Kaye Husbands Fealing, dean and Ivan Allen Chair in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, has co-authored a commentary in the Harvard Data Science Review on the importance of more robust data on diversity in STEM fields.

Husbands Fealing wrote the commentary with School of Public Policy Ph.D. student Aubrey DeVeny  Incorvaia. In the piece, published April 28, 2022, Husbands Fealing and Incorvaia argue that developing effective policies to reduce underrepresentation in some STEM fields depends on more effectively accounting for underrepresented groups in a comprehensive and intersectional way while still protecting the privacy of these relatively small communities.

“If we can achieve this aim, we can better assess aspects of diversity and its benefits,” Husbands Fealing and Incorvaia wrote. “Downstream consequences are numerous, including the ability to create more accurate and evidence-based policies to achieve equitable outcomes for those represented in the data. We can also identify contributions these populations make to benefit the broader public. Other advantages follow, one being inspiring a future workforce whose identities match those in small-n populations, thereby creating a virtuous upward spiral of growth and increased representation.”

The commentary helps introduce a special edition of the journal focused on “The Value of Science.”

Husbands Fealing is the vice-chair of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Committee on Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering. She has researched and written widely on the issue of diversity in STEM fields, including organizing a 2016 NSF symposium on broadening participation in STEM fields and a 2018 journal article that summed up much of the research presented at the event.

She has also published articles with Samuel Myers Jr. of the University of Minnesota showing that underrepresented groups do not benefit equally from diversity initiatives and that alternative pathways to the STEM workforce increase participation in those fields.