Creating Diversity & Inclusion Champions in STEM Fields

The Challenge

Despite efforts to increase diversity in geosciences and across STEM fields, only 35 out of a total of 737 doctoral degrees in earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences were conferred to underrepresented minorities in the year 2012. This lack of diversity undermines the field’s potential to create the best, most innovative science.

Our Solution

Mursion is partnering with researchers from the College of William & Mary, the University of Wisconsin, Michigan State University, Cornell University, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, American Geosciences Institute, to design and deliver a cutting edge program for creating champions of diversity, equity and inclusion. The program leverages the Mursion platform to create a safe virtual environment for these champions to practice behaviors that help them advance inclusive cultures and policies.

Prejudice in the present day looks very different than it did in the ‘70s and ‘80s. It’s often rooted in coded language and actions, which makes it easy as a bystander to just shrug your shoulders and move along. It takes a lot of social tact to know when and how to say the right thing. Mursion offers a safe place to practice these skills

Jason Chen

Principal Investigator