Episode 10: The Model Minority Academic with Dr. Kay Tye

TW: sexual harassment, power dynamics, trauma

There is an old joke amongst Eastern Asian immigrants: If we bring home a test score of 99, our dads will ask: where’s the other point? Due to various myths, stereotypes, and barriers, including the model minority myth and the bamboo ceiling, navigating the academic world, especially in STEM, with an Eastern Asian identity can sometimes feel complicated.

In this episode, Dr. Kay Tye (@kaymtye), a neuroscientist and professor at UC San Diego, joins Kyla Lee (@kylaaalee) and Olivia Ghosh-Swaby (@ogoshhsw) in a conversation discussing the unique experience of being Eastern Asian in academia.

Dr. Tye and Kyla talk about the stereotypes that apply to them as people of Asian descent, from their perceived personalities to their expected aptitudes in STEM fields, and share how they navigated (and still do!) the complicated paradoxical melting pot that is their identities, straddling the line between belonging and “forever foreigner.”