Few gains for minority faculty

Abstract

When Miguel García-Garibay came to the University of California, Los Angeles, 25 years ago, he was one of just a handful of Hispanic professors in top U.S. chemistry departments. And that hasn’t changed. “Over a quarter of a century I haven’t seen a significant increase in the number of Hispanic and Latino scientists in top-ranked institutions,” he says. “I think we know each other by name.” García-Garibay’s experience is reflected in the most recent survey of chemistry faculty at the 50 U.S. universities with the most federal research funding. The survey, conducted by the Open Chemistry Collaborative in Diversity Equity (OXIDE), shows just 4.9% of chemistry faculty nationwide are from underrepresented minority groups. That number has barely moved since OXIDE began surveying diversity in chemistry departments five years ago. “I think there has been very, very marginal progress,” says García-Garibay, who is also dean of UCLA’s division of physical sciences.