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Chemist Raychelle Burks Reflects on Being a Black Woman in STEM

NOVA PBS Official | October 28, 2025



“Picture a Scientist,” a 90-minute feature film from NOVA, captures the longstanding discrimination against women in STEM. Those with intersectional identities, like Dr. Raychelle Burks, experience layered discrimination.

Here, Burks reflects on her experience as—and becoming—a professional scientist, from attending college and not having any Black female chemistry professors to experiencing discrimination as a chemist at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas.

“There are lots of things I love about the sciences and I love about academia—my job. But then there’s also some real bull****,” Burks says. “In academia, as women of color, we’re going to have different types of abuse from different people.”

Stream “Picture a Scientist” on the NOVA website here: https://to.pbs.org/3chXIYe

© WGBH Educational Foundation 2021

Written by NOVA PBS Official

Comments

This post currently has 34 comments.

  1. @l.deedeeanderson3623

    October 28, 2025 at 11:44 pm

    Very well said. It's a sad reality that only those experiencing it, living it, know it well and realize Black Tax is working twice as hard as yt vounterparts because it continues to steal our time, our mind, and energy dealing with. Keep going! Keep doing what you love despite the struggles! That sort of passion and soul can never be replaced or imitated.

  6. @shauna-raebrown3741

    October 28, 2025 at 11:44 pm

    Dr./Prof. Burks, Thank you SO much for sharing your experiences being a woman in science. You give me hope that young women might be able to get through the unspoken gender bias that exists in all science programs. I weep for myself, but want to encourage and fight for women in ALL professions.

  8. @user-tb4el1sr1q

    October 28, 2025 at 11:44 pm

    I'd delete the negative vibes comments based on the first few words or just say call me email broken and then when they call no answer ignorant ones or leave message saying phone down lack of funds to help fund our program so the children prosper…visit room 213 and be in 214 with surveillance of who went the extra mile to talk to you then it's your choice

  9. @blazedorange

    October 28, 2025 at 11:44 pm

    If you look for racism you will find it everywhere because you will translate every little thing as racism. Literally everyone has to deal w people who disagree w them, most of us just don't assume the other person is racist.

  11. @aboutmyfathersbusiness3764

    October 28, 2025 at 11:44 pm

    I think what she is speaking up is mostly experiences women have in general. She is blessed to have the intelligence to pursue this field. Intelligent women regardless of race are often isolated and dismissed. Even as women sometimes we don't trust the judgement of other women. I had a vision that a women is going to invent an efficient and inexpensive, less time consuming way to remove the salt from sea water to make it good for consumption. I also had a vision that vaccines will be aresol in the future and you can take them at home yourself. They will be delivered on groups of twos in the mail.

  12. @8xXcoolbeansXx8

    October 28, 2025 at 11:44 pm

    I think we have to face the fact that black culture has been very different from white culture. There are exceptions, but parents tend to impress their own interests on their offspring. Also, Black Americans are 14% of Americans. The sheer low number of Black Americans, plus cultural differences have a great impact on the number of Black Americans in STEM. This is changing naturally, as cultures converge, but we can blame it on skin color if you really want to. It has shock value, gets more attention, and perpetuates victimhood. It’s very in to be divisive and focus blame on other people, and remove parental and personal responsibility.

  14. @jshawney3355

    October 28, 2025 at 11:44 pm

    Here's an inconvenient truth. This woman probably replaced an Asian American who was more deserving and capable, who face even more criticism, hostility, and jealousy from both black and whites.

  18. @riverspirit7

    October 28, 2025 at 11:44 pm

    All your white things are human things..your experience is not unique, whether you black white or candy stripe.
    And there's a lot of things ppl in the minority communities don't have to do…like homework. And that's q problem too.

  20. @ChrisVanSlykeCVS

    October 28, 2025 at 11:44 pm

    I find her grievance accounts of having to respond to an e-mail, not being acknowledged in a meeting, and spending time responding to criticism in an e-mail to be shallow and unsupported by any evidence besides her mere assertions and all wholly without any context to connect them with her identity as she claims. Besides there are human rights laws that prohibit discrimination perhaps she should take these allegations to an institution that requires evidence and facts. It must be an extremely tense and toxic working with someone like this who is clearly ideologically posessed operating in a pseudo reality attributing without evidence all outcomes and negative feelings to her identity thereby implying that the people around her and the university is morally reprehensible when the vast majority of people, especially educated people in a university context, judge people by character content not skin color. Its time for people and our institutions to stand up against this divisive post modern neo marxist neo racist collectivist critical race theory ideology that has posessed so many people including Burks. Lets start by asking PBS to stop presenting this toxic narrative and have this video removed.

  21. @martinstoermer

    October 28, 2025 at 11:44 pm

    I so want to get a chance to see this in Australia. I'd love to know which of our many channels and streaming services have bid to pick this up for Australian audiences. These systemic oppressions affect marginalised groups here too.

  22. @LegoCookieDoggie

    October 28, 2025 at 11:44 pm

    This is very truthful and it sucks that you have that kind of work environment but that's what we're here for to improve it for the future. And people please think about your actions towards poc

  28. @theyneedacrane

    October 28, 2025 at 11:44 pm

    As always, Dr. Burks makes it clear how white supremacy affects her and the community of Black scientists. Will you work against white supremacy? Find small and big ways to make that happen for yourself.

  31. @jeffdean3217

    October 28, 2025 at 11:44 pm

    Thanks for sharing this, Dr. Burks. The critics here seem to be reading an awful lot into a very short clip that's about a specific kind of experience, one not shared equally by people in STEM. Nowhere did Dr. Burks say this is what "everything" is about. You know what's really whining? Not being about to take a moment to listen to someone else's perspective without getting defensive.

  34. @LauraHowes1

    October 28, 2025 at 11:44 pm

    Brilliant articulated by Dr Burks, as she says there's a lot to love about science and research but it is a part of society and it has problems just like the rest of society, and some problems uniquely of its own. It's important to hear these incidents and how it impacts members of our community. And speaking up will inevitably trigger more. So thank you Raychelle, I'm so sorry you keep having to do this, we have to keep working to make it better. Also, I agree with the comments below that recommend the full film, take the time.

Comments are closed.

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