[MetaSTEM] First MetaSTEM speaker of the year this Thursday: Kris Gulati on political bias in academia

[Tyler Marghetis]

Dear MetaSTEM community,

Our first MetaSTEM event is this Thursday, September 25. This semester
we'll meet at *12:30-1:30pm in SSM 230* (same room as past years).

We'll hear from Kris Gulati (EBM) on political bias in academia. Title and
abstract below.

See you there!
Tyler and Christian, MetaSTEM Maestros
-- 

Title: Does Politics Permeate Academia? Evidence from a Field Experiment on
Political Bias in Academic Opportunity

Abstract: Higher education in the United States is undergoing a period of
turbulence, facing mounting scrutiny over the politicisation of academia,
declining public trust in universities, and unprecedented changes to the
academic funding landscape under the recent Trump administration. Against
this backdrop, we ask whether political identity shapes access to academic
opportunity. To answer this, we conducted three large-scale field
experiments involving more than 8,500 faculty across STEM, the social
sciences, and the humanities. Faculty received randomised inquiries from
fictitious prospective PhD students that varied only in their political
cues. In STEM, political identity had no measurable effect on faculty
responses. In the humanities and social sciences, however, applicants
signaling conservative leanings were significantly less likely to receive
replies than otherwise identical liberal counterparts. These results
provide causal evidence that ideological gatekeeping can constrain entry
into certain academic fields, which has implications for the rate and
direction of academic research, the credibility and political neutrality of
higher education, and the design of science policy and funding.

-- 
Tyler Marghetis, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Cognitive & Information Sciences
University of California, Merced
www.tylermarghetis.com
tyler.marghetis at gmail.com | +1.619.252.7798
I use the pronouns: he, him, his
I have moderate face-blindness <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia>;
if you see me out of context, I may not recognize you


On Thu, Aug 21, 2025 at 11:26 AM Christian Fons Rosen <
cfons-rosen at ucmerced.edu> wrote:

> Dear MetaSTEM community,
>
> We had you had a good summer and look forward to join our monthly seminar
> again.
>
> This term the seminar will be on Thursdays from *12.30pm to 1.30pm* and
> lunch will be provided as usual.
>
> The seminar will take place in the usual room at SSM and the chosen dates
> are:
>
> Thursday, Sept 25th
>
> Thursday, Oct 23rd
>
> Thursday, Nov 20th
>
> At the moment, all three slots are free so please email Tyler and I if you
> have work related to the Science of Science that you would like to present.
>
> Best,
>
> Christian and Tyler
>
> P.s. If someone wants to be removed from the mailing list or if you know
> of someone who is interested in joining the group, please let me know.
>
>
>
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