Natasha Latouf

It is well established that historical and current systemic barriers have resulted in disproportionately low rates of recruitment and retention for historically minoritized groups (HMGs) in physics and astronomy. Women earn only 21% and 33% of the bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy respectively, numbers that have remained stagnant for nearly the last decade (2007-2017) despite a 46% increase in the number of physics degrees awarded in the same time period Ivie et al. 2019. While there have been some improvements in these numbers for women in the past few years, they still lag behind the expected values given our population. Students from historically minoritized racial groups, including Black, Latine, and Indigenous students, have not seen similar improvements, earning only ~16% of bachelor’s degrees, and ~6\% of PhDs in astronomy in 2014, with very little improvement since (Jones et al. 2018). It is prudent to note that traditionally, the definition of HMGs includes only Black, Latine, and Indigenous students, thus excluding a large number of other HMGs such as Arabs and Arab Americans. Once you begin to look at intersectional identities (i.e. identities that span several different axes across race, ethnicity, gender, etc.) the statistics plummet, in some cases unable to be quantified. For instance, although there were 59,894 PhDs in physics awarded from 1972 to 2017, only 90 of those were awarded to Black women (0.15% of the total amount) (Miller et al. 2019). For each of these groups and identities, there are four traditionally challenging barriers faced by HMGs: imposter phenomenon, stereotype threat, othering, and microaggressions. One could argue there is an additional challenge: false allies and overburdening ECRs. I highly recommend reading the Markle et al. 2022 paper for a phenomenal overview of these barriers and recommendations.

The upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory presents an opportunity to introduce ethical and effective mentorship at the ground floor of development.

In February of 2020, four physics and astronomy students from HMGs, including myself, were approached by a faculty member and asked to develop the first Code of Professional Conduct for the George Mason University (GMU) Department of Physics and Astronomy. Previous to this request, GMU Department of Physics and Astronomy had had no such code, exposing students and faculty from HMGs to suffer from the effects of sexism, racism, retaliation, etc. The Code of Professional Conduct was drafted and adopted into the GMU Department of Physics and Astronomy in May of 2020. Spectrum was officially founded shortly thereafter.

Spectrum is a student-created and student-run access, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (AJEDI) grassroots advocacy organization in the GMU Department of Physics and Astronomy. The primary goal of this organization is to drive sustainable change to improve transparency, diversity, equity, and inclusion within the fields of physics and astronomy, starting within our home department. To this end, a significant responsibility that Spectrum has taken on is to ensure that our students not only leave our department as well-rounded scientists, but also as strong ambassadors and advocates for AJEDI, wherever their path leads them next. We believe in empowering equitable excellence within physics and astronomy through education and mentorship.

Despite all of the very useful efforts of Spectrum, the most important has been the development of a premier mentorship program within the physics and astronomy department. Our mentoring program utilizes the theoretical framework of a physics student’s identity, described above and by Hazari et al. 2010, and was developed after the constellation mentorship model. After an extensive intake process asking both personality and mentoring needs-based questions, we match each mentee to two mentors based on factors that will provide the most optimal personality match, such as most active time of day and personal and professional interests. These matches are designed to best reinforce and mold their student identities. By having two mentors per mentee, we increase the diversity of perspectives each mentee is exposed to, and reduce the time commitment of each individual mentor. As such, we strive to match each mentee with at least one mentor of the same gender and ethnic background, if available, and provide avenues to contact other mentors of their same gender and ethnic background to further increase the likelihood of retention. This aids in overcoming the barriers presented by othering, microaggressions, and a lack of a sense of belonging. We have also appointed faculty members to the Spectrum Advisory Board, who are available to provide guidance upon request to Spectrum leadership, and as appointed, trusted faculty mentors for students who are looking for the faculty perspective. Our mentoring program currently services approximately approximately 30% of the department (as of Spring 2024). We were also funded by AAS EPD to develop a mentorship training that is publically available for free. Mentorship is our cornerstone, and we believe it can change the face of the field.