University of California, Berkeley doctoral student Sidney Hill is certain that his career lies in science. Hill’s love for science dates back to first grade when, during a presentation, he explained to classmates the differences between a solid, a liquid and gas.
He remains uncertain, however, of whether to pursue job opportunities in academia or industry. Next month, Hill hopes to explore more of the pros and cons of both career options during a Stanford University retreat targeting underrepresented, Ph.D.-seeking minorities in specific STEM fields.
The retreat is the first major event by a new consortium consisting of UC-Berkeley, Stanford, the University of California, Los Angeles and the California Institute of Technology that aims to increase the number of underrepresented minorities entering the postdoctoral and faculty ranks in STEM disciplines at top-tier universities.
Funded by a $2.2 million National Science Foundation grant, the consortium, known as the California Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, is trying to improve diversity in these disciplines at universities and national labs.
“Some problems are larger than what a single university can tackle on its own,” says Dr. Mark Richards, executive dean of UC Berkeley’s College of Letters and Science. “We’re accustomed to competing with each other, so the Alliance is an extraordinary effort. It’s a bit like competitors coming together to put a man on the moon.”
The Alliance focuses on underrepresented, minority doctoral and post-doctoral students in the mathematical, physical and computer sciences and in engineering. Richards, who, along with others at UC-Berkeley, reached out to the other three universities about two years ago, says the biological sciences are absent from the Alliance’s mission because the racial disparities aren’t as severe as they are among other STEM fields.
Together, the four universities in the Alliance produce almost 10 percent of the nation’s doctoral degree holders among African-Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
