Diversity and Belonging

Michael Ly is the 2020 Conference and Mentoring Team Lead and Assessment Team Member for inclusive MCB. Most recently, he helped to facilitate the 3rd Annual iMCB Conference called “Building a Sense of Belonging.”     

Azra Lari and Jessica Tucker participated as discussion leaders for the First Generation affinity groups to wrap up the conference.

Chris Duncan-Lewis participated as a graduate student coordinator for NIH Bridges to Baccalaureate (B2B) Program Summer Research Coordinator in the MCB department. This training program provides transfer students from local community colleges the opportunity to train in academic research settings and conduct research in UC Berkeley labs as B2B Fellows. Additionally, Chris has attended multiple conferences to help recruit minority scientists to join the MCB graduate program, including:  2016-2018 Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) and 2018-2019 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS).

Jessica Tucker served as a 2019 B2B summer mentor to a local community college student. Additionally, Jessica is currently serving on the MCB Wellness Committee, a group of faculty, staff, and students working together to plan wellness programming and events, with a focus on mental health.

Allison Didychuk was named National President (2020-2021) of Graduate Women in Science, a 501(c)(3) scientific society that has sought to empower women in science for 99 years. She has been an active member of this program since 2013.

Chloe McCollum is participating as a graduate student mentor in Project Short, providing feedback on essays and applications for graduate school with the goal of combatting socioeconomic and systemic inequalities in the medical and graduate school admissions processes.

Leah Gulyas is mentoring with Bay Area Scientists in Schools (BASIS) to bring science programming to underserved schools and ESL classrooms. Additionally, she volunteers with Future Advancers of Science and Technology (FAST), bringing intensive mentorship to diverse and underserved high school students over several months to develop a science project.

Ella Hartenian has volunteered with BASIS, plus organized a graduate student effort to participate in Alameda Community Learning Center Science Fair Judging from 2014-2019. In the lab, Ella has participated in hands-on mentoring of undergraduates from diverse backgrounds, including Shivani Khosla through the Biology Scholars Program, a program that challenges the popular view about who can and should do science.

Britt Glaunsinger serves on the PMB equity committee, is an iMCB student mentor and presents workshops on science communication to many student groups including DEI-focused student programs. She worked towards developing and implementing a departmental hiring pipeline to minimize implicit biases present in the faculty hiring process. This included institution of a data driven scoring system to evaluate candidates for which contributions to promoting diversity and equity were actively discussed, valued and scored. She has participated in numerous career development panels for undergraduate and graduate students and postdocs, and co-authored a report on the Future of Graduate Education at UC Berkeley that emphasized the importance of a holistic approach to mentoring.