earth scientists say a lack of diversity is the single largest cultural problem facing the geosciences barely 10 percent of doctoral degrees in the geosciences go to recipients of color the lack of diversity limits the quality of research many scientists saycreditnemanja spoljaricgetty imagesdec 23 2019when arianna varuoloclarke was growing up her favorite evenings were spent watching the weather channel with her grandfather she wanted to chase thunderstorms and understand where tornadoes came from she said she decided to become an atmospheric scientist in 2014 she landed an internship at the national center for atmospheric research as a college sophomore and quickly realized that her path as a woman of color would not be easyyoud walk through the halls and its a lot of old white men ms varuoloclarke said still she pushed forward and began her phd in atmospheric science at columbia university last yearthe fields lack of diversity gained new urgency in may when her graduate student cohort was targeted with a series of racist emails the messages sent to affiliates of the lamontdoherty earth observatory at columbia by a person outside the community said that black people were genetically inferior and did not belong in academia it was hurtful and invalidating to be told that she didnt belong in the world that had drawn her in since childhood ms varuoloclarke said it was an isolated incident but it brought to the surface what still needs to be done in the field in a commentary last week in nature geoscience kuheli dutt lamontdohertys assistant director for academic affairs and diversity wrote that a lack of diversity and inclusion is the single largest cultural problem facing the geosciences todaythe geosciences which include the study of planet earth its oceans its atmosphere and its interactions with human society are among the least diverse across all fields of science nearly 90 percent of doctoraldegree recipients are white in the countrys top 100 geoscience departments people of color hold under 4 percent of tenured or tenuretrack positions a 2016 survey from the national science foundation showed that representation of people of color in geosciences has barely budged in the past four decades although significant gains have been made in terms of gender balanceasianamericans are better represented than other people of color according to dr dutt accounting for 6 percent of those earning geoscience doctorates in 2016 between 1973 and 2016 just 20 native american women 69 black women and 241 hispanic women earned phds in the field of some 22600 totalthe fields lack of diversity begins with a pipeline problem geoscientists say national surveys have shown that black people are less likely than white people to participate in outdoor activities one survey conducted in 2009 queried 4103 respondents and found that africanamericans accounted for just 7 percent of national park visitors and another survey found that they were more likely to report receiving poor service by park employees robert stanton the first black director of the national park service has said that