Summary: In 2009, fewer than 2% of physical science degrees—like physics and chemistry—went to African-Americans. Considering African-Americans make up 12% of the U.S. population, these numbers are shockingly low. And they’re getting even lower. In the second episode of our ongoing series about STEM education, we ask: what does a scientist look like? Short, tall, black, brown, male or female? We talk to Lindsey Kraatz, Sam Lake, Daniel Maxey, and Stephanie Salisbury about their outreach project at William and Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science. We also hear about what might be keeping American girls out of laboratories, and Laura Puaca (Christopher Newport University) explains the WWII history of Edna the Engineer.
