Chemical and Isotopic Signatures Group, Division of Nuclear and Chemical Sciences, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, United States; Center for Diverse Leadership in Science, University of California, Los Angeles, Berkeley, California, United States
Center for Diverse Leadership in Science, University of California, Los Angeles, Berkeley, California, United States; Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, and American Indian Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
Department of Oceanography and Sea Grant College Program, Daniel K Inouye Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, United States
Concerns about systemic racism at academic and research institutions have increased over the past decade. Here, we investigate data from the National Science Foundation (NSF), a major funder of research in the United States, and find evidence for pervasive racial disparities. In particular, white principal investigators (PIs) are consistently funded at higher rates than most non-white PIs. Funding rates for white PIs have also been increasing relative to annual overall rates with time. Moreover, disparities occur across all disciplinary directorates within the NSF and are greater for research proposals. The distributions of average external review scores also exhibit systematic offsets based on PI race. Similar patterns have been described in other research funding bodies, suggesting that racial disparities are widespread. The prevalence and persistence of these racial disparities in funding have cascading impacts that perpetuate a cumulative advantage to white PIs across all of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
