De-emphasize GREs, look broadly for new Ph.D. students: Expert says
![Associate Dean Sara Xayarath Hernandez introduces professor Keivan Stassun, Vanderbilt University](https://futurefaculty.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/IMG_0655-e1539616470343-400x346.jpg)
October 10, 2018
Keivan Stassun, professor of physics and astronomy at Vanderbilt University, and director of the Vanderbilt Center for Autism & Innovation, shared lessons learned from transforming admissions processes to overcome barriers to diversifying graduate fields in an October 2 lecture, “Holistic Admissions: Achieving Diversity at the Ph.D. Level.”
![Holistic Admissions Q&A](https://futurefaculty.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/IMG_0690-360x240.jpg)
Stassun, founder of the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program, cited a study from the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics that found only 20 African-American women nationwide graduated with doctoral degrees in physics over a recent five-year period. “What that means is that you get one underrepresented minority student [who] maybe comes in, [and] they spend their entire Ph.D. experience without ever seeing another person like them,” Stassun said.