Time: 7-9 p.m., Wednesday, October 4th

Location: Armenise Amphitheater at Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston (link to directions)

Speakers: Maddy Jennewein, Kate Lachance, and Jacob Shenker

Fish

What does a scientist look like? If a group of children are asked this question, they all have similar answers – a middle-aged Caucasian man wearing glasses and a white lab coat. Indeed, in reality, nearly 50% of all people working in the fields of science and engineering are white males. Ideally, science would work as a meritocracy; the smartest scientists with the most ingenious insights into how the world works would guide how the rest of the field thinks. It is clear, however, that science is not the perfect meritocracy it is idealized to be – there are real obstacles to becoming a successful scientist from some backgrounds. Barriers such as race, gender, and class prevent countless people from becoming scientists. To do the best, most comprehensive science, we need diverse scientists, from all backgrounds and representing all viewpoints. After all, scientists are only human, to discover the Truth that science seeks, we need scientists from every background.

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