In this short video, Yo-Yo Ma talks about what happens when two “ecosystems” meet. In that juncture of diversity, new things come about. Innovation becomes the norm.  Going beyond the the same old activities to a place where seemingly dissimilar things meet, new things can exist.

Yo-Yo Ma applies this ecological concept to the creative world to form the Silk Road collective of musicians and artists. I think this concept can be used in STEM fields to achieve results we haven’t seen yet. In some circles the temptation is to self-segregate along gender, social-economic, or racial lines. When I taught introductory engineering classes and directed a peer mentoring program for a four-year university, I purposefully created diverse teams of students for project work and peer-to-peer support. The results, though sometimes slow, were always good for everyone involved.

STEM DREAMS CHALLENGE: If your STEM groups and teams are homogeneous, pull in some diversity and see what happens.

What do you think? Have you the Edge Effect at work in STEM environments?