DIVERSITY
POLICY
Cold
Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Meetings & Courses
Program is strongly committed to diversity in recruitment,
selection and speaker invitation for all our meetings
and courses. This includes due consideration being given
by all conference organizers and course faculty to the
inclusion of qualified women, US under-represented minorities,
and scientists from developing countries at all levels
of the scientific program. [Guidelines]
Participation
of women
Numerous reports have shown that the representation
of women in scientific disciplines decreases across academic
ranks, with the highest representation at the postdoctoral
level and the lowest at the full professor level (eg.
the 2006
National Academies report). Therefore, Cold Spring
Harbor Laboratory's Meetings & Courses' Diversity
Policy aims to increase the percentage of female scientists
who play leadership roles as organizers, instructors and
invited speakers in all our conferences, courses and workshops,
irrespective of field. Wherever possible, organizers and
instructors are encouraged to strive for parity in terms
of invitations to session chairs, discussion leaders and
invited speakers.
Recruitment
of US citizens/permanent residents from under-represented
minority
groups
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory strongly believes that effective
recruitment and retention of individuals from under-represented
minority groups requires a commitment to create an attractive
environment at all levels of its research and educational
components. At Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, we have
adopted innovative ways of promoting minority representation
in the biological sciences, including:
K-12 educational programs offered by the Dolan
DNA Learning Center
Partners
for the Future program
Summer Undergraduate
Research Program
Watson
School of Biological Sciences graduate program
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory/Stony Brook shared
graduate program
Professor
for a Day program
The
Cold Spring Harbor Meetings & Courses Program continues
to make a very significant contribution towards motivating
and training minority students and researchers in the
biological sciences.
These
programs engender an atmosphere which is inclusive of
racial diversity and provides potential role models at
every step, important factors in attracting young minority
students into the biological sciences, and to the Laboratory
in particular. The Laboratory welcomes feedback and suggestions
on how to improve the general situation still further
with respect to participation by minorities in life science
research and education.
Representation
of next-generation scientists
Our
Professor for a Day program aims
to introduce gifted high school science students to contemporary
science in a real world setting by inviting selected individuals
to spend a day at the meeting to grasp the higher level
themes of the scientific community’s organization,
and to understand that the work done in the lab must be
presented and subjected to public scrutiny so that it
may be refined, adapted, and improved upon. Students learn
that working at bench is only the start of the challenge
in becoming a good scientist and that communication and
discussion is also vital.
Scientists from
Developing Countries
The Laboratory's Meeting and
Courses Program encourages attendance and active participation
by scientists from the developing world. In recognition
of the fact that the associated costs of attendance at
our meetings and courses (travel, registration/tuition,
housing and food) are a challenge for scientists from
developing countries, the Laboratory actively seeks partnerships
with funding organizations to improve this situation.
For example, the International
Brain Research Organization through the auspices of
the Society for Neuroscience
provide full scholarships for a small number of selected
students from the developing world for certain neuroscience
courses.
Please
email any comments or suggestions to Dr.
David J. Stewart, Executive Director, Meetings &
Courses Program.
