Our lab is committed to recruiting, supporting, and mentoring members of diverse backgrounds and experiences. Academia, and especially the sciences, has a long history of overlooking minority contributions and continues to do so to this day. Therefore, our lab is committed to amplifying these voices in a learning community that feels safe and enjoyable for all. 

The scientific practice is based upon testing assumptions and a mindset that one is ‘never done’ learning, but rather continues to push the progress of knowledge forward.  As a lab, we have committed to applying this lens to our push for equity. We have begun by working to educate ourselves as individuals, and we will move to examining our behaviors as a lab, and advocating for change within our department and the broader field of academia. Just as a failed experiment teaches us where we can improve, we acknowledge that the mistakes we may make in this process should not be seen as barriers to diversity and equity, but rather learning experiences in a life-long endeavor. In the United States, white supremacy is a default in our institutions, and dismantling this system will not be comfortable or easy. But we commit ourselves to examining our biases and creating a lab space that empowers each member to achieve their fullest.