I know that " "Dramatic" Increase in PhDs to Minority Scientists" is not a typical title for the FairerScience blog, but hey it is the lead story at AAAS.org and I am very excited. (Stories on AAAS' front page change quickly so if you don't see it on the front page, go here).

I am totally excited because the article reports on work that we at Campbell-Kibler have been doing with AAAS for the past, hmm maybe- six years to help universities learn what, if any impact, their efforts to increase the number of African American, Hispanic and Native students getting PhDs in the sciences have had. All of the participating universities are part of NSF's AGEP (Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate and they are doing a really good job. As FairerScience friend Shirley Malcom says:

"We all want to do things that work. We're looking for programs and strategies that can make a difference. "We have had low numbers that have been languishing. So finally, here's some good news about a set of institutions that have set out to increase the participation of minorities within the sciences and they've done it."

My favorite part:

From 2000/01 to 2007/08, the percent change in the average annual number of PhDs awarded at the 66 AGEP institutions was much higher for URM than for all other U.S. citizens and permanent residents in NS&E (50.0% vs 31.0%)

That quote is from our report not from the story; which is a totally tacky way to get you to check out the report.

Anyway congratulations to all and keep up the good work!

PS In case you are wondering how we get all this data, the first university to submit their data each year gets, our best reward; lots of my homemade chocolate chip cookies.