Entomologists are a group well-acquainted with the concept of diversity. Genetic diversity is understood by all types of biologists as a necessary condition for population fitness and evolution. Given the universal nature of this understanding, it maystrike some as curious that only recently is the positive impact of human diversity in industry, government, and academia being widely acknowledged, from evidence for enhanced innovation (0stergaard et al, 2011) to superior business performance (Slateret al, 2008). Of course, there are many definitions of human population diversity—about as many definitions as there are conceivable demographic categories. In 2013, for example, Entomological Society of America members claimed 38 different areas of employment and six different ethnicities, with over 1,000 members' ethnicity listed as "unknown" in the database (ESA 2013). Over 3,000 members were listed in the database as male, over 1,200 listed as female, and over 1,500 members did not identify gender.Age is another way to look at demographics: 22% of members' ages were unknown, 17% were between 50-59 years old, 30% were under 40, and just about 6% were over 70. Members expressed interest in 35 different insect orders. Surely ESA is a rich population to engage in a dialogue on fostering diversity in our discipline.
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