Where Asian Americans Need Affirmative Action

Our Focus on University Admissions Obscures the ‘Bamboo Ceiling’ in the Workplace

Zócalo is celebrating its 20th birthday this year! As part of the festivities, we’re publishing reflections and responses that revisit and reimagine some of our most read and most impactful stories. Columbia University sociologist Jennifer Lee continues to explore race and achievement in America—as in her 2014 essay “Are Mexicans the Most Successful Immigrant Group in the U.S.?“

The Supreme Court struck down race-based affirmative action in university admissions early this summer thanks in large part to the charge that Harvard’s practice of race-conscious admissions …

by Jennifer Lee | September 14, 2023

Scientists Don’t Have to Be Heroes

How NASA and ASU Astronomer Lindy Elkins-Tanton Is Dismantling the Personality-Driven Culture of the Research Laboratory

by Sarah Rothbard | August 12, 2021

Two decades ago, NASA’s Psyche mission principal investigator and ASU Interplanetary Initiative vice president Lindy Elkins-Tanton was working toward her PhD at MIT. It was a place she loved, but …

What Science Loses to LGBTQ Bias

A Groundbreaking Study Reveals Widespread Discrimination and Suggests Just How Much Poorer STEM Fields Are as a Result

by Barbara Davenport | August 2, 2021

In 1981, an influential letter was published in Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Written by Shirley Malcom, then the head of AAAS’ …

The Social Upside of Workplace Gossip

Dishing Dirt About Colleagues Can Keep Them From Acting Selfishly, and Helps Coworkers Cooperate

by Bianca Beersma | August 10, 2018

Gossip has long been popular in the workplace, where employees seem to have a vigorous appetite for informally evaluating coworkers behind their backs. Recently, an increasing number of scientific studies …

Where Do Racism and Sexism Intersect at the Office?

Businesses Can Build More Inclusive Workplaces by Recognizing the Nuances of Bias

By Serena Does and Margaret Shih | July 6, 2016

While the U.S. currently has a black president and a woman just made history by clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, both racial minorities and women still face significant barriers in …

Crashing the Turnstile at Knott’s Berry Farm

How I Learned to Push Through Life's Limits

by Jose Luis Gonzalez | December 2, 2014

Many of my middle-school memories feature my cousin Efrem scooping my brother Adam and me up in his ride and taking us to Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park. Those …

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