
Personal Statement
My experience with SACNAS began as a graduate student. Together with friends and fellow students, we started the first SACNAS student chapter at the University of Washington in 2007, a chapter that is still active today. I am an alum of the Linton-Poodry Summer Leadership Institute (2009) and the SACNAS Advanced Leadership Institute (2018), and I have actively participated in SACNAS programs, governance, and conferences for the past fifteen years. I previously served on the SACNAS Board of Directors for four years (2012-2015) and was Secretary for two (2014-2015). During that period of service, I was a member of the Chapters Subcommittee (2012-2014) and both the By-Laws and Strategic Planning Task Forces (2015); I also served on more recent By-Laws and Strategic Planning Task Forces (2020) to provide continuity and historical perspectives. Finally, I was a member of the Board Nominations Subcommittee for the past three election cycles (2018-2020). After a six-year break from the Board of Directors, I’m motivated to run again—and for the Presidency specifically—because of the current moment we find ourselves in. The murder of George Floyd and the subsequent protests across the country last year catalyzed demands for change in many U.S. systems, including systems underlying academia and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics). The demands themselves aren’t new of course; what’s different is the willingness of institutions to listen and implement change on a large scale. SACNAS is in a unique position to seize this moment and help steer systemic change in academia because so many SACNistas are already doing the work within their own institutions. Moreover, I believe SACNAS can and should contribute to this national conversation while maintaining the professional development and community programs it is known for, expanding access to those programs, and keeping them affordable for its members.To bring our full selves to science and be valued for it, structural change in U.S. colleges and universities must occur. Explicit and implicit biases must be removed from processes that determine success in science, the reward systems in academic careers must be assessed with a DEI lens, and science education itself must be decolonized so Indigenous ways of knowing are recognized and respected. It’s slow, incremental work, but it’s necessary for changing the culture of science so we can finally achieve true diversity in STEM. As an organization, SACNAS has given a lot to me professionally and personally, and I would be honored to give back by representing and serving its membership on the Board of Directors.

SACNAS/ STEM Diversity & Inclusion Experience
My experience with STEM diversity and inclusion began as a graduate student in Genome Sciences at the University of Washington (UW). Together with friends and fellow students, we started the first SACNAS student chapter at the UW (2007), which is still active today. Among other activities, the chapter helped produce the coordinated recruitment effort among UW departments that’s seen now in SACNAS exhibit halls. After graduating, I was an IRACDA postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania (2008-2011), where I conducted research in genetics and taught at the Camden campus of Rutgers University. IRACDA is an NIH postdoctoral program that combines research with intensive training in inclusive pedagogy and teaching opportunities at minority serving institutions like Rutgers-Camden. I am an alum of the Linton-Poodry Summer Leadership Institute (2009) and the SACNAS Advanced Leadership Institute (2018), and I have actively participated in SACNAS programs, governance, and conferences for the past fifteen years. My SACNAS activities at the UW influenced my career trajectory so strongly that today, I am the inaugural Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Officer at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), a biomedical research institute in New York. Since 2019, I’ve been building a DEI Office from the ground up that serves everyone at CSHL with programs and policies designed to ensure the working environment is accessible, equitable, inclusive, and just. My scientific career has always had DEI at its core, from diversity outreach and recruitment as a trainee to the institutional and structural change I work on now.

