My thoughts today about the NSF GRFP. I first want to congratulate all 2,076
recipients of the fellowship. You worked hard for this, you deserve it. Use the
fellowship and do great research for you and your communities. There is a 'but' coming though. 1/6

As for communities: the underserved ones continue to be underserved, those who always did well continue to do well, even in the distribution of fellowships. For example, 68 fellows list MIT as their undergrad institution, while 13 fellows, collectively, attended an #HBCU 2/6

Now, I am not saying that there were even 68 applications from any given #HBCU, but 13 fellows from all HBCUs? And if there were not many applications from HBCU students, why is that? Are they too discouraged to even apply? 3/6

Seeing the feedback some students from groups historically disenfranchised in STEM have been given by reviewers, as evidenced by what the students wrote about, is it surprising that students don't apply? Any declination hurts bad enough without biased opinions by reviewers. 4/6

The language used by some reviewers is like code language - like the famous: 'too ambitious', 'eloquent, but', Not openly offensive like a slur, but the bias shines through bright and clear. And mind you, this is not implicit bias, this is right out-in-the-open bias. 5/6

And here is the saddest part: most reviewers, program officers, makers of decisions at funding agencies do either not realize what the problem is or don't want to do anything about it or worst yet, just don't care. 6/6