Suzi Iacono, HeadOffice of Integrative ActivitiesNational Science Foundation

Reducing theImpactofBiasin

theSTEMWorkforce

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JSUADVANCEIMPLICITBIASTHINKTANKMarch22,2017

NSFbytheNumbersFY2017BudgetRequest

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CommitmenttoDiversity• NSFCoreValue

• Inclusiveness– seekingandembracingcontributionsfromallsources,includingunderrepresentedgroups,regions,andinstitutions

• NSFPrograms• $763MRequestforBroadeningParticipationprograms

• DiversityDividend-- McKinseyStudy(2015)

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Employedscientistsandengineers,bysexandrace/ethnicity:1993and2013

1993 2013

SOURCE:NationalScienceFoundation,NationalCenterforScienceandEngineeringStatistics 5

Why?

• Explicit

6AAUW:SolvingtheEquation:TheVariablesforWomen’sSuccessinEngineeringandComputing

7AAUW:SolvingtheEquation:TheVariablesforWomen’sSuccessinEngineeringandComputing

ResearchProposals,AwardsandSuccessRatebyFiscalYear

Research proposals and awards. (Excludes: centers and facilities, equipment and instrumentation grants, conferences and symposia, Small Business Innovation Research grants, Small Grants for Exploratory Research (through FY 2009), and education and training grants )* FY 2009 and FY 2010 include American Recovery and Reinvestment Act awards.

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Preliminary Proposals: 4200 80% IOS & DEB

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Succ

ess

Rat

e

Prop

osal

s an

d Aw

ards

Proposals Awards Success Rate

PercentageofProposalsfromandAwardstoWomen

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2001 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

All PIs Proposals 31,942 42,352 44,428 55,542 48,613 48,051 Awards 9,925 10,425 11,149 12,996 11,524 10,958 Funding Rate 31% 25% 25% 23% 24% 23% Female PIs Proposals 5,839 8,510 9,431 11,903 10,795 11,142 Awards 1,894 2,233 2,556 2,982 2,775 2,669 Funding Rate 32% 26% 27% 25% 26% 24% Male PIs Proposals 25,510 31,482 32,074 38,695 32,932 31,625 Awards 7,867 7,765 7,986 9,080 7,816 7,286 Funding Rate 31% 25% 25% 23% 24% 23% PIs from Proposals 1,728 2,608 2,762 3,613 3,291 3,268 URM by Awards 509 638 670 812 718 681 race/ethnicity Funding Rate 29% 24% 24% 22% 22% 21%

AwardsandProposalSuccessRatesbyPICharacteristics

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0%

5%

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25%

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80%

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120%

BIO CISE EHR ENG GEO MPS SBE NSF

SuccessR

ate

Ratio

ofS

uccessRates(F/M

)

FY2015ResearchProposals-ComparisonofWomen'sandMen's

SuccessRates

RatioofSuccessRates Fs.r. Ms.r.

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0.0%

0.5%

1.0%

1.5%

2.0%

2.5%

3.0%

3.5%

4.0%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2010-2015

%ofa

llRe

searchPropo

sals

Ratio

ofS

uccessRates

ResearchProposals- ComparisonofBlack/AAandWhiteSuccessRates

RatioofSuccessRates %ofProposalsfromAA

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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY150

5

10

15

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25

30

35

FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15

MaleScientists/Engineers FemaleScientists/Engineers

GenderandRacial/ethnicDiversityofNSF'sScientistsandEngineers:FY2006-2015

Source:NSFDivisionofHumanResourcesManagement13

Whythesedifferences?

•Manypossiblereasons• Explicitbias?Maybe.• Implicitbias.Morelikely.• Institutionalbias.Probably.

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CognitiveBiases

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16AAUW.org:PNAS:Moss-Racusin,Davidio,Brescoll,Graham,&Handelsman (2012)

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ExecutiveSummary:ASenseofUrgency• LimitingdiversityinSTEMcoulddiminishAmerica’sroleasagloballeaderindiscoveryandinnovation.

• TheUScannotwaittoaddressthebiasesthataffectthequalityandquantityoftheSTEMworkforce.

• InOctober2015,OSTPandOPMestablishedaninteragencygrouptoidentifypoliciesandbestpracticestoincreasediversityinSTEMworkforce,boththeFederalGovernmentandinfederallyfundedinstitutionsofhighered.

