2022-2023 DIF Projects
BEGSA Teach Series
Participating Department(s): Aeronautics & Astronautics, Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Management Science & Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineerin
Contact: Eliel Akinbami, elielkin@stanford.edu
The aim of this project is to provide an inclusive environment for black engineering graduate students. The retention of underrepresented minorities in graduate schools is an equally important problem as recruitment. A study from Purdue University (Curry & DeBoer, 2020) has shown that there are 3 factors - personal (identity development, perception of support), social (sense of belonging, mentoring, work-life balance)and institutional (campus culture, network of alumni) - that are crucial to establishing student confidence and increasing the likelihood of success towards attainment of graduate degrees. Through “BEGSA Teach”, the Black Engineering Graduate Student Association (BEGSA) aims to foster student confidence and build sense of community by addressing each of these factors through the following programming: Informal student research talks, Faculty talks (from and outside Stanford), Scientific skill learning, Alumni and company mixers, Small groups/mentorship pods
BGSA Study Jamz
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Amina Ly, aminaly@stanford.edu
Study Jamz is a student group that aims to foster an intellectual community amongst graduate students from across the African Diaspora through opportunities to engage in writing workshops and study retreats. Given that Black/African-American students make up less than 3% of the graduate student population and there are few to no graduate level AAAS or Black Studies courses offered, Writer’s Black will provide an space for graduate students to come together to share ideas, commune across departments, give and receive critical feedback, support each other’s academic journeys, and write/study in community. This group is interdisciplinary by nature and students from all departments and schools are encouraged to participate. The academic co-chairs of BGSA plan, organize, and facilitate this space for the community.
Black Men's Guild
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Darion Wallace, darionw@stanford.edu
With a coalition of queer, straight, and trans-Black men, the Black Men's Guild is a space where Black men can explore our specific gender identity and the ways it functions in the larger Black community and world. Moreover, this is a space to learn and unlearn the ways Black masculinities represent themselves on this campus in productive and harmful ways. We seek and strive for critical reflexivity, actionable scaffolds, and comprehensive reading plans that can begin the process of removing intracommunity barriers towards liberation, improving mental health, increasing access to therapy, reducing harmful behavior (e.g., assault, colorism, homo/transphobia, etc.), and facilitating broader community transformation. To this aim, we will host a series of reading groups, social activities, and networking events to explore the spectrum of Black masculinities.
Community College Outreach Program
Participating Department(s): Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Biology, Biomedical Informatics,Cancer Biology, Chemical and Systems Biology, Developmental Biology, Genetics, Immunology, Microbiology & Immunology, Molecular & Cellular Physiology, Neurosciences, Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine
Contact: Teni Anbarchian, tanbarch@stanford.edu
The Community College Outreach Program (CCOP) was initiated by the DEI committee of Stanford’s Developmental Biology Department. Our mission is to empower and enable undergraduate students from community colleges (CCs) to succeed academically and professionally in STEM. CCs enroll students from diverse socioeconomic, ethnic and age groups, first-generation college students, and parent-students. However, there remain inequities and barriers to entry and success of these talented individuals in STEM fields. To help bridge these gaps, CCOP provides several opportunities for CC students : 1- paid research internships, 2- virtual summer bootcamp for transfer application and professional support, and 3- formal long-term mentorship relationships with Stanford students and postdocs. Fostering the success of CC students is a promising pathway to enhance diversity and accelerate progress in academia. CCOP provides the space for Stanford members to broaden their perspectives by mentoring students from diverse backgrounds and gain valuable mentorship skills and leadership opportunities.
Designing REUs for computational and theoretical neuroscience
Participating Department(s): Applied Physics, Bioengineering, Biophysics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering, Mathematical and Computational Finance, Mathematics, Neurobiology, Neurosciences, Philosophy, Physics, Statistics, Symbolic Systems
Contact: Libby Zhang, eyz@stanford.edu
This project aims to increase the number of available research experiences for undergraduates (REUs) in computational and theoretical neuroscience. Additionally, we provide prospective direct supervisors of REUs (i.e. graduate and postdoctoral students) with training and preparation in inclusive mentoring practices. Successful REUs are an important factor in undergraduates, particularly those identifying as being underrepresented in their given subfields, pursuing graduate education. Successful experiences typically result from advanced and deliberate preparation on the REU mentors’ part, including defining project scope and measurable objectives, identifying necessary resources and timeline for mentee technical training, and continuing training in teaching and mentoring. This project hosts bi-weekly meetings consisting of seminars focused on research pedagogy and mentoring, peer-to-peer discussions, and working sessions for graduate and postdoctoral students to design REUs relevant to their ongoing research. The program will culminate in potential mentors publishing their research opportunities to the Undergraduate Neuroscience Research Opportunities website.
