2025 Inclusion Symposium
With Keynote Kimfer Flanery-Rye
Presented by the Knight Campus Graduate Internship Program | Aug. 22, 2025
The 9th Annual Inclusion Symposium featured the theme, “Flourishing Through Community,” and focused on fostering meaningful action toward community, diversity and inclusion within the scientific community.
The 2025 keynote speaker was Kimfer Flanery-Rye. In addition to founding Inclusion Equals, Kimfer served as an Adjunct Professor at Seattle University and holds an MBA in Executive Leadership. She also speaks locally, nationally, and internationally from The Gates Foundation to the World Economic Forum.
André Isaacs, PhD, Associate Professor of Chemistry, College of the Holy Cross delivered the opening remarks.
The symposium included a panel discussion with esteemed experts:
- Rose Marie Yasuda*, Women in Science-PDX (Moderator)
- Samira Brooks, PhD, Amgen
- Josh Hanna*, Semiconductor Professional
- Kate Schilke, PhD, R&D Process Engineer
- Nisha Wilson*, Oregon Physics
*KCGIP Alumni
The heart of the symposium is the students. This year’s student storytellers included:
- Meg Callahan, Polymer Track
- Kevin Collins, Optics Track
- Ava Komons, Sensors Track
- Manasvi Lingampally, Bioinformatics Track
The 2025 symposium underscored KCGIP’s commitment to community. This year, the workshop series and event were opened to Knight Campus doctoral candidates from the Department of Bioengineering.
Accelerate Your Career
The Knight Campus Graduate Internship Program (KCGIP) trains master's students in the real world knowledge and skills necessary to be successful in the laboratory—and at the interview table. And they've been doing it for more than 25 years.
Past Symposiums
The Inclusion Symposium grew out of the Women's Network Symposium, and has a rich history of bringing together students, alumni and professionals to build a community of leaders. It serves to empower students with tools to build the foundational knowledge, empathy and emotional intelligence necessary to become inclusive leaders and allies.