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Biases&Mitigation• Explicit:Intentionalandconsciouslyheldattitudesandbeliefsthatinfluencepeople’sevaluationandbehaviortowardsaparticulargroup

• Implicit:Individualattitudesheldwithoutconsciousawarenessorcontrol;thus,maybedifficulttodetectandmitigate

• Institutional: Implicitbiasthroughorganizationalpoliciesandpractices;canbedifficulttodetectandmitigate

• Mitigation:• Explicitbiasismanagedthroughlawandjustice– TitleVI(DoJ)andTitleIX(ED);

• Implicitbiasrequiresawarenessandawillingnesstoengageinotherperspectives;

• Institutionalbiasrequiresdata.20

Vision,Goal,Objectives• Vision: Arobustandinclusiveworld-classUSSTEMenterprisecharacterizedbyinstitutionsofhigherlearningandFedgovernmentworkplaceenvironmentsfreefrombiasandotherbarriersthatimpedecareerpathways

• Goal:Toenabletheprogressofscience,innovationandsocietythroughgreataccessparticipationandadvancementofallAmericansinSTEM,especiallythosehistoricallyunderrepresentedandunderserved

• Objectives:ToenhanceexistingandestablishnewFederalgovernment-widepoliciesandpracticesthatmitigatetheimpactofbiasintheworkplace;Tospurcoordinationandcollaborationamongfederallyfundedinstitutionsofhigherlearningintheexchangeofbestpolicies,practices,toolsandresources.

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IntheFederalSTEMWorkforce

Recommendation1:EachFederalagencyshouldexerciseleadershipatalllevels,includingseniorofficials,STEMprogramandadministrationmanagers,humancapitalofficials,anddiversityandinclusionofficials,toreducetheimpactofbiasintheirinternaloperations,including:

• Incorporatingdiversityandinclusionobjectivesinthestrategicplan;

• Implementingrecruiting,hiringandpromotionpracticesthatencouragediversityandinclusion;and

• Establishingbias-mitigationgoals,techniques,andaccountabilitymechanisms.

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InFederallyFundedInstitutionsofHigherEducationRecommendation2:EachFederalagencyincorporatebias-mitigationstrategiesintoitsproposalreviewprocessandoffertechnicalassistancetogranteeinstitutionstoimplementbias-mitigationstrategies,including:

• AchievingfairnessandqualityintheSTEMendeavor;• Collectingandanalyzingdataontheentirecycleofthegrantmakingprocesstoanalyzesuccessratesacrossgroups;and

• Providinginformationaboutmethodstoreducebias.

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Cross-cuttingGovernment-wideLeadership

• Recommendation3:TheFederalGovernment,throughOSTP,OPM,andtheDepartmentofJustice(DOJ),shouldexerciseleadershiptoreducetheimpactofbiasintheFederalSTEMworkforceandfederallyfundedinstitutionsby:

• Servingasfocalpointsandclearinghousesforbias-reductionstrategiesforbothFederalagenciesandfederallyfundedinstitutions;

• Coordinatingcivilrightscomplianceefforts;• EnhancingthecapacityforGovernment-wideperformanceandaccountabilityforeffortstomitigateexplicitandimplicitbiasthroughvalidatedmeasurementtools;

• Spurringgreaterstrategiccoordination,collaboration,andimpactofsuccessfulprogramsaimedatreducingbiasandincreasingdiversityinfederallyfundedinstitutions;and

• Strengtheninguniversity--communitypartnershipstomitigatebiasandincreaseaccesstopathwaystoFederalSTEMemployment.

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Fromleft:GeraldineRichmond(UOR),SuzanneIacono (NSF),ShirleyMalcom (AAAS),Simine Vazire (UCDavis),andBrooksHanson(AGU)

JournalsandFundersConfrontImplicitBiasinPeerReview

AAAS– Washington,DCMay27,2016

ScienceMagazine:http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6289/1067.full

ColloquiumonReducingImplicitBiasDecember12,2016atAAASHeadquarters

Adiscussionof interagencyefforts toincreasediversityinSTEM

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Fromleft:CelesteRohlfing,JoHandelsman,SuzanneIacono,BrendaManuel,AnnaHanandSusanFiske.

PhotoPermission:JuanDavidRomero/AAAS

InteragencyPolicyGrouponIncreasingDiversityintheSTEMWorkforce

BEST PRACTICES identified with credible evidence include: Analyses of mandated workforce data sets;

Implicit bias training;

Conflict resolution; and

Promoting work flexibility.

