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The Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Diversity Interest Group celebrated Women’s History Month by hosting a Women in STEM panel on Thursday, March 24, at which four women discussed their experiences, challenges and successes as scientists.
Kerrie Wilkins-Yel, PhD, assistant professor of counseling and school psychology at UMass Boston, began the conversation, describing systemic and inequitable barriers that affect the mental health of women of color in STEM. She deconstructed the umbrella term “women and minorities in STEM,” often used as the catchphrase for underrepresented groups in STEM.
Of the term, Dr. Wilkins-Yel said, “Implicit is the understanding that there is mutual exclusivity between these groups, and if we see these groups as exclusive, we are also rendering invisible the voices and lived experiences of women of color.”
She explained that this view is problematic in that research, findings and interventions are considered applicable to all in these groups without consideration for those who exist at the intersection of those identities. Citing the accounts of women of color in STEM whom she’s mentored, Wilkins-Yel said barriers that led to mental health issues and decreased persistence in STEM included the feeling of having to leave one’s identity at the door, contentious relationships with advisors, gendered racism and racial trauma.
“We are asking students to persist in STEM, but at what psychological costs?” she said.
She called for those in power at institutions to address marginalization, white masculine hegemony and adopt an intersectional approach. She said students must be allowed to enter as whole instead of compartmentalized beings.
Moderator Heleen van't Spijker, PhD, postdoctoral associate in molecular medicine, asked panelists to discuss a time in which they felt they could not persist in science, which led to reflections on triumphs and disappointments.
Panelist Jean King, PhD, dean of arts and sciences at WPI, talked about the importance of community in helping her persist in STEM. Having spent 23 years at UMass Chan serving in multiple executive roles, she said she was the first African American woman to receive tenure at UMass Chan.
“Community is important and as we think about our identities, we need community to persist. I found support here to do what I wanted to do,” Dr. King said of her time at UMass Chan.
PhD candidate and panelist Olivia Kugler-Umana talked about an overbearing burden that mistakes in the lab, which are typically opportunities for growth, can be perceived as a lack of seriousness and focus for women and more intensely for women of color.
“Women and women of color have been socialized to be right all the time and it comes with emotional and psychological labor,” Kugler-Umana said.
Christina Baer, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology & physiological systems and director of the Sanderson Center for Optical Experimentation, said, “The pressure does not change no matter how high up you get. Our internal feelings of having to be precise all the time is beat into us at all levels of practicing science, and that’s part of the problem.”
Panelists also spoke candidly about finding a work–life equilibrium and hailed pushback against negative narratives about women in science and leadership as a catalyst to their success.
Student attendees enriched the conversation by asking for ways to ask for help navigating power dynamics in the STEM field and were applauded for setting the precedent of vulnerability in a field that does not encourage it.
The event was the first session of the Diversity Interest Group’s new storytelling series, “Stories in Science.” The series highlights and celebrates the many forms of diversity that exist in the research community.
