Out in STEM (oSTEM) and Graduate Students of Color in STEM (GSOCnSTEM) were recently honored by Brown’s Student Activities Office for collaboration. These groups collaborated on DiversiTEAs, an ongoing event series centered around various identities in STEM. The first DiversiTEAs event in April 2019 featured Marlina Duncan, PhD and Eric Estes, PhD and focused on how identity informs your work. After hearing from Duncan and Estes, the audience broke out into smaller groups to discuss the topic. This diverse audience of faculty, staff, students, and administrators came together to reflect upon not only themselves, but also better understand one another. Upcoming DiversiTeas will have special guests Rashid Zia, Dean of the College, and Prabhdeep Kehal, PhD Candidate in Sociology to discuss how their identity informs their work and talk about some of their projects looking at bias in higher education, and faculty recruitment specifically. 

BME PhD students Alicia Minor and Kiara Lee founded GSOCnSTEM and serve as co-presidents.  The executive board that includes BME PhD student Anusha Allawala and other members from different STEM departments like Chemistry, Pathobiology, and Solid Mechanics. GSOCnSTEM’s vision is to become a resource for graduate students of color to help them to establish networks among one another, to support their graduate education, and to help them engage with professionals within and outside of Brown. E-mail [email protected] to join their listserv.

BME PhD student Benjamin Wilks co-founded and currently serves at co-President of oSTEM. The central goal of oSTEM at Brown is to empower LGBTQIA+ members of the Brown community to succeed personally, academically, and professionally. Join their listserv here.