Black Sheep—The Choice is Yours (Revisited)

Some may recognize that this title matches a classic 1991 track from the Black Sheep with the lyrics, “You can get with this, or you can get with that.” This rap group name represents the struggles of the members of a group who are often perceived as outliers, and the term often implies waywardness. This specific song presents listeners with concepts of key choices in life. The pathways to success for “black sheep” (may it be race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, educational background, religion, physical ability, nationality and many others) are decidedly different from those who align with majority “preferable” groups across disciplines, and the Materials Science and Engineering community is not immune to these biases. Through the lens of this song and anecdotal stories, this talk will present career choices that can be made to overcome the “black sheep effect” in materials science and engineering industry and academia. Further, strategies on exploiting the factors that make one unique for positive outcomes in your research, teaching, mentoring and service activities will be discussed.