"I get angry about things, then go on and work"
Toni Morrison
Navigating Spaces that Were
Not Built for Us
As an undergraduate, I was both excited and deterred from a career in science. Excited because I never knew a career in STEM was ever a possibility for me, but deterred in part by the severe lack of representation, resources, and healthy work spaces for people from historically marginalized backgrounds like my own to succeed in such a career. As an early career scientist, I have made moves to help make science and academia a space that future scientists feel like they belong and excel in.
Here, I highlight important programs and initiatives that I have been involved in.
Cornell Diversity Preview Weekend
The Cornell Diversity Preview Weekend (DPW) is a weekend event where students from historically underrepresented and marginalized groups in the fields of Entomology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and the School of Integrative Plant Sciences are given resources to prepare successful graduate school applications.
In 2018, I was a participant in this program, where I met my current advisor here at Cornell. From 2019-2021, I have been active in the program as a co-leader and workshop organizer.
Managing Microaggressions Workshop
There are many things in our systems of oppression that us as individuals do not have direct control over. However, we do have control of how we handle day-to-day microaggressions that inevitably come up for people of color and other marginalized groups in academia.
To equip trainees with knowledge on how to navigate microaggressions, I developed a workshop in collaboration with my colleague Dr. Cait McDonald to provide participants with ways to discuss strategies of healthy conflict when you are the victim of microaggressions.
As an E-Board member of the Black Graduate Professional Student Association, it has been my goal to facilitate a community where graduate and professional students across the Black diaspora can be in community and just belong at an institution that is predominantly white.
Events I have helped developed include our Solidarity Social Hour throughout the height of the pandemic, and a Letter Writing session I co-facilitated with PhD Student Nialah Wilson. For this event, we discussed ways we can write letters to our local state officials in response to the heighten violence on Black people committed by local police departments. Below, you can follow the link to access the resources we compiled.
Science Behind Bias Seminar: ENTOM 4040
It is too common where it is not part of Biology undergraduate curriculum to learn about the bias and atrocities committed by scientists we revere and look up to today. In collaboration with Dr. Corrie Moreau and PhD Candidate Amelia-Juliette, we developed this course to begin to address this gap in our Biology undergraduate education. Below, check out our article on how we developed our course.