Diverse Perspectives Seminar Series: Exploring Pathways to Career Success
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Anthony Venida, avenida@stanford.edu
Website: https://www.bioaims.com/diversity-seminar
This event builds on the success of our past Diverse Perspectives events and seminars. We will invite a speaker with recognized experience and expertise in diversity and inclusion (e.g. Dr. Mica Estrada). Students from local primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) will also participate, allowing them to share their perspectives and gain valuable insights into graduate school and research. The event will include a keynote seminar, trainee round table, and small group meetings between PUI students and Stanford trainees. Lastly, we will arrange for current Stanford postdocs from underrepresented backgrounds to give seminars at partner PUIs, preparing postdocs for an academic job search and strengthening our ties with these institutions. This project aligns with Stanford Long Range Planning process priorities, which acknowledged the need to increase support for diverse graduate student and postdoctoral populations, with a particular focus on cultivating ongoing interest in academic careers among trainees from marginalized and underserved backgrounds.
Diversity in the Product Realization Lab Speaker Series
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Fred Krynen, fkrynen@stanford.edu
This speaker series is aimed at underrepresented undergraduate students in engineering. Weekly talks from successful past Product Realization Lab Course Assistant coming from underrepresented backgrounds will focus on the challenges they faced, the resources they employed, and the advice they can share. Speakers will be encouraged to share their experience of being PRL CA and the impact that it had on their careers. Recruitment for the seminar will be across all Stanford schools. The seminar takes place in the Fall quarter to encourage participants to take the necessary classes to build the portfolio required to apply for the CAship. The seminar will also serve as a networking opportunity, community building and professional development.
Drowning in Cairo play workshop
Participating Department(s): Art & Art History, Comparative Literature, English, History, Political Science, Religious Studies, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Marina Bergenstock, marinajb@stanford.edu
Drowning in Cairo by Adam Ashraf Elsayigh is a play is based on the true events of the Queen Boat queer raids in Egypt in 2001 and the lives of the young men who were aboard. Adam Ashraf Elsayigh's play weaves budding romances, class differences, and familial expectations into a loving portrait of three men who all struggle to rebuild their lives against all odds.” Theatre doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Workshopping this play with just TAPS students would be beneficial, as we bring a multiplicity of theatrical traditions and skillsets into the rehearsal room. What I seek to do, though, is bring together students from TAPS, the Markaz, the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, and the History, English, and Arabic departments (among others) to come together into the rehearsal room and work on this play together.
Engineering Exposure Program
Participating Department(s): Aeronautics & Astronautics, Applied Physics, Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Amnahir Pena-Alcantara, amnahir@stanford.edu
We intend to host a year-long series of STEM-related workshops catered to high school students from underrepresented backgrounds. Our workshops will expose the students to various STEM fields while helping them prepare for the college application process. These graduate student-hosted activities will be held on Stanford’s campus once per month. Each month’s activity will vary based on the interests of the students. Some of the hands-on activities might include bridge-building competitions, egg drop challenges, and bottle rocket building. While seminars will focus on assisting students with their college goals, such as lab tours, research presentations, the college application process, summer research programs, the financial aid application process, as well as college essay writing workshops. By the end of the year, the students will have a deeper grasp of a variety of engineering fields, while also knowing what actionable steps they can take to prepare for and apply to college.
