Bassler discusses issues of race and science

Bassler, an award-winning researcher, was this year’s speaker for the third annual James Baldwin lecture. She is also the director of the University’s graduate program in molecular biology.

After explaining her research, which focuses on pathways for bacterial cell-to-cell communication, Bassler described a lack of interest in science as an American phenomenon.

“Americans intrinsically feel that they are not scientifically minded people,” Bassler said.

Misleading portrayals of science as impossibly difficult, Bassler said, are to blame for an American “phobia of science” and the consequent lack of American scientists.

“People think it is too difficult and should be left in the hands of the few,” she said.

Bassler went on to lament the fact that the widespread fear of science is keeping students from exploring a very interesting area of study.

Children who have been discouraged from studying science have “no opportunity to see the mystery involved in scientific research,” she said.

In this atmosphere hostile to science, it becomes very difficult to find minorities interested in research, Bassler said. She noted that even at Princeton, there are very few African- or Hispanic-American researchers.

In support of her assertions about a lack of minority involvement in science, Bassler noted that the 25-30 students admitted to the graduate program in molecular biology each year are nearly all white.

“One student every four years is black,” she said, adding that department faculty agreed that the lack of diversity is “appalling.”

In recent years, Bassler said, the program has sought to address this problem.

Through the establishment of the Program for Diversity and Graduate Recruitment and with the support of President Tilghman, the department has made it a mission to increase the percentage of minority students in its department to at least match national demographics.

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The cause of the racial uniformity in Princeton’s graduate molecular biology department could be due to low application and yield rates for minority students, Bassler said.

To address this problem, the department has worked on outreach programs and significantly increased the number of minority applicants to an all-time high of 45 this year. Out of those students, 17 have been accepted, Bassler said.

Bassler also emphasized the parallel between African Americans in science and women in science over the past few decades.

Recalling her own experience in scientific research, Bassler said she remembers not having women mentors in the field of science due to a general lack of female involvement.

“Today 50 percent of scientists are women,” Bassler noted, pointing out the possibility of change in the demographics of the field of science.

Reginald Salvant ’10, an audience member, noted that Bassler gave “a very frank and honest lecture.” He added that he hoped other departments would address issues of racial representation as the molecular biology department has in recent years.