North Carolina Central University (NCCU), an historically Black university, will join Eastern Carolina University and the University of Puerto Rico in efforts to diversify the field of geoscience.
The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded a $2.14 million grant to NCCU’s Department of Environmental, Earth and Geospatial Sciences (DEEGS), as part of the more than $7 million shared among the universities, each attracting different student bodies. Eastern Carolina is predominantly white, drawing rural and first-generation students, while Puerto Rico’s student enrollment comprises mostly Latino students.
Dr. Johnson O. Akinleye
Geosciences have been the least diverse of all science fields over the last 50 years, according to Dr. Gordana Vlahovic, chair of NCCU’s Department of Environmental, Earth and Geospatial Sciences.
In 2019, about 33% of environmental scientists and geoscientists were women, according to the American Geoscience Institute. The percentage of Black environmental scientists and geoscientists fluctuated between 1% and 7.8%, from 2005 to 2019. During the same period, the percentage of Hispanic environmental scientists and geoscientists fluctuated from about 4% to about 12%.
Vlahovic speculates that until recently geosciences might have been predominantly male because women were discouraged from the sciences in general and because of the strong field component.
Vlahovic said that economic stability may be a factor for first-generation college students as they may not see the geosciences as a field that they can build a career on.
