Sugimoto Participates in White House Roundtable on Covid-19, Gender, and STEM

Posted October 18, 2021

Cassidy R. Sugimoto, Tom and Marie Patton School Chair in the School of Public Policy, recently participated in a White House roundtable entitled “The Covid-19 Pandemic and Overlapping Crises for Women and People with Gender Expansive Identities in STEM.” It was the fifth roundtable in the series “The Time is Now: Advancing Equity in Science & Technology,” which also includes a White House ideation challenge with the same name.

The roundtable focused on structural barriers faced by marginalized groups in STEM, as well as how the pandemic has compounded these problems. In addition to discussing these topics, participants identified critical failure points in regard to them and suggested best practices to advance equity in science and technology moving forward. Participants emphasized the need for robust and intersectional data collection that would shed light on the impact Covid-19 has had on gender-diverse people, as well as the need to address these issues in order to build a stronger science and technology workforce that supports everyone.

“I was grateful for the opportunity to be able to share policy-actionable research with Eric Lander, science advisor to the President; and Alondra Nelson, deputy director for science and society.” Sugimoto said. “The pandemic has made manifest several disparities in the scientific workforce, and it is clear that the White House is dedicated to addressing these issues.”