Thomas Landefeld: Helping Minority Scientists

Professor of biology Thomas Landefeld delivered the talk “Minority Scientists: Where Are They? Who Should Care?” along with “Leaks in the Pipeline: Do Faculty Mend Them or Create Them?” at Prairie View A&M, Prairie View, TX on March 27, and participated in a seminar on minorities in the sciences at Houston Community College on March 28.

According to Landefeld, some of the issues surrounding minority scientists include limited access to resources and uncomfortable working environments.

“There has been progress but it has been very slow as judged by the severe under representation as far as matriculated students, and professional work force numbers,” he says. “Education is not the main problem but rather improving access, bettering the environment and fair treatment.”

He presented “Minority Scientists” again at the Second Annual Science Career Conference at Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles on April 1 and at a Student-Faculty Career Development Workshop hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency at Livingstone College in Salisbury, NC on April 11.

Landefeld is the director, of the U*STAR (Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research) and Bridges to the Baccalaureate Degree programs, which focus on encouraging minority and underrepresented students in the sciences.

- Joanie Harmon