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  • Perspective
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Framework for department-level accountability to diversify engineering

Nature Reviews Bioengineering (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Diverse teams are more innovative and creative. Nevertheless, science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines, including bioengineering, continue to fall short in increasing representation from persons from groups historically excluded because of their ethnicity or race. Many universities have crafted strategic plans to increase diversity; however, university-wide policies often fail to result in notable changes in microcommunities, such as departments and undergraduate or graduate programs. Therefore, departments may benefit from guidelines not only to craft effective diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) plans, but also to measure progress towards achieving specific DEI goals. In this Perspective, we present a framework for building, assessing and continuously improving strategic plans to improve recruitment and retention and to make departments more inclusive, including the collection of demographic data, the establishment and assessment of DEI plans, specific goal setting and assessment of achievements, with specific examples and guidelines, which will ultimately help departments to become inclusive working environments.

Key points

  • To advance innovation and improve workforce development in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), higher education must recruit and retain students from historically excluded groups.

  • Institutional plans calling for increasing inclusion are useful guidelines but are typically not actionable at the department level.

  • Many departments have yet to evaluate or reflect on their community and develop actionable plans to build a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce.

  • A departmental-level framework, considering department-specific circumstances and missions, outlines actions, activities and goals towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce.

  • Effective and lasting diversification of STEM requires department and programmatic accountability.

  • Systemic problems demand systemic solutions. Departments, professional organizations and government agencies should support the development of action plans.

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Fig. 1: Equal representation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.
Fig. 2: Flowchart for developing a diversity, equity and inclusion plan.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the BMEUnite community who helped to iterate the ideas and goals for this Perspective.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Jacqueline C. Linnes

  2. Department of Public Health, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Jacqueline C. Linnes

  3. Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Erika Moore & Katharina Maisel

  4. J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Ana Maria Porras

  5. Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Elizabeth Wayne, Patrick M. Boyle & Kelly R. Stevens

  6. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA

    Lesley W. Chow

  7. Department of Bioengineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA

    Lesley W. Chow

  8. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA

    Shelly R. Peyton

  9. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA

    Shelly R. Peyton

  10. School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Sarah E. Stabenfeldt

  11. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Kelly R. Stevens

  12. William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Jessica O. Winter

  13. Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Jessica O. Winter

  14. Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

    Rebecca Kuntz Willits

  15. Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

    Rebecca Kuntz Willits

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  1. Jacqueline C. Linnes
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Contributions

J.C.L., A.M.P., L.W.C., S.E.S., J.O.W. and R.K.W. initiated a draft concept and outline. All authors contributed to researching and writing the manuscript. J.C.L. and J.O.W. drafted the initial figures. R.K.W. finalized edits to the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jacqueline C. Linnes or Rebecca Kuntz Willits.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Reviews Bioengineering thanks Wayne Mitchell and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Related links

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Linnes, J.C., Moore, E., Porras, A.M. et al. Framework for department-level accountability to diversify engineering. Nat Rev Bioeng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-024-00183-4

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