Commentary: Programs Are in Place to Help Minorities Successfully Pursue STEM Graduate Degrees: Scientific and technological innovation has had a dramatic effect on today’s society and is a key driving force to the global economy. Such technological advances are the result of the most highly skilled workforce in the world. Unfortunately, both women and minorities have largely been underrepresented in science and engineering education and careers.
It has been sufficiently documented over the last several decades that there exists a great disparity in the number of minority graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, disciplines in the United States. Several decades of qualitative and quantitative research studies confirm that anemic minority student participation in STEM majors is attributed to many institutional and non-institutional factors. Increasing the active participation of underrepresented minorities, women and persons with disabilities in STEM fields must remain an important strategic goal in the 21st century.
