Abstract: High attrition rates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines are an ongoing problem. Graduate student attrition, in particular, is understudied. Most past studies have focused on students’ attributes, undergraduate preparation, and mentoring relationships. Emerging results from the implementation of the American Physical Society Bridge Program (APSBP) suggest that departmental support structures could lead to increased retention. However, there are no validated instruments to measure students’ experience of the departmental support structures.
An analysis of 1955 physics graduate students from 19 Ph.D. programs shows that undergraduate grade point average predicts graduate grades and Ph.D. completion more effectively than GRE scores. Students’ undergraduate GPA (UGPA) and GRE Physics (GRE-P) scores are small but statistically significant predictors of graduate course grades, while GRE quantitative and GRE verbal scores are not. We also find that males and females score equally well in their graduate coursework despite a statistically significant 18 percentile point gap in median GRE-P scores between genders. A counterfactual mediation analysis demonstrates that among admission metrics tested only UGPA is a significant predictor of overall Ph.D. completion, and that UGPA predicts Ph.D. completion indirectly through graduate grades. Thus UGPA measures traits linked to graduate course grades, which in turn predict graduate completion. Although GRE-P scores are not significantly associated with Ph.D. completion, our results suggest that any predictive effect they may have is also linked indirectly through graduate GPA. Overall our results indicate that among commonly used quantitative admissions metrics, UGPA offers the most insight into two important measures of graduate school success, while posing fewer concerns for equitable admissions practices.
Increasing diversity in the (scientific) discipline must begin first with creating a more inclusive and sustainable for those who enter them.
The hidden curriculum of academia in North America includes social and cultural norms that typically align with those of the white middle class1. This means that the hidden curriculum can be even less visible, and ultimately inhospitable, hostile and exclusionary, for those with intersecting and marginalized identities with regard to, for example, race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality.
Geoscience organizations shape the discipline. They influence attitudes and expectations, set standards, and provide benefits to their members. Today, racism and discrimination limit the participation of, and promote hostility towards, members of minoritized groups within these critical geoscience spaces. This is particularly harmful for Black, Indigenous, and other people of color in geoscience and is further exacerbated along other axes of marginalization, including disability status and gender identity. Here we present a twenty-point anti-racism plan that organizations can implement to build an inclusive, equitable and accessible geoscience community. Enacting it will combat racism, discrimination, and the harassment of all members.
The American Physical Society Bridge Program has compiled these tips for drafting an effective letter of recommendation for a student seeking
admission into a graduate program.
Our IGEN Project Quarterly Newsletter highlights the work being done by our alliance members and partners.
Featured in this issue:
- Introducing Monica Plisch, Interim Director of IGEN
- National Meeting Highlights
- Meet Miranda Gallagher, IGEN's new Project Manager
- Opportunities to Learn: Equity in Graduate Education Workshops and Virtual Journal Clubs
- IGEN Partner News
This study expands on prior work to outline an ethical framework to guide research cocreated with local communities. We propose appreciation for the differing perspectives geoscientists and local community members bring to problem-solving and to creating knowledge around questions and issues pertinent to geoscience. A respectful and “Equitable Exchange” between individuals working together in these contexts can foster greater scientific creativity and societal relevance, and may ultimately broaden and diversify participation in the geosciences.
ACS SPO supports undergraduate and graduate students as well as the postdoctoral scientific community in the chemical sciences by creating relevant career and professional development resources.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor once said, "Until we get equality in education, we won't have an equal society." Though aimed at society as a whole, her words also apply to our scientific society.
Until the scientific community makes dedicated efforts to include minority scholars, science will never be an equal society. While the Supreme Court recently ruled to block attempts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the fight against systemic racism is a long journey that extends far beyond this case. We must all work to ensure scientists from all walks of life are supported and welcomed into the scientific community in order to build a landscape that more accurately represents the makeup of society.
