2018 News

NSF funds research into impact of race, gender in U.S. schools

Sheretta Butler-Barnes, associate professor of social work at the Brown School and faculty director of Youth Development at the Center for Social Development (CSD), and Odis Johnson, associate professor of education and of sociology, in Arts & Sciences, have received a National Science Foundation grant of $100,000.

The grant is to examine the impact of race, gender and social control in U.S. schools on educational and occupational attainment in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers.

Their collaboration took shape at a Collaboration on Race, Inequality, and Social Mobility in America (CRISMA) event that sought to stimulate research partnerships among faculty from across the university.

CRISMA, a CSD initiative, seeks to outline how inequality and structural racism affect racial and ethnic disparities in achievement, life chances, social and economic mobility, and health in the U.S. Related to CRISMA, Butler-Barnes also leads the projects “Celebrating the Strengths of Black Girls” and “Strength-Based Assets of Black Adolescents.”