Title: Discrimination and Diversity in Science

Location: 315 Behrakis Health Sciences Center, Northeastern University

Tuesday October 16th

Time: 12-1:30pm

Light refreshments and food will be provided.

 

Guest: Professor Hannah Rubin, assistant professor at Notre Dame

 

 

Rubin will discuss joint work with Cailin O’Connor in which we provide agent based models to show that, in collaboration networks, small minority groups may be more likely to be discriminated against while collaborating solely by virtue of their small numbers. Further, we show that this discrimination can lead members of different social groups to mostly collaborate with in-group members. Then, she will discuss work with Mike Schneider and Cailin O’Connor which shows how this formal framework can provide a platform to discuss the potential efficacy of various types of initiatives aimed at improving the diversity of collaborative groups. In particular, our models suggest that there is a tension between social and epistemic goods: certain proposals may successfully increase effective diversity, furthering the epistemic goals of the community, but at the cost of introducing further inequity.