{"id":30346,"date":"2024-10-23T15:49:07","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T19:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biology.mit.edu\/?page_id=30346"},"modified":"2024-10-25T08:17:08","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T12:17:08","slug":"update-on-mit-biology-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-efforts-2024","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/biology.mit.edu\/about\/diversity\/update-on-mit-biology-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-efforts-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 Update on MIT Biology Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"

2024 Biology Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Update <\/strong><\/h2>\n

As a department committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the DEI Officer of the department in collaboration with our Department Head, Graduate Program officers, Outreach and Recruitment staff, the Education Office, the DEI Council<\/a> and the DEI Faculty Committee provide this update on the Biology strategic plan and Diversity Equity and Inclusion efforts. We provide updates on current DEI projects, outreach and recruitment, and a view for the future. This work is made possible through the continued support and collaboration with the Institute Community and Equity Office<\/a> and the DEI efforts of the School of Science Dean\u2019s Office<\/a>. This report is not all-encompassing of every DEI effort but provides an update and overview for those in the department. As always, if you have suggestions or would like to be more involved in formal or informal DEI efforts in the department, please reach out to Hallie Dowling-Francisco<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For in-depth information on demographics in the Biology Department and at MIT, we encourage you to explore the Diversity Dashboard from the Office of Institutional Research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Attracting and retaining talented individuals from all backgrounds and creating an environment where everyone can learn, work, and thrive is essential for maximum impact on the research enterprise. The departmental DEI Strategic Action Plan<\/a> was published in 2022, and we have made substantial progress towards the goals articulated therein. We are currently beginning our strategic planning process for a new plan that will go into effect in the spring of 2025.<\/p>\n

Our departmental outreach and DEI programming is coordinated by Dr. Mandana Sassanfar, Senior Lecturer and Diversity and Outreach Coordinator, and Hallie Dowling-Francisco, Biology DEI Officer (DEIO). Two committees support DEI work in the department. The Diversity Equity and Inclusion Council (DEIC), comprised of faculty members, students, postdocs, and staff, focuses on advancing DEI initiatives and programs in the departmental community. This group takes concerns and ideas from the community and works to turn those ideas into actionable strategies for the DEI Officer and the department. Community members speak with members of the DEI Council regularly and have an anonymous feedback form available as well. Notes from these meetings can be found here<\/a>. The Faculty DEI Committee focuses on issues of primary relevance to faculty. These two committees complement the long-standing efforts of the Biology Graduate Student Council (BGSC)<\/a>, BioREFS<\/a>, BioPals<\/a>, Biology Diversity Community (BDC)<\/a>, Graduate Womxn in Biology<\/a>, and BioLGBTQ+, among other organizations that make meaningful contributions to our department climate.<\/p>\n

Update on the Strategic Plan and Other Activities\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Training and Education<\/h4>\n

DEI lab-level training<\/em>: Training led by the DEIO, tailored to each lab\u2019s needs, focused on increasing equity and inclusion within the lab space. In sessions offered between 2022 and 2024, lab members participated in conversations about conflict resolution, power dynamics, self-advocacy, and other topics as needed. Small groups discussed realistic scenarios illustrating issues that often arise in labs. Approximately 85% of the Building 68 labs and KI labs from the Biology Department have now received lab-level training of this type. The DEIO also leads numerous departmental workshops around inclusion, climate, and DEI, and provides periodic DEI-related training to staff during regularly scheduled meetings. We are currently assessing community learning needs for the 24-25 school year and are creating a curriculum for the next round of lab-level training, which will be launched in 2025.<\/p>\n

First-year student onboarding sessions<\/em>: In 2021, we instituted a new graduate student orientation program, and in the fall of 2023, all incoming PhD students completed five sessions with the DEIO. These sessions introduced DEI concepts and introduced students to resources including MIT\u2019s Grad Support office and the Institute Discrimination and Harassment Response office. First-year students were informed of support structures such as core-course tutors and the possibility of requesting extra time on exams, in addition to other accommodations-related information. Sessions for Fall 2024 are currently underway.<\/p>\n

Micro-credentials<\/em>: In collaboration with Dr. Darcy Gordon, Instructor of Online and Blended Learning in Biology, and with support from the DEIO, the department continued to offer a micro-credential course: Inclusive Teaching Practices. The pre-post survey results indicated that the workshop was effective in achieving the intended learning goals. We have run four sessions, with a total of 45 participants receiving certificates, and have plans to run the workshop again in the fall.<\/p>\n