PROMISING PRACTICES are defined as those that are consistent with principles established by research but have not been the subject of evaluation. The following are particularly promising:

Diversity change agents;

Diversity toolkits;

Technical qualifications board; and

Proposal review experiments.

EMERGING PRACTICES include:Unconscious bias training for search committees;

Special training for the entire workforce;

Hiring and promotions safeguard

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Best,Promising,andEmergingPracticestoReducetheImpactofBiasintheFederalSTEMWorkforce

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KeyWordVisualizationofAgencyEffortsfromtheCollectiveSummaryofAgencySubmissions

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ParticipationofFemaleReviewersinVirtual,InPerson,andMixedPanelsFY2014

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NewMeritReviewPilot:ReviewerOrientation• Complaints/Confusion/Data

• Variablequalityofreviews– notedinCOVsandincommentsfromPIs

• ConfusionaboutBroaderImpacts– notedinCOVsandindiscussionwithAdvisoryCommittees

• Dataaboutdifferencesinsuccessrates– graphsputineveryNSFAnnualMeritReviewReport

• Whatwewilldo• Movereviewerorientationupafewweeks– beforetheyreadproposalsandwritereviews

• Anduseastandardizedformatforeveryone

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Videocontains…(1) Tipsonwritinganalyticalreviews

(3)Howtomitigatecognitivebiases

(2)BroaderImpacts

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:

…

ReviewerOrientationPilot

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DeliveredviaWebinar• COI/Confidentiality[slides]• Tipsonpreparingreviews[video]• Programcontext,additionalreviewcriteria,etc.

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NSFINCLUDES

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JoanFerrini-MundySuziIaconoBarryJohnsonRogerWakimotoFebruary9,2017

CEOSEBriefing

Time

Impact

incremental change

launch

sustain

large-scale social change

catalyze*What if we focused more here?

Catalyzing Social Innovation

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PrincipalInvestigator(PI)Meeting

InclusionacrosstheNationofCommunitiesofLearnersofUnderrepresentedDiscovers

inEngineeringandScience

January4-6,2017Arlington,VA

NSFINCLUDESPIMeetingJanuary4-6,2017

• Welcome• PosterSession• PlenaryTownHall• FlashTalks• Learningabout

BuildingNetworks• DinnerConversation• EvaluatingSocial

Innovations• ClosingPlenarywith

theDirector

PIMeetingJanuary4-6,2017

Representa-tives fromall40Pilots

186Participants:• NSFStaff• Contractors• PIs/CoPIs• Evaluators

Representativesfrom11ofthe13conferences

Morethan5hoursofnetworking

3days2TownHall

Meetings

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PIMeetingJanuary4-6,2017

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NSFINCLUDESNationalNetwork:TheVision

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PILOTS

PILOTS

PILOTS

PILOTS

PILOTS

PILOTS

PILOTS

ALLIANCE

ALLIANCE

ALLIANCEALLIANCE

ALLIANCE

ALLIANCE

PILOTS

PILOTS

PILOTS

PILOTS

PILOTS

PILOTS

PILOTS

Turner,Merchant,Kania&Martin,2012.

INCLUDESNationalBackboneOrg

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• Shareddata,knowledge,bestpractices

• On-rampmechanisms

• Monitorprogressatnationallevel

• …..

PortfolioAnalysis

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IdentificationofBPFocusedPrograms

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*Allawardsforwhichinformationwascollectedwereactiveas1/23/2017https://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2017/pdf/10_fy2017.pdf

BROADENING PARTICIPATION IN

BIOLOGY FELLOWSHIP

BPE

TCUPPAARE

LSAMP

SBE Postdoctoral Research Fellowship –Broadening Participation

SBE Science of Broadening

Participation

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Conclusions• Guidingprinciples

• DiversitystrengthenstheSTEMenterprise• PreparationandadvancementofallUStalentisessentialtoUSSTEMleadership

• Diversityandinclusionarecentralallallorganization’smissionsandbusinesscases

• Groupstraditionallyunderrepresentedandunderservedareareservoirofuntappedcreativity,diversityofthoughtandenginesofinnovation

• Mitigatingbiases/assumptions• Raiseawarenessandmotivationtochange• Providestrategiesandtools• Empowerandsetexpectationsforpositiveoutcomes• Increasecommitmenttoreducebias

• Takeactiontoday!

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Thanks!

siacono@nsf.gov