Increasing the Number of Underrepresented Minorities in Astronomy: Executive Summary
Dara Norman (NOAO), CSMA (AAS), NSHP, Marcel Agueros (Columbia, University), Scott F. Anderson (University of Washington), Andrew Baker, (Rutgers University), Adam Burgasser, (Massachusetts Institute of, Technology), Kelle Cruz (Caltech), David J. Ernst (Vanderbilt University,

TL;DR
This paper emphasizes the importance of increasing diversity in astronomy by identifying systemic issues and proposing targeted solutions to support underrepresented minorities, especially African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans, in the field.
Contribution
It presents two position papers with specific, attainable strategies for improving minority representation in astronomy during 2010-2020.
Findings
Systemic leaky pipeline for minorities in astronomy
Need for targeted educational and career development efforts
Proposed actionable solutions for diversity improvement
Abstract
Promoting racial and ethnic diversity is critically important to the future success and growth of the field of astronomy. The raw ability, drive and interest required to excel in the field is distributed without regard to race, gender, or socioeconomic background. By not actively promoting diversity in our field we risk losing talented people to other professions (or losing them entirely), which means that there will be astronomical discoveries that simply won't get made. There is demonstrated evidence that STEM fields benefit from diverse perspectives on problems that require more complex thought processes. This is especially relevant to a field like astronomy where more and more work is being done collaboratively. The lack of notable growth in African American, Hispanic, and Native American representation in astronomy indicates that the 'pipeline' for these individuals is systemically…
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Taxonomy
TopicsEconomic Growth and Productivity · History and Developments in Astronomy