Additionally, in alignment with the Biology department\u2019s mentoring competencies<\/a> and recommendations from the mentoring committee, Darcy and Hallie launched two workshops, for graduate students and post docs, on mentoring. The post doc workshop, Mentoring in Academia, was hosted in Fall of 2023 and 2024 and is aimed at helping postdocs entering the academic job market to hone their mentoring skills and philosophy. This workshop is hosted in partnership with the mentoring curriculum developed and coordinated by Danny Lew<\/a>. The graduate student workshop, Mentoring Across Levels<\/em>, equips graduate students with skills to advocate for themselves with their mentors but to also develop mentoring skills themselves. Both workshops have received positive feedback and Darcy and Hallie are currently assessing how to adapt the training for faculty.<\/p>\n

Additional training<\/em>: In addition to running workshops and other programming, the DEIO works directly with students, postdocs, staff, and faculty, and partners with a variety of department special interest groups. The DEIO has become a hub for facilitating DEI-related conversations, working to increase transparency and communication in the department, and connecting with institute-wide DEI programs. This academic year, the DEI Faculty Committee is leading an effort to reassess and clarify the process for trainees experiencing difficulty with their advisors to pursue help or file complaints.<\/p>\n

Equity and Inclusion<\/h4>\n

Faculty Development and Recruitment<\/em>: Catalyst symposium: In spring 2024, the Faculty DEI Committee, in collaboration with the DEIO, hosted the second annual Catalyst Symposium<\/a>, a three-day event where we hosted 8 mid-stage postdocs from labs around the country and from groups traditionally underrepresented in science. The invited postdocs gave talks on their in-progress work to our community, met one-on-one with faculty, met with graduate students, and dined with faculty. In addition, we ran two panels to provide insight into and advice about the job search process. The goals of this three-day event were to showcase great science to our community, get to know postdocs who may apply to our faculty searches, and ‘demystify’ MIT to these postdocs. The symposium participants – both the postdocs who visited and our faculty – were uniformly positive about the experience and the third iteration is planned for the spring of 2025.<\/p>\n

The DEI Officer has also provided training for each Faculty Search committee since 2022 to ensure that equitable and inclusive practices are an integral part of the search process. The search that is being run jointly with Schwartzman College of Computing received their training in October of 2024.<\/p>\n

Mentorship<\/em>: The department convened a Mentorship Committee to assess how to improve mentorship for trainees. The committee was led by Associate Department Head Iain Cheeseman and Associate Dean Jackie Lees and was composed of graduate students, postdocs, and faculty. The committee\u2019s work led to published mentoring competencies<\/a> intended to guide and support PIs and trainees in improving mentoring relationships and experiences. This committee recommended a mentoring survey for the department, which has now been developed and administered. The survey is closely aligned to the departmental mentoring competencies and is intended help us make positive changes to our procedures and departmental culture. The results were published in the spring of 2024 and shared with the community. The DEIO is working with Department Head Amy Keating to assess DEI related action items related to the survey findings.<\/p>\n

iPad program<\/em>: In 2023, a need was expressed by first-year students for access to iPads for use in their core courses. There were incoming students who were disadvantaged due to not owning this equipment. The Biology DEI officer partnered with IS&T to secure loaner iPads for 12 students for the full first year, to relieve this access gap. We are happy to be able to continue this program into the fall of 2024 and are exploring funding sources to make this a long-term program should IS&T change their loaning guidelines.<\/p>\n

Continued support<\/em>: The DEI officer continued to offer one-on-one and group support to Biology Community members including undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff and postdocs in the form of referral to resources, individual and small-group mediation, conflict resolution, and help navigating challenging situations.<\/p>\n

Post doc support<\/em>: In collaboration with Hallie Dowling-Francisco, post docs from the Biology DEI council and the Building 68 Postdoc Association developed two programs to support postdocs. The first is a postdoc buddy program that pairs new postdocs with established postdocs to welcome them to the department and foster connections. The PDA has also established an application review program for postdocs applying to fellowships and grants, where postdocs who have been awarded grants of the same type look over applications to promote the success of the applications. These programs are entering their fourth year and continue to be very popular.<\/p>\n

Outreach and Recruiting Updates<\/h3>\n

MSRP Bio<\/em>: Dr. Mandana Sassanfar continues to lead the department\u2019s outreach activities, including the highly successful Bernard S. and Sophie G. Gould MIT Summer Research Program (BSG-MSRP- Bio). As of June 20241, approximately 98% of the participating students have graduated from college and around 80% have enrolled in graduate school or in a MD\/PhD program, including around 21% who have enrolled at MIT; 2 MSRP-Bio alumni are now on our faculty. The success of this program earned it an INSIGHT Into Diversity 2022 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award.<\/p>\n

