The Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, as it is central to our mission as an educational institution to ensure that each member of our community has the full opportunity to excel. Chemistry benefits society immensely, but our field does not adequately reflect the diverse communities we serve.1 This population includes individuals with unique experiences as women and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color along with other underrepresented groups and those with invisible identifiers (e.g., first generation, immigrants, low socioeconomic status, LGBTQ+, and/or scholars with disabilities). The racial and gender gap within chemistry facilitates inequality with regards to attrition, salary, recognition, and award.2-9 The National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics shows Black chemists have long been in low numbers in academia, and still routinely leave at every level. Barriers to entry and the attrition of underrepresented scientists poses an urgent threat to scientific innovation by missing out on diverse minds and talent.9 We cannot deny that systemic problems surrounding race and sex explicitly exist in chemistry.10 It is past time we spoke out in solidarity with our neighbors, in particular now, as the year of 2020 experienced shocking anti-Black racism, as evidenced by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. Violence and racism have been experienced by people across the globe throughout history, and this is unjust. 

As a community of chemists, we recognize and value our diverse experiences and backgrounds as we help develop the next generation of scientific talent and strive for chemical discovery. We commit ourselves to identify and eliminate racism and other forms of bias from all Department affairs, and ensure all members of our community have the opportunity to thrive. We commit to take action in service of marginalized people, and have started doing so. 

Contacts

Inclusive Excellence Committee: 

Faculty interested in joining the Inclusive Excellence Committee or attending meetings, should contact Doug Tobias.

Resources

DEI Initiatives

Outreach

 Campus Resources and Incident Reporting

Becoming Anti-racist and Related Resources

Videos and Recorded Discussions

Reading/Reference List

Resources for Faculty

LGBTQIA+ Resources

Neurodiversity Resources

To submit additional resources or page suggestions please email cadennis@uci.edu.

References

1. https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/sere/2018/

2. Wilson-Kennedy, Z. S.; Payton-Stewart, F.; Winfield, L. L. Toward Intentional Diversity, Equity, and Respect in Chemistry Research and Practice. J. Chem. Educ. 2020, 97 (8), 2041– 2044,  DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00963.

3. Iyer, S. K.; Stallings, D.; Hernandez, R. National Diversity Equity Workshop 2015: Intersectionality in Chemistry Faculties. In National Diversity Equity Workshops in Chemical Sciences (2011–2017); American Chemical Society, 2018; Vol. 1277, pp 79– 107.

4. Cossairt, B. M.; Dempsey, J. L.; Young, E. R. The Chemistry Women Mentorship Network (ChemWMN): A Tool for Creating Critical Mass in Academic Chemistry. ACS Cent. Sci. 2019, 5 (10), 1625– 1629,  DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.9b00926.

5. Larivière, V.; Ni, C.; Gingras, Y.; Cronin, B.; Sugimoto, C. R. Bibliometrics: Global gender disparities in science. Nature 2013, 504 (7479), 211– 213,  DOI: 10.1038/504211a.

6. Lincoln, A. E.; Pincus, S.; Koster, J. B.; Leboy, P. S. The Matilda Effect in science: Awards and prizes in the US, 1990s and 2000s. Soc. Stud. Sci. 2012, 42 (2), 307– 320,  DOI: 10.1177/0306312711435830.

7. Mehta G.; Yam V. W. W.; Krief A.; Hopf H.; Matlin S. A. The Chemical Sciences and Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2018, 57 (45), 14690–14698.

8. Leyte L. Winfield, Zakiya S. Wilson-Kennedy, Florastina Payton-Stewart, Jennifer Nielson, Ann C. Kimble-Hill, Edgar A. Arriaga. Journal of Chemical Education Call for Papers: Special Issue on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect in Chemistry Education Research and Practice. Journal of Chemical Education 2020, 97 (11) , 3915-3918. 

9. Fadeyi O. O.; Heffern M. C.; Johnson S. S.; Townsend S. D. What Comes Next? Simple Practices to Improve Diversity in Science. ACS Cent. Sci. 2020, 6 (8), 1231–1240. 10.1021/acscentsci.0c00905.

10. Howes, L., Essay criticizing efforts to increase diversity in organic synthesis deleted after backlash from chemists, C&EN, 2020, https://cen.acs.org/research-integrity/ethics/Essay-criticizing-efforts-...