Scientific societies join forces to increase diversity in STEM

With the support of the National Science Foundation, the American Society for Cell Biology and the Biophysical Society have joined an effort to create the Alliance of Scientific Societies for broad participation in STEM for the next generation of scientists. The founding partners include the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the Endocrine Society, and the Scientific Career Research and Development Group at Northwestern University. The ultimate goal is for other scientific societies to join the Alliance as these efforts move forward.

Building a diverse and inclusive STEM workforce is a goal shared by many institutions. However, the efforts to understand effective interventions leading to increased participation of underrepresented individuals in STEM remain isolated in their scientific disciplines. The Alliance aims to serve as a unified voice across disciplines to help community members establish effective ways to coordinate collective efforts to address the needs of minority scientists, thus improving the efficiency and dissemination of URM-serving programs.

The Alliance will achieve its goals by conducting a three-meeting conference series that will bring together the Committees for Diversity, Inclusion, and Minorities Affairs Committees (MACs) and society leadership from many professional/scientific societies and other stakeholders that advocate for the diversification of our STEM workforce.

If you would like to learn more about these efforts please contact Alliance leadership:

Marina Ramirez-Alvardao

ramirezalvarado.marina@mayo.edu

Veronica A. Segarra

vsegarra@highpoint.edu

 

 

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