Feminist Fridays
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Preeti Srinivasan, preeti23@stanford.edu
For the past 4 years, this group has served as an opportunity for graduate students to engage with each other and their gender identities through discussions of creative intersectional feminist works. Every month, students from across the university are invited to examine a different text dealing with pertinent issues impacting primarily non-male individuals in the modern world. The students then assemble over drinks and snacks in a comfortable forum designed to foster (1) positive discussions of identity, (2) a sense of supportive community for the women, intersex, and trans individuals at Stanford, (3) a robust interdepartmental intellectual community.
Future Advancers of Science and Technology (FAST)
Participating Department(s): Aeronautics & Astronautics, Applied Physics, Bioengineering, Biology, Biophysics, Cancer Biology, Chemical and Systems Biology, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Computer Science, Developmental Biology, Earth System Science, Electrical Engineering, Health Research & Policy, Immunology, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Microbiology & Immunology, Molecular & Cellular Physiology, Neurosciences, Physics, Psychology, Statistics
Contact: Erica Liu, eliu8@stanford.edu
Website: https://fast.stanford.edu/
Future Advancers of Science and Technology (FAST) is a partnership between Stanford graduate students and students/teachers at Andrew Hill and James Lick High Schools, two under-resourced San Jose public schools. FAST aims to increase participation of students from underrepresented groups in STEM by mentoring students in self-generated, year-long research projects. Mentors meet regularly with students to brainstorm and complete these projects. Many students participate in science fairs, and all receive year-long, individualized grad-student mentorship. At the end of the year, students share their work in a symposium hosted at Stanford. FAST graduate students learn how to simplify complex topics, mentor students in forming investigable research questions, and gain important organizational skills through the program, which facilitates and encourages commitment to long-range research mentorship and continued K-12 STEM outreach when they become faculty members and science professionals. A DIF grant will allow us to increase student enrollment and expand curriculum.
GradSWE STEM Roundtable Series
Participating Department(s): Aeronautics & Astronautics, Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering, Management Science & Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Lucia Brunel, lbrunel@stanford.edu
GradSWE seeks to promote engineering, provide professional development, and enhance the diversity of the Stanford Engineering community. We focus primarily on supporting female graduate engineers through community building, mentorship, leadership, and networking. The STEM Roundtable Series will serve as a forum to foster interactions among the diverse student community where students can feel free to present their research or lead discussions on relating to Women/Minorities/STEM. During a roundtable session, students will (i) listen to a presentation outlining the journey and narrative of a successful woman in STEM, and (ii) share their research to a friendly audience outside their fields or (iii) lead a discussion centered around thought-provoking media excerpts (e.g. podcasts, short video, articles). The goals of the series are 1) encourage discussions about hardships faced by women in STEM, 2) to give students an opportunity to present, lead discussions, and get instant feedback and 3) to promote interdisciplinary conversations.
Hermanas in STEM
Participating Department(s): Aeronautics & Astronautics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Biology, Biomedical Informatics, Biophysics, Cancer Biology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Chemical and Systems Biology, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Comparative Medicine, Computational Geosciences, Computer Science, Developmental Biology, Earth System Science, Earth Systems Program, Electrical Engineering, Genetics, Geological Sciences, Immunology, Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering, Mathematical and Computational Finance, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Scientist Training Program, Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology, Molecular & Cellular Physiology, Neurobiology, Neurology & Neurological Sciences, Neurosciences, Neurosurgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Otolaryngology (Head and Neck Surgery), Particle Physics & Astrophysics (SLAC), Pediatrics, Physics, Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, Structural Biology
Contact: Andrea Ramirez, andreara@stanford.edu
Hermanas in STEM translates to “Sisters in STEM” from Spanish. Our main goal is to unite and build a community of support among Latina graduate and postdoctoral scholars in the STEM fields at Stanford. The pursuit of higher education is a challenge. However, this pursuit can be even more challenging for Latina women who not only face gender discrimination, but also discrimination associated with being underrepresented minorities in STEM fields. Furthermore, Latina women are often the bedrock of their family and community. Consequently, they often struggle to find a balance between navigating the professional world of science and remaining connected to their culture. Hermanas in STEM provides an outlet to connect to their culture and others who support their success in the field.
