A Conversation with Freeman Hrabowski on Black Students’ Success in Science, Engineering, and Science: The Meyerhoff Scholars Program at Stony Brook
Freeman Hrabowski learnt the power of bold actions when he marched for civil rights in his youth. Since then, he has encouraged others to question the status quo — and affirm Black student success in the sciences.
The nature Q&A series celebrates those who fight racism and champion inclusion. It also highlights initiatives that could be applied to other scientific workplaces.
Growing up in Alabama during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Hrabowski says he drew on those experiences when he created the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at UMBC in 1988, which became a leading model for increasing the diversity of university students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Black scholars were awarded 3% of US science and engineering PhDs in 1990. Over the last two decades, more than 1,500 students have graduated through the Meyerhoff programme and 448 have gone on to earn PhDs. The programme has been replicated at numerous US universities, most recently at Stony Brook in New York, with a US$56.6 million investment in 2022 from the Simons Foundation.
Martin Luther King spoke at the back of the church while I was growing up in Alabama. (I also spent a week in jail after taking part at the age of 12 in the children’s march in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963 — a peaceful protest against racial segregation.) King asked the group what it will take to open people’s eyes to allow our kids to go to better schools.
When I arrived at the school as vice-provost, I looked at the data to understand what it could tell us. Large numbers of students — not just students of colour — were not succeeding in science and engineering. It turned out that many of them didn’t have a background to do well in maths. It was clear that we needed to be asking the right questions about what level of maths background was necessary to succeed in chemistry or physics. We talked to students.
My male faculty members wondered why we needed this programme if they were nice to all students. When you are the only one in the room that resembles you, it feels different, I said. Several of the men were invited to spend a full day at the historically Black university. They came back with a different appreciation of how isolating it can be. I also pointed out they were only there for one day and as 50-year-olds. Imagine if you will being a student in a university. We’re not trying to do ‘warm and fuzzy’ at UMBC; we’re trying to understand perspective.
The programme has a few key features. The summer bridge programme is important. Students spend a summer before university begins studying maths, English and science, so they build a strong foundation in the basics before taking higher-level courses. Building community is one of the key components. According to my research, even the best students in the school were not achieving in science so we stressed the importance of peer support and working in groups. It takes scientists to produce scientists. The more excited students are the sooner they’ll get to work in real life science labs.
Many students believe that mathematics and science is only for a certain group. School teachers give children the message early on that they’re either a maths and science student or a history and arts student. It is possible for people to use both sides of their brains. Creativity is so important to connect disciplines to figure out the best questions to ask. The numbers are only one part of math. It is about the whole Universe. It’s about patterns. It’s about how we think. The best, most effective scientists are those who ask good questions.
A Conversation with the Changemaker Freeman Hrabowski on Black and Hispanic History and the Place of Higher Education in Baltimore County, Maryland
I think we should get away from the word ‘woke’ because it immediately divides people and nobody really knows what it means. I’m now using the word inclusion. White, working-class males have had the greatest decline in participation in higher education in the US.
I did not decide to study another language, French, until I was around 65 years old. Students look at me strange when they say, ” don’t you think you’re old?” I have been studying for seven years and I never fail to converse with others in French.
All around the world, people are pushing back against racism, gender bias and other forms of discrimination to make a positive difference. The series will highlight their achievements.
The spirit of the series was exemplified by our inaugural Changemaker, in the form of Freeman Hrabowski. The former president of the University of Maryland Baltimore County was a mathematician, named Hrabowski. UMBC has an important place in higher education’s history. From the beginning, it was the first public university in Maryland to give priority to all races.
Descending through injustice: how many lives have we lost in the process? A new look at a past that served as a legacy of injustice
Such accounts of facing injustice and then constantly having to fight it will feature repeatedly in the series. They can be very difficult to read. But such experiences are still much too widespread, and need to be highlighted until the day comes when they become history.