Increasing the Number of Underrepresented Minorities in Astronomy Through K-12 Education and Public Outreach (Paper II)

In order to attract, recruit and retain underrepresented minority students to pursue Astronomy and related fields, we must ensure that there continues to be a well qualified pool of graduate and undergraduate students from which to recruit. This required pool of people are todays elementary, middle and high school students. The Astronomy community must be proactive in demonstrating the importance of pursing scientific study and careers to these students and their parents. Only by actively engaging these communities can U.S Astronomy hope to increase the numbers of minority PhDs and continue to be a leader in Astronomical discovery and knowledge.

Increasing the Number of Underrepresented Minorities in Astronomy at the Undergraduate, Graduate, and Postdoctoral Levels (Paper I)

If the ethnic makeup of the astronomy profession is to achieve parity with the general population within one generation (~30 years), the number of underrepresented minorities earning graduate degrees in astronomy and astrophysics must increase in the coming decade by a factor of 5 to 10. To accomplish this, the profession must develop and invest in mechanisms to more effectively move individuals across critical educational junctures to the PhD and beyond. Early and continuous research engagement starting in the undergraduate years is critical to this vision, in which the federally funded research internship programs (e.g. NSF REU, NASA GSRP) and national centers/observatories play a vital role. Regionally based partnerships with minority-serving institutions (MSIs) are crucial for tapping extant pools of minority talent, as are post-baccalaurate and/or masters degree bridging programs that provide critical stepping stones to the PhD. Because of the strong undergraduate physics, engineering, and computer science backgrounds of many students from MSIs, we suggest that instrument development and large scale computing/data-mining are particularly promising avenues for engagement in the coming decade.

Increasing the Number of Underrepresented Minorities in Astronomy: Executive Summary

Promoting racial and ethnic diversity is critically important to the future success and growth of the field of astronomy. The raw ability, drive and interest required to excel in the field is distributed without regard to race, gender, or socioeconomic background. By not actively promoting diversity in our field we risk losing talented people to other professions (or losing them entirely), which means that there will be astronomical discoveries that simply wont get made. There is demonstrated evidence that STEM fields benefit from diverse perspectives on problems that require more complex thought processes. This is especially relevant to a field like astronomy where more and more work is being done collaboratively. The lack of notable growth in African American, Hispanic, and Native American representation in astronomy indicates that the pipeline for these individuals is systemically leaky at critical junctures. Substantially more effort must be directed toward improving the educational and career development of minorities to insure that these potential colleagues are supported through the process. However, simply recognizing that the pipeline is faulty is woefully inadequate. There must be very specific, targeted solutions to help improve the situation. With this in mind, we offer two position papers addressing specific areas of improvement that we identify as (a) essential for any foreseeable progress in the field, and (b) attainable in the 2010-2020 decade. These position papers focus primarily on African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans. Although we do not directly address issues of Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and other groups, many of the recommendations made here can be adapted to address issues faced by these groups as well.

Research Science and Education: The NSFs Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship

The NSFs Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship (AAPF) is exceptional among the available postdoctoral awards in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The fellowship is one of the few that allows postdoctoral researchers to pursue an original research program, of their own design, at the U.S. institution of their choice. However, what makes this fellowship truly unique is the ability of Fellows to lead an equally challenging, original educational program simultaneously. The legacy of this singular fellowship has been to encourage and advance leaders in the field who are equally as passionate about their own research as they are about sharing that research and their passion for astronomy with students and the public. In this positional paper we address the importance of fellowships like the AAPF to the astronomical profession by identifying the science and educational contributions that Fellows have made to the community. Further, we recommend that fellowships that encourage leading postdoctoral researchers to also become leaders in Astronomy education be continued and expanded.