NSF awards funding to white scientists at higher rates than other groups

White researchers have been consistently funded by the National Science Foundation at higher rates than most nonwhite researchers since at least 1999. From 1999 to 2019, proposals by white applicants were funded at 1.4 times the rate of proposals by Asian applicants and 1.2 times the rate of proposals by Black applicants. A grim new study by scholars from five universities, including UCLA, illuminates significant racial disparities in federal funding for science research. The seeds for the study, published Nov. 29 in the journal eLife, were planted in 2020 at an online get-together for Asian American and Pacific Islander geoscientists. One attendee made an off-hand remark about the open secret that Asian researchers have more difficulty than other researchers getting grants from the National Science Foundation. "I couldn't believe it," said Christine Yifeng Chen, the event's organizer.