Spring/Summer 2004
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No Regrets
New study shows how African-American Ph.D.
chemists overcame discrimination to build careers.
by JOHN TOON
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PDF format
A NATIONAL STUDY of career experiences among African-American Ph.D. chemists shows how these scientists dealt with discriminatory practices and attitudes to build careers in academia, industry and government. While seven out of 10 respondents felt they had been hindered by discrimination, less than a handful regretted choosing a career in chemistry.
photo by Gary Meek
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Willie Pearson Jr., chair of Georgia Tech's School of History, Technology and Society, has completed a study of African-American Ph.D. chemists. The study, based on interviews, describes how they dealt with discriminatory practices and attitudes to build their careers.
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“Regardless of the experiences they had, these people had remarkably positive feelings about chemistry,” says Willie Pearson, Jr., the study’s author and chair of the School of History, Technology and Society at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “If they had it to do all over again, they would still see chemistry as an attractive field.”
Pearson presented results of the study, “Beyond Small Numbers: Voices of African-American Ph.D. Chemists,” at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in February 2004. The study explores the divergent career experiences of 44 randomly chosen, African-American Ph.D. chemists who received degrees before 1994.
“The opportunity structure differed dramatically in many cases over time,” says Pearson, who conducted face-to-face interviews with all but one of the scientists. “Most felt that race was an issue, and that it had impacted them in certain ways. But they didn’t let that cripple them or stifle their achievement. Racism was just part of the reality that confronted them.”
Most respondents began their careers in the academic world, with slightly more than half taking positions at historically black colleges and universities. Ph.D. chemists choosing academic careers were attracted to institutions similar to the ones where they obtained their undergraduate degrees.
Their experiences changed dramatically over time, affected by federal legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and court decisions such as Brown v. Board of Education.
Other key findings include:
The respondents often found themselves torn between the research they were trained to do and administrative roles that provided salary and advancement opportunities beyond what they could achieve as practicing chemists.
For industrial chemists, these administrative positions were often in Equal Employment Opportunity, human resources or community outreach areas with little impact on company decision-making.
photo by Sue Clites
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Willie Pearson Jr., center, chats with Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough, right, and Phillip McKnight, chairman of the School of Modern Languages, during a gathering of administrators and faculty.
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Many of the respondents reported that good work overcame discrimination. “It’s difficult not to reward excellence,” Pearson says. “While there may be discriminatory practices, by and large, the system tended to work for those who did good work.”
In academia, as well as industry, experiences varied among departments even within the same institution. “While there might be a company culture, there are also individual unit cultures,” he explains. “At one company, chemists reported different career advancement experiences depending on the division in which they worked. For example, in one unit, a chemist had filed racial discrimination complaints, while chemists in two separate units reported supportive and welcoming environments.”
African-American women often had to also confront gender discrimination and were expected to meet a higher standard than their male counterparts. “But I think you would find the same thing with women in general because chemistry is still largely a male-dominated field,” Pearson says.
If they were the only persons of color in their organizations, African-American chemists sometimes suffered feelings of isolation, which caused stress and depression. In academia, isolated chemists often had difficulty attracting graduate students, which hurt their research and therefore their stature in the field.
Among industrial chemists, eight of 13 respondents (62 percent) said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs. Among the academic chemists, 16 of the 22 (72 percent) reported that level of satisfaction – while five said they were very dissatisfied.
Segregation in the South contributed to a “brain drain” in which African-Americans pursuing chemistry doctorates entered universities outside the region. Most never returned.
Contact Willie Pearson at 404-385-2265 or willie.pearsonjr@hts.gatech.edu.
For more information, see
gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/phdchemists.htm.
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Last updated: July 7, 2004