Me: “I think it’s significant that this project was initiated by early-career scientists. It speaks to the prevailing culture in academia that allows the status quo to be perpetuated.
We felt that if we didn’t do the analysis, nobody else would.”
For now, 3 asks:
1⃣ Read the paper.
2⃣ Send it to people.
3⃣ Talk about it — here & elsewhere.
What does this mean for the STEM community & #NSFfunded science? What does this mean to *you*? And what should be done next?
In addition to what's being said on Twitter, various science community members are sharing their thoughts & commentary on our analysis — check them out. 👇
We examined *publicly available* data on >1 million proposals & found that for 20 yrs:
➡️ proposals by white PIs have been funded above avg. rates
➡️ proposals by most BIPOC PIs have been funded below avg. rates
➡️ the relative funding rate for white PIs has been *increasing* 📈
Seen another way: Take all NSF proposals in 2019.
If each group were funded at the same rate, only proposals inside the black lines would be funded.
Instead, white PIs received a "surplus" of 798 awards.
Surpluses & deficits happen each year. More on this later.
Unlike other papers, I am *not* delighted to tell you about this.
It's about how we choose what science is #NSFfunded.🧵1/10
Each year, NSF gets thousands of proposals. They issue *publicly available* annual reports on funding rates broken down by PI race: nsf.gov/nsb/publicatio…
Report contents evolve each yr, so data gaps exist. But data on 1 million+ proposals from 1996–2019 reveal striking trends.
For over 20 years:
➡️Proposals by white PIs have been funded above overall rates
➡️Proposals by most BIPOC PIs have been funded below overall rates
➡️And the relative funding rate for proposals by white PIs has been *increasing*📈