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Diversity and inclusiveness in large scientific collaborations

Nature Astronomy volume 1, Article number: 0161 (2017) Cite this article

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Considerable progress has been made in the past decade to increase diversity in astronomy, and in particular to reach a ‘critical mass’ of women. It is however important to realize that this progress has mainly been the result of the selective inclusion of women from more privileged backgrounds.

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Figure 1: Highest education level completed by parent or guardian for members of the SDSS collaboration self-identifying as men and for those self-identifying as women.
Figure 2: Highest education level completed by parent or guardian for individuals of the SDSS collaboration self-identifying as members of a racial or ethnic majority and for those self-identifying as members of a racial or ethnic minority in their institution.

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Acknowledgements

The authors recognize that this work was done in collaboration with scientists on the 2015–2016 Committee on the Participation of Women in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, including A. Aragon-Salamanca, B. Cherinka, K. Cunha, B. Gillespie, A. Hagen, A. Jones, K. Kinemuchi, B. Lundgren, A. Myers, A. Roman and G. Zasowski. This work was supported by the SDSS-IV Participating Institutions and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sara Lucatello is at INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy.,

    Sara Lucatello

  2. Aleksandar Diamond-Stanic is in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bates College, 44 Campus Avenue, Carnegie Science Hall, Lewiston, Maine 04240, USA.,

    Aleksandar Diamond-Stanic

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  1. Sara Lucatello
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  2. Aleksandar Diamond-Stanic
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Correspondence to Sara Lucatello or Aleksandar Diamond-Stanic.

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Lucatello, S., Diamond-Stanic, A. Diversity and inclusiveness in large scientific collaborations. Nat Astron 1, 0161 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0161

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