation of metrics (e.g. diversity) with aspirational goals (e.g. justice) and outcomes (e.g. equity, sense of belonging) is a necessary first step. Similarly, if access is created without a concomitant focus on success it will detract from the effectiveness of any strategy for change. Specific reference will be made to several programs that I have led including the NOAA Center for Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology (NCAS-M) activities that spanned public outreach (K-through-gray) learners, the National Science Foundation-sponsored FLAGSHIP program, and the ASU Presidential Postdoctoral Fellows program.  I will argue that these scalable and transferable programs have resulted in driving the cultural change necessary to advance towards the aspirational goals of equity and justice.
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