MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Although the numbers of women and minorities in the STEM fields are slowly increasing (nsf.gov), white males are still the predominant face of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the United States. Several recent studies suggest that stereotypes are still being perpetuated in television (Long, et al., 2010), children’s trade books (Rawson & McCool, 2014), and fiction and non-fiction media in general (Van Gorp, Rommes, & Emons, 2014). Research suggests that dispelling those stereotypes takes consistent and repeated exposure to non-stereotypical images of scientists (e.g., Miller, Eagly, & Linn, 2014; Cheryan, et al., 2013) and to non-stereotypical scientists themselves (e.g., Woods-Townsend, et al., 2015).

Unfortunately, the public face of science is still predominantly male. A Google search for “famous scientists” nets 54 images, of which only two (Rosalind Franklin and Marie Curie) are female and five, all male, are non-Caucasian. However, arguably the most famous face in science for children and adults of a certain generation is Bill Nye the Science Guy, whose eponymous 1993¬ – 1998 TV show has done much to perpetuate the stereotype of geeky white males blowing stuff up in a lab. Now, Nye, whose only earned university degree is a B.S. in mechanical engineering, is also the public face of the global warming community in the climate change debate.

This paper explores the public face of science as represented by Bill Nye in images and videos from television and Internet media. It is argued that the dearth of diverse images, particularly of women, in sciences hinders efforts to dispel children’s stereotypes of scientists as white, male, and middle aged or older. Furthermore, it is argued that the media need to consciously diversify when selecting scientists to interview. A list of female climate scientists is suggested.