Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives
We support programs and initiatives devoted to diversity, equity, and inclusion on the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory campus, where we’re based.
Racial and ethnic diversity in the geosciences has barely changed for 40 years due to the structural and institutional barriers. In 2016, 85 percent of people who received doctoral degrees in the geosciences were white. Our goal is to help change this. In part, we do so by funding initiatives and programs that work to create a more diverse, supportive geosciences community.
In 2020, we’re helping fund two Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory initiatives devoted to recruiting and retaining unrepresented students and scientists in the sciences.
- The Seminar Diversity Speaker Series improves and tracks representation of underrepresented minority speakers in departmental seminars at Lamont. And the series allows visiting underrepresented minority speakers to advance their careers by giving an invited talk, building collaborations with Lamont scientists, and providing visible role models for postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduate students on campus.
- For 15 years, the Secondary School Field Research Program has brought high school and undergraduate students, and teachers to campus to gain six weeks of hands-on research experience. Eighty-five percent of the 400 students who have graduated from the program are Black, Latinx, or South Asian. Most program graduates attend college, with teaching, environmental science, environmental and electronic engineering, and social work being common career goals.
Visit the Lamont Office of Academic Affairs & Diversity to learn more about these initiatives and others on campus.