Honua Scholars
Participating Department(s): Bioengineering, Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Kyle Yoshida, kyle3@stanford.edu
Our mission is to promote cultural, value-based STEM practices and to increase STEM participation from indigenous communities. We hold workshops, discussions, and seminars with esteemed scholars, students, politicians, and community organizers to highlight the innovative work of indigenous scholars while also inspiring and guiding indigenous students in STEM. Our events help underrepresented individuals navigate academics while promoting systemic change for a diverse and inclusive future. Our events have had broad participation from indigenous communities, other universities, industries, non-profits, and the general public in addition to our Stanford community, which creates a collaborative and lively environment. As we encounter an increasing number of contemporary science and engineering-related indigenous issues ranging from topics surrounding land use, sovereignty, and education, we hope to create an inclusive environment in which all students can become informed of indigenous value-based thinking and to lead new movements as we promote increased diversity and participation in STEM fields.
Humanities in Color
Participating Department(s): African Studies, Art & Art History, Classics, Comparative Literature, East Asian Languages and Cultures, East Asian Studies, English, French and Italian, German Studies, History, Iberian & Latin American Cultures, Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, Latin American Studies, Master of Liberal Arts, Modern Thought and Literature, Music, Religious Studies, Slavic Languages and Literature, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Chiara Giovanni, chiarag@stanford.edu
Humanities in Color (HIC) is an organization that provides an inclusive, informative, and welcoming environment for individuals who specifically identify as people of color within Stanford humanities departments. HIC will achieve three goals: (1) foster community and provide an affirming space for personal and scholarly discussions; (2) offer opportunities to learn more about career advancement for humanities scholars; and (3) provide peer mentorship focused on the needs of early career humanities scholars of color. The nature of humanities work is often solitary and early career students are often in smaller cohorts which can exacerbate feelings of isolation and loneliness. The objective of HIC is to increase retention of graduate students of color at Stanford by building an interdisciplinary community of support. We aim for this thriving network of scholars of color to feel empowered to engage in important scholarship and recruit future generations of historically underrepresented graduate students.
INS (I need support) - Mothers and Parents at the GSB
Participating Department(s): -
Contact: Mariana Afonso, marianah@stanford.edu
Mothers are underrepresented in the Graduate School of Business. In addition to parents being underrepresented at the GSB, mothers studying in the Business School and mothers whose husbands are students at the GSB have an unnecessarily challenging time navigating through all the challenges of raising a family while at Stanford. To create a parent knowledge base that can be shared with future parents, we will create a support group to bring parents together.
Our intended outcome is to foster a community where parents, and especially mothers, can transfer best practices from one year to the next so that mothers (and fathers) at the GSB don't have to navigate through so much complexity on their own.
M&I DEI Discussion Group and Seminar Series
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Mary DeFeo, mdefeo@stanford.edu
Historically, science has been weaponized to promote inequities and support bigotry. Unfortunately, there continue to be many examples of inequities in science and medicine. It is crucial that we learn about the true history of science, medicine, and research, while reflecting on current issues to prevent further discrimination. To do this, we propose to organize a program that will provide structured learning in the form of speaker events, departmental workshops, and reading and discussing articles on racial and social justice issues pertaining specifically to science, medicine, academia and research. The proposed program aims to enhance the training of scientists at all levels within the M&I department, and to explore our role as scientists, and our individual and departmental contributions, towards a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive scientific community.
MatSci Undergraduate Research Grant
Participating Department(s): -
Contact: Melody Wang, melodymw@stanford.edu
During the ’21-’22 academic year, we helped the Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) department establish its first undergraduate research program during the school year where undergrads are funded to perform research. Due to this past year’s success with 6 new undergraduates matched to research groups, we are continuing this program to 1) increase and diversify the undergraduate researcher numbers in MSE; 2) reduce financial, social, and academic barriers to research participation; 3) foster community among the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral populations through mentorship and research education; 4) expose and prepare undergraduates to PhD programs; and 5) encourage students in other fields to explore MSE research for interdisciplinary purposes. We will provide funds for research, hold luncheons for the mentor/mentee pairs to foster community, and check in with students throughout the school year. We hope the availability of this program will expand to all engineering students in the future.
