476
August 2018
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
S
olutions
Many industry, academic, non-profit and
government agencies have programs
addressing discrimination in STEM.
An informal survey of 15 professional
societies in the Geospatial and related
fields found that 58% of them have pol-
icies supporting D&I, and 21% of them
have active D&I initiatives. The author
sampled the American Association of
Geographers, the American Association
for Geodetic Surveying, the Ameri-
can Geographical Society, the American
Geophysical Union, ASPRS, CaGIS, (the
Cartography and Geographic Information
Society), GITA, the International Car-
tographic Association, the International
Council for Science, the Institute of Elec-
trical and Electronics Engineers, ISPRS,
NCEES, the National Society of Profes-
sional Surveyors, UCGIS, and URISA.
Within the federal government, the
Department of Energy requires em-
ployees to take 3 (non-managers) or 4
(managers) hours of diversity training
per year. Required training can produce
backlash in employees who don’t see the
need for it, making them even less likely
to support diversity and inclusion. The
University Corporation for Atmospheric
Research found it more effective to train
volunteers to become D&I advocates
rather than require all employees to take
diversity training. These volunteers also
receive bystander intervention training,
which teaches them how to interrupt bias
and harassment when they see it.
9
The Association for Women Geoscien-
tists, Earth Science Women’s Network
and the American Geophysical Union
are partnering to address the problem
of sexual harassment in the earth,
space and environmental sciences with
a four-year, $1.1 million grant from the
National Science Foundation ADVANCE
program. A primary goal of the project is
to improve workplace climate conditions
by developing bystander intervention
workshops for department heads, chairs,
faculty and grad students to appropri-
ately respond to and prevent sexual
harassment on campus and in the field
as well as include awareness and pre-
vention training of sexual and other types
of harassment in the teaching of ethical
conduct in research. See
for more information.
ASPRS, D
iversity
&
I
nclusion
One of ASPRS’ Core Values is: “Expan-
sion of a diverse community of geo-
spatially literate students and profes-
sionals.” ASPRS has several programs
that strengthen diversity and inclusion.
Certification provides a way for minorities
and women to prove their competence
once and not have to prove it repeatedly.
ASPRS Awards support mutual promotion
and inclusive culture and recognize those
who have contributed to the geospa-
tial community. ASPRS leadership has
included 10 women presidents, out of a
total of 83 presidents starting in 1935.
Co-sponsoring conferences with other
organizations is a form of collaboration
that leads to an inclusive culture. For ex-
ample, ASPRS traditionally co-sponsors
the Pecora conference with the USGS
and NASA. The next Pecora conference
in Oct. 2019 will be a joint conference
with ASPRS, USGS, NASA and the Inter-
national Society for the Remote Sensing
of the Environment. We’re stronger when
we complement each other instead of
competing for the same audiences.
ASPRS provides mentoring. The AS-
PRS Student Advisory Council and Early
Career Professionals Council are support
networks for people working to establish
themselves in the field, including minori-
ties and women. The Rising Star program
is a new mentoring program that will sup-
port early-career geospatial professionals,
including minorities and women.
The
PE&RS
Journal conducts blind
reviews of paper submissions to avoid
bias in judgement. ASPRS scholarship
applications will be “blind” this year so
that the review committee does not see
applicant’s names, in order to minimize
opportunities for bias.
Other ideas to further diversity and inclu-
sion would be to establish scholarships
targeting people of color and women.
The ASPRS Code of Ethics could have
some language added to promote D&I.
It may be easy to conclude that there
is nothing that individuals can do to
create a more cohesive community. In
fact, there are things that everyone can
do and which don’t cost anything. The
address concluded with the following 7
tips for practicing inclusion.
10
1.
Practice respect as your default
attitude towards others.
2.
Cultivate curiosity about cultures
and value systems different from
your own.
3.
Check your assumptions about
people – don’t stereotype.
4.
Use welcoming body language –
smile, make eye contact, say hello.
5.
Reach out to people you don’t know.
Try to find out what you have in
common.
6.
Listen more if you’re an extrovert,
speak more if you’re an introvert.
7.
Speak up to change discriminatory
systems and processes.
* Note that the Census Bureau defines
“Hispanic” as an ethnicity, not a race.
In this address I used the term “race” to
include Hispanics.
S
ources
1.
Hunt, V., Layton, D. and Prince, S.
(2015). Diversity Matters, McKinsey
& Co.
2.
Landivar, L.C.; Disparities in
STEM Employment by Sex, Race
and Hispanic Origin, American
Community Survey Reports, ACS-
24, US Census Bureau, September
2013
3.
US Dept of Labor, US Bureau of
