A group of students and faculty from across the University will meet next semester to discuss why science and technology remain stubbornly resistent to diversity.

The Interfaculty Working Group in Science and Technology, a project funded by a grant of about $7,500 from the office of Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67 and led by senior faculty members, will hold its first meeting on Feb. 12 at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG).

"I would like to get some understanding of how the community of science and the practice of science would be different if indeed we had a more diverse community," said group leader Lewis M. Branscomb, professor emeritus in public policy and corporate management at the KSG.

The group will include about 20 undergraduates and graduate students representing several Harvard organizations, including Women in Science at Harvard-Radcliffe, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences' Harvard Biotechnology Club and Minority Biomedical Scientists of Harvard.

The group will discuss how to achieve greater diversity in science and technology during three dinner meetings second semester.

Two of the meetings will include guest speakers, including MIT professor Sheila Widnall, a former secretary of the Air Force.

In addition to attending the meetings, participating students will be asked to read background material and submit a two-page discussion of their reactions, which will be incorporated into the working group's final report to the provost.

Jenny I. Shen '01, a chemistry concentrator and co-president of the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association, said she looks forward to the opportunity to discuss diversity in science and technology with professors and peers.