Mentors in the Arts
Participating Department(s): -
Contact: Adin Walker, adinw@stanford.edu
MIA is a new TAPS PhD program co-coordinated by the Graduate Representative and the Professional Development Coordinator for PhD majors and minors. This program intends to bring TAPS PhD students and faculty in conversation with arts professionals who work outside of academic institutions yet employ tools that are central to academia (research, archival work, pedagogy, ethnography, etc.) but in the contexts of arts organizations, etc. Ultimately, this program is a creative response to various uncertainties regarding future careers in academia and the humanities (as a result of Covid, etc.) We hope for this program to be an ongoing opportunity for the TAPS graduate community to engage in conversations with arts professionals that envision the possibilities for careers that straddle academic institutions, arts organizations, and more.
Network and Chill
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Amina Ly, aminaly@stanford.edu
The Network and Chill Series is dedicated to creating structured and sustained spaces for Black graduate and undergraduate students to engage in twice-quarterly roundtables and professional development activities over the course of the 2022-2023 academic year. We believe that these dialogues will benefit graduate students by creating spaces for reflection and wisdom sharing in times where many URM graduate students feel lack of confidence, understanding, and belonging within their discipline. Additionally, we believe that fostering dialogue with graduate students will increase the pipeline of diverse undergraduate students matriculating into programs by exposing undergraduate students to the value of pursuing graduate and professional degrees.
Parents in Academia
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Lindsey Meservey, lmm5@stanford.edu
Parents are a particularly underserved and underrepresented population on the Stanford campus. Because parents are a minority among students, our unique needs (childcare, family housing, dependent health insurance, parental leave) are often overlooked, leaving us struggling socially, academically, and financially (see Science's "Universities need to do more to support grad student parents"). Mothers are uniquely challenged by maternal bias, which accounts for a large portion of gender bias (see Science's "Working mothers face a wall of bias"). Parents in Academia aims to help trainee parents navigate an academic career by building a community of parent trainees and compiling resources that parent trainees desperately need but are difficult to find. We will accomplish these goals through events such as themed lunch chats, family-friendly mentorship events, and informational seminars and panels. These actions will increase student parent well-being and allow them more mental energy to enjoy both their family and their studies.
Paths to PhD: How to pursue a graduate degree in psychology
Participating Department(s): -
Contact: Anjie Cao, anjiecao@stanford.edu
There is often an imbalance in the distribution of the resources, tools, and information necessary to apply for and attend graduate school such that first-generation and minority students are less likely to have access or be exposed to them. The purpose of this event will be to provide undergraduates and individuals considering pursuit of a PhD from underrepresented and minority (URM) groups with practical information for applying to graduate school in psychology. Participants will learn 1) reasons to pursue graduate education 2) how to choose the right graduate program, and 3) how to craft a compelling application.
Pre-Collegiate Opportunities Within Energy Research (POWER)
Participating Department(s): Chemical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering
Contact: Xiaomian Yang, xyang19@stanford.edu
Pre-Collegiate Opportunities within Energy Research (POWER) was founded in 2020 by engineering students to diversify the pipeline of future energy researchers. POWER recruits Stanford students to host biweekly hands-on workshops which engage Bay Area students from under-resourced high schools with physics, chemistry, and engineering fundamentals that underpin cutting-edge energy technologies of the 21st century. POWER's after-school sessions introduce attendees to active areas of energy research, including lab tours at Stanford and student/professional panels to provide insight into the energy research experience and its opportunities. The goal of POWER is to (1) connect the Stanford student energy community via outreach, building skills in science communication and strengthening an internal network. (2) Establish a mentorship bridge between Bay Area high school students and Stanford students conducting energy research. POWER aims to empower underrepresented students with greater technical skills and self-confidence to pursue higher education tracks, and eventually careers, in energy.
