For most of human history, science has been a world of walls. Race, gender, wealth, and more have long defined not just who’s welcome in science, but who’s allowed to be present at all.
Today, queer representation in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine) continues to lag behind societal progress, especially where the identities of women and gender minorities intersect with Black, Indigenous, and other person-of-color identities. Yet it’s this community that’s driving a sea-change within science: a shift away from gate-keeping and conformity, and toward valuing identity as a driver of insight and discovery.
The people you'll meet in New Science represent a range of backgrounds, career stages, and areas of work, but they share this: Each has hit old walls and made an entirely new kind of door, pulling others through with them. On the other side? A world that’s inclusive instead of exclusive, diverse instead of uniform, and powered by the communities we hold. A better place, in other words, for science itself.
This project was made possible in part by an IF/THEN® Gender Equity Grant Moonshot Award (funded by Lyda Hill Philanthropies) to increase the visual representation of women and gender minorities in STEMM across museum content.