More than 70 students, staff, alumni and industry leaders gathered virtually for the 2021 Inclusion Symposium on Thursday Sep 21st. The event is the annual culmination of summer inclusion workshops, focused on empowering students with the knowledge and skills necessary to be active participants in the building of inclusive workplace cultures.
Opening remarks from Knight Campus VP and Executive Director, Bob Guldberg, emphasized the commonality between scientific research and delving into DEI work – both require vulnerability, an open mind and a desire to learn. Following opening remarks, 3 students gave speeches on how DEI and the program’s workshops had made personal impacts on them.
A Senior Panel shared their wisdom, drawing from both personal experience and learnings from others. Questions from the moderator as well as attendees brought about fruitful discussions on how to advance DEI issues in STEM. The event concluded with two more student speeches and roundtable discussions which were facilitated by alumni.
Panelists, facilitators and speakers include:
Senior Panelists
Dana Alegre, Bioinformatics Analyst, Oregon State University (UO MS Biology ‘16)
Tony Baylis, Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Lawrence Livermore National Lab
Zachary Blatz, Clinical Trial Manager, Eli Lilly and Company (UO MS Chemistry ‘11)
Kristen Hill, Sr. Product Line Manager, Synrad (UO MS Applied Physics ‘12)
Juan Carlos Ramos, Ph.D., R&D Engineering Manager, HP
RoundTable Discussion Facilitators
Erin Brown, Applied Physicist, Nanohmics (UO MS Applied Physics, ‘18)
Sally Claridge, Ph.D. Candidate, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (UO MS Biology ‘18)
Elisabeth Sherry, Supply Chain Engineer, Intel (UO MS Chemistry ‘16)
Ben Taber, Adjunct Instructor, Central Oregon Community College (UO MS Physics ‘13, UO PhD Chemistry ’18)
Student Speakers
Miguel Alba, MS Applied Physics Candidate, Semiconductor Track
Kitmin Chen, MS Chemistry Candidate, Molecular Sensors & Probes Track
Karly Knox, MS Chemistry Candidate, Polymer Science Track
Jess Nelson, MS Physics Candidate Semiconductor Track
Natascha Reich, MS Applied Physics Candidate, Optics Track