Queer Latin American Voices: Revisiting the Past, Reading the Present, Writing the Future
Participating Department(s): Art & Art History, Communication, Comparative Literature, Earth System Science, Earth Systems Program, English, French and Italian, History, Iberian & Latin American Cultures, Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, Latin American Studies, Master of Liberal Arts, Modern Thought and Literature, Philosophy, Psychology, Religious Studies, Slavic Languages and Literature, Stanford Global Studies, Theater and Performance Studies
Contact: Romina Wainberg, rwain@stanford.edu
Three central problems have gone unnoticed in contemporary Latin America Studies: lack of representation of Queer voices, lack of spaces to debate their significance, and lack of theoretical frameworks that would allow these voices to be heard. This project brings together graduate students and faculty in the Humanities and Sciences to recover and highlight often-overlooked Latin American queer texts, and their contributions to build inclusive techno-social futurities. Our goal is to construct a diverse, open, cross-disciplinary, and multilingual academic and artistic platform where we will study, debate, and produce scholarship to reflect the artistic, techno-social, and environmental potency of queer Latin American texts.
Queer Perspectives Speaker Series
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Lucy Wang, lwang8@stanford.edu
Queer Perspectives is a speaker series that empowers queer Stanford students (undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral) to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by hosting successful queer academics and professionals from those fields to talk about their experience and the intersection of their identity and career. The Queer Perspectives Speaker Series is coordinated by the Stanford Chapter of Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (oSTEM@Stanford) and provides an opportunity for networking, community building, and professional development between students and openly queer individuals advanced in their careers.
seeME
Participating Department(s): -
Contact: Carlos Gonzalez, cagonzal@stanford.edu
seeME is an outreach organization in the Mechanical Engineering department started and run by graduate students. Our mission is to bring underserved students in the Bay Area to campus, teach them about interesting STEM topics, and get them inspired to pursue a STEM career. We recruit graduate students to design and teach classes on topics that concern their research or otherwise and provide some training in pedagogy and science communication to make those classes effective for children between the ages 12-16.
We have an annual marquee event, but also have participated in the Bay Area Science Festival in the past and entered a science communication contest. We look forward to getting involved in other venues such as the SLAC Community Day.
Sharing Stories: Working Towards Equity by Building Community
Participating Department(s): Aeronautics & Astronautics, Applied Physics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Biology, Biomedical Informatics, Biophysics, Chemical and Systems Biology, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Computational Geosciences, Computer Science, Developmental Biology, Earth System Science, Earth Systems Program, Electrical Engineering, Energy Resources Engineering, Geological Sciences, Geophysics, Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering, Management Science & Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Mathematical and Computational Finance, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology, Particle Physics & Astrophysics (SLAC), Physics, Statistics, Symbolic Systems
Contact: Derek Knowles, derekck@stanford.edu
At Stanford and throughout academia, there is a need for more communication across boundaries such as race, gender, and field of study. We aim to create opportunities for people to engage directly with how identities affect an individual’s perceptions of ethics and social justice issues through the act of sharing personal stories. Through weekly guided discussion sessions on themes such as objectiveness of academia, bias against minorities in STEM, and microaggressions in academia, participants will discover new facets of issues they might have had strong opinions about. We hope to foster a safe and open space for participants to discuss their ideas through explicit community agreements. By sharing their own stories, participants will have an opportunity to look at their past experiences through new lenses and reflect. Sharing Stories will incorporate readings and group discussions about actions and activities by which we as a community can work on societal change.
Someone like me (SLM): a postdoc-graduate student mentoring program for trainees with underrepresented backgrounds
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Jingxun Chen, jchen415@stanford.edu
Website: https://surpas.stanford.edu/someone-like-me-mentoring-program/
The Someone Like Me (SLM) mentoring program aims to provide an inclusive space for graduate students and postdocs to share their research and life experiences, as well as provide and receive professional training from peers. This program particularly welcomes members from underrepresented backgrounds, who often struggle to find relatable role models in academic settings. While many Ph.D. programs hold structured advising events for early Ph.D. students (years 1-3), advanced students often receive less structured professional guidance outside of their PhD labs. Additionally, the first couple years of postdoc life are often isolating, as postdocs arrive at Stanford at different times and lack a cohort community for support (unlike Ph.D. students who start their program together). The program addresses these mentoring gaps by bringing postdocs and advanced graduate students in small groups ('cohorts') and providing monthly themed events with discussions on topics chosen based on surveyed attendees’ interests.
