Climate and Diversity Committee
@ Yale Physics Dep.
October 2014 - 2018
The Climate and Diversity Committee is a faculty, staff, postdocs, grad students and undergraduates committee that advises the Chair, DUS, DGS, and the Physics Department on matters related to issues of climate and diversity. The committee together with the department representatives helps develop strategies for fostering a welcoming and inclusive learning, research, and work environment, and reports on new campus initiatives and national developments in the STEM sciences.
At the formation of the committee (Fall 2014), I was elected grad student representatives by the grad student collective. After moving to Illinois to conduct my research at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in 2015, I continued serving on the committee from remote. The committee members meet once a month from October to May. Few highlights of the Committee activities include: the creation of a Undergrad and Grad brochure for the physics department with an explicit mention to non-discriminatory airing practices, the discussion of the AAU survey and of the GPSS Report on Race, Diversity, and Inclusion, the discussion of summer job opportunities for low-income physics students and requirement that one session of the Physics Club a year will be focus on issues of inclusion and climate in physics.
Fermilab Student and Postdoc Association
Sept 2015 - Sept 2016
I was elected fellow for the Fermilab Student & Postdoc Association (FSPA) for the year 2015-2016. FSPA represents and supports the community of young researchers at Fermilab and acts as liaison to the Fermilab directorate by working closely with the Users Executive Committee (UEC). The mission of FSPA is to foster a welcoming environment for all the young researcher at Fermilab, to promote a climate of multicultural exchange and to be a point of contact for young people in any aspect of living and working at Fermilab. As FSPA fellow, I was part of the UEC expedition to Washington DC, where I met with members of Congress and their staffs in an effort to educate them about the US HEP program, and to better understand how the national budget affects research being done at Fermilab. As an active member in the UEC meetings, I was able to advise the UEC about living conditions in the village and to support the UEC in the organization of the annual Users Meeting.
My bigger contribution to the FSPA mission was the organization of the 2016 New Perspectives conference: a conference for young researchers by young researchers. With over 90 abstract submissions, New Perspectives 2016 was the most successful edition of the conference to that date.
Each year FSPA hosts a series of traditional events, including the Halloween Party, the Brazilian Barbecue, the Chinese New Year, the Fermilab vs. Argonne Soccer Match, and cosponsors many smaller social events designed to engage the community local to Fermilab.
Alan Alda Center Training
May 2nd 2017
The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science works to make communication an essential part of the education of scientists. The center teaches scientists how to communicate science in new, clear and exciting ways. I believe outreach should be part of any scientists' job and it is especially important when conducted by an underrepresented individual in the field, since exposure can go a long way to attract untapped talents. By participating to an Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science workshops, I improved my communications skills, I learned to distill my message and tailor it in order to connect responsively with diverse publics.