2016-03-09, 03:54 PM
Tay Wrote:Just my opinion, and why I wish I saw more well known LGBTQ+ physicists and engineers.I think everyone wishes this in general. But there's a longer lead time, especially in physics, between the changing demographics in students and world class PhD researchers. Turing is literally the only famous one I can think of and I had no idea he was gay until the movie came out.
[MENTION=3070]Marksman Bryan[/MENTION]; Your experience parallels mine. The reality is that for a variety of reasons there are far fewer minority groups in the physical sciences as undergrads. Excepting women in biology and Asian Americans in engineering, straight white men heavily dominate these fields as I'm sure you've noticed. I can't find the article again, but several studies continue to show significant confirmation bias by grad evaluation committees. They effectively select for the demographic that already exists and perpetuate the imbalance. I think we can all recall James Watson's remarks. It doesn't help that there are so few minority students selecting physical sciences as their major.
The theory (I'll reserve comment on the validity) is that your female friend achieved similar success while combating the inherent bias in the system.