Ask anyone in the United States to picture a space scientist, do an internet image search for ‘scientist,’ ‘astronomer,’ or ‘physicist,’  or open up a children’s book about different careers and you will overwhelming get pictures of white men in white lab coats holding flasks of colored liquids. Putting aside the colorful liquids and lab coats, why are they mostly white men?

 

The truth is, if the average American has ever encountered an actual space scientist they probably were a white man. About 80% of space scientists in the United States are men, and 80% are white.

 

Full Spectrum is a documentary film project telling the stories of research scientists and engineers who identify with groups underrepresented in the space sciences in the United States (African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians, Women, LGBTIQ people, and persons with disabilities). We are documenting their experiences of training and working in a profession where they are a minority. We hope that these stories will educate the larger community about challenges that individuals from underrepresented groups face and will spark conversations about how the field of space science, and science in general, can become more inclusive.

 

The film is currently in production, we’ve interviewed over a dozen space scientists and plan to interview several more. We envision producing a feature length documentary as well as a documentary short and a website with more complete interviews and profiles of the scientists who we are highlighting.

 

You can learn more about the project and see our first trailer here (http://multiverse.ssl.berkeley.edu/Programs/Involving-Diverse-Audiences/Full-Spectrum).