Bell Erica, Seymore Kayla, Breen Sarah, McCullough Matthew
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN USA.
Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE USA.
Biomed Eng Educ. 2022;2(2):113-121. doi: 10.1007/s43683-022-00078-z. Epub 2022 Jul 13.
Black individuals are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. In 2016, Black students earned 9% of science and 4% of engineering bachelor's degrees compared to a total of 56% of science and engineering bachelor's degrees earned by White students. Even with similar entering rates, Black students leave STEM majors at 1.4 times the rate of White students. These data reflect the manifestation of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) barriers faced by Black students and scientists to successfully navigate higher education and pursue careers in STEM fields. There remains a critical need to develop better ways to recruit, retain, train, and graduate Black students in STEM, especially within predominantly White institutions. Biomechanics is a growing interdisciplinary and translational STEM field where DEI barriers persist. Thus, the Black Biomechanists Association (BBA) was founded in 2020 with intentions to reduce these barriers and give much needed support to Black students and biomechanists in STEM spaces. The organization's mission is to uplift and enrich Black biomechanists in their academic and professional careers. Our objectives to achieve this mission provide a supportive environment and resources to address the challenges, needs, and interests of Black biomechanists, as well as aid in the biomechanics community's efforts to achieve DEI. In two short years, BBA has developed a needs-based mentoring program, hosted professional development and culturally-competent mentoring workshops, and produced communications to educate the biomechanics community and broader audience on culturally-relevant topics that impact Black biomechanists. The purpose of this article is to share the work and impact of BBA to date.
黑人在科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域的代表性不足。2016年，黑人学生获得了9%的科学学士学位和4%的工程学士学位，而白人学生获得的科学和工程学士学位总数为56%。即使入学率相似，黑人学生离开STEM专业的比例也是白人学生的1.4倍。这些数据反映了黑人学生和科学家在成功完成高等教育并在STEM领域追求职业时所面临的多样性、公平性和包容性（DEI）障碍。迫切需要开发更好的方法来招募、留住、培训和培养STEM领域的黑人学生，尤其是在以白人为主的机构中。生物力学是一个不断发展的跨学科和转化性STEM领域，其中DEI障碍依然存在。因此，黑人生物力学协会（BBA）于2020年成立，旨在减少这些障碍，并为STEM领域的黑人学生和生物力学专家提供急需的支持。该组织的使命是在学术和职业生涯中提升和丰富黑人生物力学专家。我们为实现这一使命设定的目标是提供一个支持性的环境和资源，以应对黑人生物力学专家的挑战、需求和兴趣，并协助生物力学界实现DEI的努力。在短短两年时间里，BBA制定了一个基于需求的指导计划，举办了专业发展和具有文化能力的指导研讨会，并制作了宣传材料，以教育生物力学界和更广泛的受众了解影响黑人生物力学专家的与文化相关的话题。本文的目的是分享BBA迄今为止的工作和影响。
