AbstractDeveloping the ecological scientist mindset among underrepresented students in ecology fields(Bowser and Cid, this Forum) provides timely and compelling strategies to broaden inclusion in ecology and environmental biology. Chronic underrepresentation of minorities in ecology and environmental disciplines (EE) is a crisis that is surprising to many, and even more surprising that, for African‐Americans, this underrepresentation is more severe compared to other STEM disciplines. It is beyond irony that a discipline that values diversity as a cornerstone of ecological practice continues to struggle to achieve diversity in the ranks of its practitioners.