A $2 million grant to fund the development of a video game to examine and correct implicit biases in faculty members will continue the University of Wisconsin’s focus on increasing faculty diversity for the next three years.

Over the next three years grant recipient Molly Carnes, physician in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, will work with members from the Games, Learning and Society group to develop video games that cause faculty members who play them to recognize their biases against women, minorities and people with disabilities.

In recognizing these implicit biases, the goal of the video games is for faculty members to then change these attitudes and behaviors, translating the lesson from the game into their own lives, Carnes said.

“We all have assumptions. The fact that we have these biases isn’t bad,” she said. “The problem is when biases have real consequences.”

To engage faculty, the video games need to provide challenges and motivation to become a more effective teacher, Carnes added.

For example, a faculty member could play a video game in which they assume the role of an Asian woman and experience how students behave towards them.

Experiences like these could allow the player to examine their own biases and see how these biases could prevent a diverse faculty when recruiting, she said.

When Carnes first thought about using video games, she said she found out the best researchers in game-based learning work at UW, which motivated the partnership between Carnes and the Games, Learning and Society group.

“This could only happen at UW,” Carnes added.

As part of a broader scope, the research focuses on creating more diverse faculty workforces in STEMM areas – which include the areas of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine – and is funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health Director’s Pathfinder Award to Promote Diversity in the Scientific Workforce.

Carnes and her colleagues have worked for greater diversity in the STEMM areas for about 10 years, Carnes said.

“If you want to change the culture of an institution you have to change the attitudes and behaviors in the institutions that drive the change,” Carnes said. “That’s the faculty.”

Carnes’ work coincides with other faculty diversification efforts led by Vice Provost for Diversity and Climate Damon Williams aimed at the recruitment of diverse, talented faculty members to UW.

Along with Vice Provost for Faculty and Staff Steve Stern, Williams said his office is focusing on developing leadership and training workshops for search committees that recruit new faculty, which would include education on biases when hiring.

Williams said research like Carnes’ keep efforts for increased diversity at UW moving forward.

In 2013, both Carnes and Williams hope to see the effects of their efforts. An April 2010 baseline survey on diversity in different UW departments will provide a backdrop of comparison for another survey conducted when the grant ends, Carnes said.

While the research is in the preliminary stages, in the end Carnes said she envisions the video games being used as a tool in workshops for different disciplines, among other things. A patent is also possible.