Diversity in

Engineering

WRA 101 - HAYDEN HOLLAMON

When it comes to
diversity in
engineering, well,
there isn't a lot.
LETS LOOK AT THE DEMOGRAPHICS ...

Women Other
13% 14%

Native American
1%

Asian
13%

White
Latino 60%
7%

Black
5%
Men
87%

EVERY GROUP EXCEPT FOR THE WHITE MALE

IS UNDERREPRESENTED IN ENGINEERING
TODAY
 A lack of diverse perspectives can lead to
01 Bias Products potential biases in products

A lack of diverse perspectives can lead to

02 Kindered Data
potential biases in data
Why is this a
problem? Untapped Diverse teams tend to be more innovative than
03
Inovation their less diverse counterparts

Less Productive Diverse teams tend to be more productive than

04
Teams their less diverse counterparts
 A lack of diverse
perspectives can lead

BIAS PRODUCTS to potential biases in

products to be
overlooked

Incidences of bias products have been

popping up more and more frequently and Nikon Cameras Google Translate
are directly related to lack of diversity a Software designed to Google Translate tends to
warn people using Nikon use masculine pronouns
cameras when the person where feminine pronouns
they are photographing are appropriate.
was thought to be
blinking, began to
interpret Asians as always
blinking.
KINDERED
DATA SETS

Both of the biases for the above products were caused by

faulty data sets.

Only 4% of the data from the data set used in Nikon

cameras, Image set, are from Asian countries.

In the data set used to produce Google Translate, there

were 2 male pronouns for every female pronoun.

A more diverse team of engineers would have recognized

the inconsistencies in these data sets and opted to choose a
more inclusive one.
Asian Representation in ImageSet data

Looking at the team who worked on google translate, only

31% of the engineers were female.
ENGINEERING IS “Diversity in
INARGUABLY A knowledge, views, and
perspectives, as well
TEAM-BASED as in age, gender, and
PROFESSION, race, can help teams
AND DIVERSE be more creative and
avoid groupthink,”
TEAMS ARE THE
BEST TEAMS FROM THE HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
Diverse Teams are more innovative

A study that looked at Another study collected

2,377 companies reported data using 7,615 firms that

that the teams who participated in the London

included a higher number Annual Business Survey

of women produced more and revealed that

innovative and radical businesses run by

products than teams who culturally diverse

included a lower number of leadership teams were

women. more likely to develop new

products than those with
less diverse leadership
 Diverse Teams are more productive
and fair
1 2 3 4
No
APA study
Groupthink
A study by the American
Diverse teams tend to avoid
psychology association showed a
groupthink that would cause
group of 6 participants either
them to work in one direction
composed of all white people or
4 white people and two black
people a trial of a black victim
and tasked them to determine if
the defendant was guilty.
5
All white
jury vs
Results
Mixed
Race
The more diverse teams In engineering, like using
were more likely to use facts, it is necessary for
facts to support their engineers to use accurate
claim and catch and data and recognize
correct biases that may discrepancies and biases
have skewed the final in whatever they are
results. working on to get the
intended result in
whatever is being worked
on. Diverse teams achieve
this.
 The United States engineering industry is

particularly flawed when it comes to

diversity. There needs to be a push to include

more minorities and more women in the

industry, starting with allowing all individuals

to have an equal playing field when it comes

to education to emphasizing the importance

of diversity when it comes to working in

teams. As a society, we have many problems

to overcome, whether that be our diminishing

climate or the implementation of AI into all

aspects of our society, we need to utilize all

people in order to be as innovative and

productive as possible.

CONCLUSION
Works Cited

Haas, Martine, and Mark Mortensen. “The Secrets of Great Teamwork.” Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Publishing, 18 Mar. 2019, hbr.org/2016/06/the-secrets-of-great-teamwork.

Lord, Susan M., et al. “Trajectories of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering Students by Race and Gender.” IEEE Transactions on Education, vol. 54, no. 4, 13 Jan. 2011, pp. 610–618.,
doi:10.1109/te.2010.2100398.

Myers, Blanca. “Women and Minorities in Tech, By the Numbers.” Wired, Conde Nast, 28 Mar. 2018, www.wired.com/story/computer-science-graduates-diversity/.

Rincon, Roberta. “SWE Research Update: Women in Engineering By the Numbers.” All Together, Society of Women Engineers, 1 Oct. 2018, alltogether.swe.org/2018/09/swe-research-update-women-in-
engineering-by-the-numbers/.

Rock, David, and Heidi Grant. “Why Diverse Teams Are Smarter.” Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Publishing, 19 Mar. 2019, hbr.org/2016/11/why-diverse-teams-are-smarter.
Williams, Joan C., et al. “Gender and Racial Bias - Climate Control.” Research and Trends for Women in STEM, research.swe.org/climate-control/.

Zou, James, and Londa Schiebinger. “AI Can Be Sexist and Racist - It's Time to Make It Fair.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 18 July 2018, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05707-8?
source=post_page-----817fa60d75e9----------------------&fbclid=IwAR0iajZ2WRp7mlrW4gy10X1jsmJLvRH-8blaSI0vGO_OMK05yJBW2X2FevI.