Stanford Engineering Research Introductions (SERIS)
Participating Department(s): Aeronautics & Astronautics, Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Management Science & Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Sebastian Fernandez, msf321@stanford.edu
Many talented underrepresented minority undergraduate engineering students do not participate in activities that prepare them for an academic setting (e.g., research) which then results in even larger underrepresentation in graduate school. SERIS aims to introduce college underclassmen to the exciting nature of graduate engineering research at Stanford as well as to other underrepresented individuals including Masters, Ph.D., Postdoctoral, and Faculty underrepresented scholars. The goal for these students is to show how a graduate engineering degree is a viable pathway upon graduation from their undergraduate institution and how to prepare themselves to gain admission to the most selective engineering graduate programs in the United States. Through research seminars given from URM faculty/postdocs, graduate student panels, lab tours, and informational sessions, these students will gain insight on how to leverage their remaining undergraduate years to succeed in gaining admission to prestigious engineering graduate schools, thus further diversifying engineering academia.
Stanford Immunology Prosper Mentorship Program
Participating Department(s): -
Contact: Adonis Rubio, adonisr@stanford.edu
The Immunology Prosper Program is a pilot mentorship program organized through the Community, Diversity and Inclusion in Immunology (CDIII) Committee and strives to meet the stated need by Immunology trainees for additional advising on issues outside of their research. The program will pair Immunology graduate student and postdoc trainees with faculty in this mentorship program, known as Prosper mentors. Mentors will support their trainees as informal counselors to discuss issues outside of the trainees’ research which include, but are not limited to, diversity, belonging, inclusion, career advancement, networking, mental health, unequal power dynamics, and lab-life dynamics. The program will be open to all trainees in the Immunology program but trainees from underrepresented minority groups and first generation and/or low-income individuals are encouraged to participate. Through quarterly one-on-one meetings between faculty and their trainees and biannual mixers with the cohort, this program will contribute to better overall wellbeing of the trainees.
Stanford Women in Math Mentoring (SWIMM)
Participating Department(s): Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering, Management Science & Engineering, Mathematical and Computational Finance, Mathematics, Statistics
Contact: Alexandra Stavrianidi, alexst@stanford.edu
Website: http://swimm.stanford.edu/
SWIMM’s goal is to reduce the gender gap in the mathematical sciences through mentoring and community events. Interested undergraduates are paired with graduate mentors from mathematics, statistics, and ICME. Through their mentor, participants gain access to advice about academic and career possibilities from someone personally invested in their success.Mentors provide encouragement and talk to their mentees about experiences unique to the math community. Program-wide events create a sense of community across multiple departments, increase the visibility of underrepresented groups in math, and give undergraduates a chance to interact with graduate students and faculty in an informal setting.
The SLPA charlas
Participating Department(s): All
Contact: Maria Perez-Ramirez, belenn@stanford.edu
The Stanford Latinx Postdoc Association (SLPA) will run “The SLPA charlas” which are 3 different seminars where Latinx postdoctoral fellows present and share their expertise. The seminars are: "Pro", “Just like you” and “Science Coding Immersion Program (SCIP)”.
According to the 2021 IDEAL Survey, 41% of the Stanford Hispanic/Latinx population feels marginalized/excluded in at least one Stanford space/community, and 27% have not found a space at Stanford where they feel welcome. Thus, these seminars aim to create urgently needed spaces where Stanford Latinx postdocs can achieve the better conditions for a successful postdoc
This program seek to support the academic success of Latinx postdocs, facilitate their visibility, enrich their experience at Stanford, and increase general public interest in STEAM. The seminars will be a space for scientific dialogs, collaborations, and networking. Further, seminars will leverage Stanford’s privileged status to make visible Latinx postdocs as role models for the broader Latinx community.
Women in Applied Physics and Physics
Participating Department(s): -
Contact: Sadaf Kadir, safkadir@stanford.edu
The Women in Applied Physics and Physics group serves the community of graduate and postgraduate women in the Applied Physics and Physics departments at Stanford. The main goals of the project are to build a strong community through welcome events and regular lunches, as well as to empower and inspire women through networking events with faculty, visiting scholars, and professionals in industry. By providing these meetings, we hope to provide new graduate students with connections to older graduate and postgraduate women who understand their unique position as women in physics and can offer advice. In addition, the meetings will allow older graduate and postgraduate women the chance to connect with like minded people who understand their experience