Exploring Fellowships at the Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Office of Fellowships and Internships manages the academic appointments of Interns, Fellows and Research Associates. Each year, it publishes an annual report related to these academic appointments. As a part of constructing the annual report for Fiscal Year 18 (FY18), data describing Smithsonian Institution FY18 Fellows was collected, sorted, and analyzed. The racial data of the Fellows revealed that FY18 Fellows as a group are largely white and not very diverse. This lack of diversity could limit the work the Smithsonian does to share diverse perspectives. However, diversity has increased and the Smithsonian has instituted programs that have aided this increase in diversity. The data also revealed that a majority of Fellows worked in institutions related to STEM fields. This representation could be due to differences in research funding between the STEM and humanities fields that could lead to disparities in opportunities. This project was completed with contributions from Eric Woodard from the Smithsonian Institution.