AIAA Memo Regarding Diversity, AIAA
“Increasing the diversity of the aerospace community and the future workforce has been–and continues to be–a mission priority for AIAA. We’ve been seeing improvements in recent years, especially through the hard work of our dedicated AIAA Diversity Working Group. This year all 10 of the 2019 AIAA graduate awards were presented to highly qualified students, all male. These were the most qualified students based on the blind selection process. However, the aerospace industry and AIAA need to better represent the diverse world around us. …. It will take years of intentional, hard–but important–work to increase the percentage of women and underrepresented minorities in our industry, but we must achieve this moral imperative. I urge everyone to help build a stronger more diverse workforce for the future.”
AIAA Shuns Gender Diversity In Scholarship Selections, earlier post

Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member...

5 replies on “AIAA Responds To Diversity Concerns”

  1. I think I was the one who complained most when this came up (at least in NASA Watch comments…) I have to say this is really the best response I could ask for. The fact that no women were selected this year is a statistical fluke, due to the fact that only 20% of the applicants were women. Apparently there were multiple categories, and in one there were no female applicants. In the memo, the AIAA Executive Director openly admits that they can’t just shrug the problem off as a statistical fluke. They recognize that fact that only 20% of applicants were women is a problem, and they are trying to solve it. They don’t say how. That’s probably because there aren’t easy answers, but I hope they realize figuring out why so few women apply is the first step. He also notes that, “The number of women in aerospace is stuck at 24 percent…” and to me, his phrasing implies he is unhappy about that. Since I don’t believe in miracle solutions, I think that means they’re doing what they can.

  2. The solution is simple. You do what Star Trek’s Nichelle Nichols did for the astronaut corps more than 40 years ago; you recruit more qualified candidates to apply. She specifically sought out women and minority candidates and she found more than 8,000 in four months. And she did that without the internet, laptops, social media and smartphones. I will send those lessons learned to AIAA.

    1. That’s about half of it. But it only works if a sizable number of women didn’t realize the opportunity was available or didn’t know they were well-qualified. And, that in all the earlier stages of their lives, nothing had discouraged them from studying math, science and engineering. (Thank you, Mattel, for the “Teen Talk” Barbie dolls…) Sometimes women don’t apply because the profession isn’t attractive. Not because of the subject, but because of the work environment. I was actually talking with a colleague about this a few hours ago. (Our university is doing a discrimination and workplace environment survey, and we thought some of the questions missed the point.) In some fields, complaints are taken more seriously than in others. In some fields, differences are resolved by vocal arguments at meetings (and making fun of people who disagree with you.) None of that yelling and ridicule is sexual; it’s just a difference between bashing heads and qalmly talking over the details. But studies have shown that women (on average) find the former environment less desirable. If that’s what they expect in a particular field or job, they are less likely to apply. And that means part of solving the diversity problem means changing institutional culture and professional standards of behavior. That’s hard to do.

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