Community College<\/em>: Dr. Sassanfar and Biology graduate student Sheena Vasquez launched the Community College Partnership, which provides informational activities about research and training opportunities to students at Bunker Hill Community College and Roxbury Community College. In the spring of 2021, graduate students and postdocs from Biology led a successful 3-day scientific workshop (virtual) at Bunker Hill Community College. In the following years, 25 students from each college have come to MIT for a day to tour research laboratories and core facilities, meet researchers over lunch, and attend faculty talks. This exposes students to the scientific rigor of MIT and motivates them to apply to MSRP. Since 2022, we have had 4 Massachusetts community college students join MSRP as part of the Cheeseman, Jain, Knouse and Boyer Labs.<\/p>\n

Leah Knox Scholars Program<\/em>: This program partners with Health Resources in Action (HRIA), who provide a two-year research and mentorship program for high school juniors and seniors. 24 students have come to MIT since 2017 to attend a 5-week introduction to biology research lab course to learn practical hands-on techniques in molecular biology. This program ran virtually over the summers of 2020 and 2021 and went back to in-person in 2022. Since 2023, we have incorporated the biology data science, where students learn to program and analyze the data they have gathered. Two to three of the second-year students have been invited to MIT to join a lab for 8-weeks for an in-depth research experience. Participating groups have included the Flavell, Yamashita, Choi, and Lehman Labs. All students end the summer with a poster presentation hosted at MIT.<\/p>\n

Admissions and Student Outcomes<\/h3>\n

Recruitment<\/em>: Biology department outreach programs run by Dr. Mandana Sassanfar continue to be one great way to identify fantastic students who we can try to recruit for graduate study at MIT. We are grateful to the graduate student-run Biology Application Assistance Program for providing guidance and support to those preparing grad school applications.<\/p>\n

The graduate officers provided refresher guidelines to all members of the admissions committee regarding our holistic approach to evaluating applications.<\/p>\n

During recruitment, Biology again ran a DEI, Outreach, and Student Group Lunch as part of the main program. The lunch consisted of short presentations from Mandana and Hallie. Participating students included representatives from the departmental DEI Council, BioLGBTQ+, gwiBio, BAAP, BioREFS, BioPals, MIT GSU, and MRSRP alumni. Faculty also participated. Visiting students moved from table to table to meet groups of interest. We received positive feedback about this event. To highlight outstanding student research in MIT Biology to prospective students, we include student research talks in the research presentations at the open house.<\/p>\n

We structured our graduate recruiting open houses to highlight DEI activities and introduced students to departmental and campus resources for graduate students, including Underrepresented Minority (URM) students. This included socials specifically for URM students and a specific DEI session for all students.<\/p>\n

The overall career outcomes for students have changed little since the last report was issued, and we refer you to MIT and departmental data. The graduation rate, time to PhD, and career outcomes for biology under-represented and non-under-represented students remain very similar.<\/p>\n

Other updates and advancements<\/h3>\n

Restrooms:<\/em>\u00a0 The DEI Officer continues to work with Cesar Duarte, Building 68 facilities manager, and the MIT Office of Campus Planning<\/a> to assess inclusive restroom access in the building.\u00a0 We are in the process of submitting a space change request to the Committee for Renovation and Space planning to explore what is possible in making restrooms more accessible in building 68.\u00a0 Findings of the Institutional study on inclusive restrooms can be found here<\/a><\/p>\n

Quality of Life:<\/em>\u00a0 The biannual Institutional Quality of Life Survey was run in February 2024 and results were shared in Summer of 2024.\u00a0 Results can be found here. <\/a><\/p>\n

Biology DEI website project: <\/em>In collaboration with the DEIO, Biology communications intern, Noah Daley, has been working on revamping the Biology DEI section of the Biology website and we expect that to launch in October of 2024.<\/p>\n

Biology Teacher Training: <\/em>In the fall of 2024, Hallie and Darcy piloted a new training for graduate students who are fulfilling their teaching experience requirement titled Training on Inclusive Teaching<\/em>.\u00a0 The workshop covered inclusive teaching strategies and effective communication practices.\u00a0 The workshop received positive feedback and will continue to be offered each semester with changes made according to feedback from participants.<\/p>\n

Institutional partnerships<\/em>: The DEIO continues to be engaged with a variety of institutional entities to ensure our DEI practices are in line with Institutional Strategic Planning and DEI goals.\u00a0 This includes regular collaboration with the School of Science\u2019s Assistant Dean for DEI, Kuheli Dutt, the Institute Community Equity Office (ICEO), other departmental DEI Officers and other Institute Offices focuses on DEI.\u00a0 The Koch Institute also welcomed their new DEI Officer, Kendra Delahunt in October and she and Hallie have been working closely together since her appointment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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