Leadership Style
My leadership style is relatively quiet. I’m a listener, consensus builder, translator, synthesizer, and pragmatic problem solver. I never pictured myself as a leader in the traditionally inspirational “grand speech-making” sense. Rather, I can see now that my style has been shaped by the fact that I’ve continually walked in the space between worlds: Between the Pacific Northwest and American Southeast when it comes to my family; between computational science and bench science when it comes to my scientific training; and most recently, between biological research and the social science that underpins DEI work. A recent example that illustrates my approach involves faculty development at CSHL. Through a series of very difficult but illuminating conversations, I learned how frustrated many of our early-career faculty were with DEI. Their frustration stemmed from either not fully understanding why changes are needed in otherwise comfortable and long-standing processes, or from understanding the issues very well but being impatient with slow rates of change. Following these conversations, I’ve implemented two targeted initiatives designed to 1) help educate those new to DEI by synthesizing the social science underlying the field in ways that are immediately relevant to biomedical researchers, and 2) interact more regularly with those who are already DEI champions and advocates so they’re better apprised of progress. This project is still in its early stages; the goals are to meet faculty wherever they are, communicate with them regularly, and keep them engaged so they, their trainees, and CSHL all ultimately benefit.

Fundraising Experience
My fundraising experience lies primarily in science education grants through both private foundations and federal funding agencies such as the NIH and National Science Foundation (NSF). During the ten years I was a program developer in the CSHL Meetings & Courses division, I was principal or co-principal investigator on grants for a wide variety of programs: both single- and multi-year, single and recurring programs, and scientific as well as professional development offerings. Details are in my curriculum vitae. I also worked with a number of private foundations on programs they funded that I helped manage for CSHL, including HHMI, the Helmsley Charitable Trust, and American Express Philanthropy. For SACNAS, I have long been a proponent of establishing an endowment and maintaining it in part via periodic capital campaigns, as that will complement and help diversify and stabilize the current revenue streams from grant and program income.

Board Leadership
A member of the SACNAS Board of Directors must, first and foremost, be focused on responsible governance and fiscal management for the Society. This includes understanding and periodically reviewing the SACNAS Mission, Vision, strategic goals, and budget, and ensuring all activities and programs are in service to the Mission and run in financially responsible ways. Perhaps just as importantly, this core responsibility of a Board member involves listening to, working with, and supporting the Executive Director to ensure the SACNAS staff has the resources they need to operationalize goals laid out in the Strategic Plan. The rationale behind this is simple: SACNAS cannot effectively serve its membership or deliver its programs and services if it’s not governed well, or if the staff do not feel empowered and supported.

Organizational Governance
As CSHL’s DEI Officer, I form, charge, and oversee a number of working groups that implement the initiatives prioritized by both my Office and CSHL’s leadership. These include standing, working committees as well as temporary task forces in areas such as faculty hiring, faculty development, communications, campus imagery, and cultural competency. I serve as a member on some of these committees, though I mainly work with the designated chairs to ensure progress is made toward the charged goals. My approach is rooted in the idea that DEI must be integrated into everyone’s job, not siloed into one office or person. I therefore focus on securing what the chairs need in terms of guidance, training, resources, and administrative or communications support, so they themselves feel empowered to do the work. My experience with organizational governance outside my own institution is primarily with SACNAS. I previously served on the SACNAS Board of Directors for four years (2012-2015) and served on the Executive Committee as Secretary for two of those years (2014-2015). During that period of service, I was a member of the Chapters Subcommittee (2012-2014) and both the By-Laws and Strategic Planning Task Forces (2015); I have also served on more recent By-Laws and Strategic Planning Task Forces (both 2020) to provide continuity and historical perspectives. Finally, I have been a member of the Board Nominations Subcommittee for the past three election cycles (2018-2021).

National Engagement
Prior to starting CSHL’s DEI Office, I was a program developer in the CSHL Meetings & Courses division. In that capacity, I worked with the leadership and staff at the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) on a variety of projects related to diversity and inclusion. One such project was a partnership where ASCB members from groups historically minoritized in biology were supported to attend conferences or courses at CSHL and similar institutions. I’ve also worked with various federal and private funding agencies as a grantee (described elsewhere). Over the past few years, I have served on review committees for education grant mechanisms through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). As I am a relatively new diversity officer in academia, I am also a recent member of the National Organization of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE). This society has a vision of leading “higher education toward inclusive excellence through institutional transformation” and is one of the communities I turn to for DEI-related strategies and approaches.