In This Edition
December 22, 2017
Diversity Special Edition
The 2017 SACNAS conference brought together the most innovative minds in the STEM field, hosting three days of cutting-edge science, mentoring, professional training and cultural activities. As a sponsor of SACNAS, the Diversity Program Consortium led the pre-conference event “Share, Connect, and Empower” where students from BUILD (Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity) and mentors from NRMN (National Research Mentoring Network), came together to share their stories and hopes for the STEM field. The evening started with an empowering workshop led by SF BUILD, focused on how to leverage personal assets to gain an advantage in the biomedical field. This included discussions surrounding how to stay committed and persistent in science, as well as how our life journey can help us better serve the communities we come from. After the workshop, students built their social capital through a mixer where they networked with their mentors and peers. The DPC ended the evening with participants sharing their personal journey through a creative spoken word performance.
The image to the left is a word scramble of the most spoken words from the interviews with our BUILD students and NRMN mentor.
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Angelina Antonyan, a Biology ReBUILDetroit Scholar from the University of Detroit Mercy, spent 2-weeks of her summer vacation shadowing medical doctors in Madrid, Spain as an Atlantis Fellow.
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Adrian Vasquez’s passion for nature can be traced back to his childhood spent capturing insects and staring at pond creatures for hours at a time. Neighborhood children would always come by to ask questions about the creatures he carried around in jars and buckets. Growing up, he realized there was so much more to learn beyond his immediate surroundings and he set out on a journey of education and discovery. He encountered many roadblocks along the way but with the support of his wife and family, he persevered. Vasquez's years of training were spent executing research in a diverse set of biological areas, including molecular genetics, physiology, and ecology.
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Nadia Saadat has a longstanding commitment to academia. During her high school and college years, she received the President Talent Award, a prestigious scholarship awarded to only 50 students in her country. She earned her Medicine and Surgery degree (MBBS) from Dow Medical College Karachi, Pakistan. She continued her education and received her MS and Ph.D. degrees in Nutrition and Cancer Biology from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.
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ReBUILDetroit welcomes Chemistry Post-Doctoral Training Fellow, Irfana Muqbil. Muqbil will be teaching at the University of Detroit Mercy with her mentors Dr. Matthew Mio and Dr. Liz Roberts-Kirchhoff. Her Research Mentor from Wayne State University is Dr. Ramzi Mohammad. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Aligarh Muslim University in India and has worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Oncology at Wayne State University School of Medicine.
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Dr. Ambika Mathur shares her story of leaving her job as a tenured professor to raise her twins and then returning back into academia, in Science Magazine.
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The Quality Of Opportunity Project recently published an article entitled, “Who Becomes an Inventor in America? The Importance of Exposure to Innovation.”
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This article discusses the 4 archetypes of mentorship (the traditional mentor, the coach, the sponsor and the connector) and highlights how mentees can maximize the benefit of using each.
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Dr. Ambika Mathur, Dean of the Graduate School, and her husband Dr. Deepak Kamat, professor of Pediatrics and Vice Chair for Education for the Department of Pediatrics at Wayne State University School of Medicine, recently established the Ambika Mathur, Ph.D., and Deepak Kamat, M.D., Ph.D. Endowed Scholarship to support the Wayne State University Graduate School. The funds will provide opportunities for all Wayne State University students to continue to pursue academic excellence through Ph.D. graduate programs.
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New York Times article addresses the research published by the Equality of Opportunity Project. The article proposes possible solutions we can take to promote educational equality, so that those with a high propensity to be an innovator, will receive the opportunity to reach their potential.
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Leaders of the SF BUILD project delivered pre-conference workshops in collaboration with CEC leadership at the annual SACNAS meeting. The pre-conference activities began with a workshop that engaged students in thinking about and sharing the personal assets they bring to science. This included their ability to pursue their dreams despite setbacks, and a commitment to benefitting the communities they come from. Participants then connected with one another via a mixer designed to increase their social capital in science by enlarging their scientific networks. The pre-conference session ended with a workshop on creating and delivering a Spoken Word performance. Participants shared stories of resiliency and hope in science, with one another. Additionally, some Spoken Word performances were disseminated via social media. Overall, participants left inspired to continue their own path in biomedical research and to enable others to do the same by sharing their personal assets, scientific networks, and voices for change.
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ReBUILDetroit held its annual Research Day featuring a keynote address from science evangelist, Dr. Ainissa Ramirez, and three research presentations by scholars: Daniel Dayfield, Sukria Malique and Jada Nelson at the McGregor Conference Center, Wayne State University on September 16th.
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Six EXITO Scholars and one faculty program director attended the 2017 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. For many Scholars, this was their first time presenting at a conference and spending time with a national community of people who are passionate about building a diverse biomedical workforce and engaging in meaningful research. Scholar Laura Aspelund, who attends the University of Alaska Anchorage, won an award for her poster in cell biology!
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ReBUILDetroit scholars from University of Detroit Mercy attending the STEM Research and Career Symposium at Emory University, reflect on their experiences and preparation for the future.
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REBUILDetroit is partnering with the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) to offer the Course in Effective Teaching Practices this fall and spring.
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Eight of the 52 STEM BUILD participants received 1st or 2nd place awards at the UMBC Undergraduate Research Symposium attended by 300+ students.
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The DPC will miss Dr. Rafael E. Luna, who is stepping down from his position as the Contact PI and Executive Director of the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), as well as the PI of the Administrative Core for NRMN.
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Since their founding in 2014, the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) has worked to develop a diverse network of biomedical scientists, both online and through various program offerings. Through their outreach, they have partnered with two major organizations supporting scientists from groups underrepresented in biomedical science - the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), and the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS). This year, NRMN contributed to both of their annual meetings by holding panels, workshops, and meet & greet events, as part of their overall goal of increasing diversity in the biomedical science workforce.
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BLaST sponsors undergraduates at Ilisagvik College. Olive Kanayurak presented with faculty, Linda Nicholas-Figueroa & LRTT, Joanna Green.
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The NIH Diversity Program Consortium (DPC) Newsletter provides updates on activities at DPC sites, shares progress on collaborative efforts within the consortium, and highlights news and recent publications related to diversity and mentoring in the biomedical sciences.
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