Outreach and Advocacy
Children and young adults deserve to have control over the trajectory of their lives via their choices. We owe children and young adults exposure and access to the resources they need to attain stability and to pursue their dreams, regardless of their race, gender, class, sexuality, and/or ability.
I also believe that the “leaky STEM pipeline” for underrepresented race/ethnic groups (Black, Latinx, Native) in the United States need not exist. Building community among scholars of color, refusing to uphold useless tenets of academic hegemony, and actively supporting students throughout their training are just some of the ways to diversify STEM from high school through graduate training.
Some friends and me at my 10 year reunion in 2019.
IMSA Alumni Association Cabinet (2017-2020) and Black Alumni Association (2020-present)
I went to a competitive, public, residential boarding school called the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) for high school. IMSA exposed me to so much: I started conducting research at age 16, I skipped 9th grade, and I found my passion for mathematics and an interest in physiology. To give back, I became an at-large member of IMSA’s Alumni Association Cabinet in 2017 where I worked on mentorship programs and alumni networking oportunities. Now I serve as co-founder of the Black Alumni Association (BAA), where I am hyperfocused on creating mentorship and professional development experiences for Black students as they navigate the pandemic.
A visit to MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research (2015)
E^3 Mentoring program (2015-2018)
I was the Director of the E^3 Mentoring Program: Empowering, Encouraging, Eliminating Barriers from 2015 to 2018. E^3 is an independent one-on-one mentoring and STEM exposure initiative that connects young women of color from Boston public high schools to women of color studying STEM majors at area universities like Boston University, Harvard, MIT, and Tufts. The program provides college prep advice, academic tutoring, training in web development, and workshops spanning professional skills to science skills. In my time as director, I arranged a biosignals workshop that featured: an EEG mismatch negativity experiment, a fruit-powered video game (circuits demo), a homemade microscope, and a homemade EKG using oscilloscopes, in collaboration with the Boston University Biomedical Engineering Graduate Student Committee. We were able to form lasting partnerships with Microsoft New England R&D, MIT, and BU for space and funding.
The young women of E^3, both mentors and mentees, are resilient, courageous, and inquisitive; our graduates have all matriculated in 4 year colleges/universities, including Tufts, Northeastern, BU, BC, Harvard, Bryn Mawr, Simmons, and more. I consider several of these young women my friends, and I can’t wait to be their colleague.
Graduate Students of Color Welcome Event, 2017
“Grad School is Trash for POC” event, 2019
BU Underrepresented Graduate Student Organization (2015-2018)
I was president and founder of the Underrepresented Grad Student Org at Boston University. The mission is to create a community to promote and support underrepresented students (URS) academically and professionally as they pursue post-baccalaureate education. Through professional development events, socials, mentoring, and outreach, UGSO fosters interaction across disciplines and provides resources to address challenges facing URSs at academic, professional, and personal levels.
When I entered my graduate program (PhD in Biomedical Engineering), there were no spaces or organizations on BU’s campus for MS and PhD students of color. I was the only Black PhD in the department of Biomedical Engineering and one of 4 black grad students in the whole College of Engineering (1000+ total students). In the fall of 2015, I started organizing with an online needs/wants survey to students of color (N=220), a large-scale focus group, and informal social gatherings. The organization name came from our desire to not brand ourselves as “minorities” but to emphasize that in a just world, we wouldn’t be underrepresented. UGSO grew to eventually host its first annual Academic Symposium for grad students in Fall 2019, which was a raging success. I am very proud of what the organization has become, even after I left BU for Carnegie Mellon.
High schoolers making their own EKGs with an oscilloscope
BU BME Graduate Student Committee - Outreach Subcommittee (2014-2016)
I loved my time in the Boston University Department of Biomedical Engineering because ideas could become reality relatively quickly. In my first year (2014), I was one of the BME Graduate Student Committee’s First Year Representatives (along with two dear friends). I thought the department lacked outreach to the Boston community, so by the end of the school year I formed a subcommittee and we were able to conduct fun science demonstrations to elementary school kids at Lincoln School in Brookline within a few quick months. That became our staple program (still going on today!), among several others, including a collaboration with E^3. By the time I left BU in 2018, the committee was going strong and I was able to participate as a member.
The cello section of OD’s Urban Young Orchestra in 2014
Orchestrating Diversity (2010-2014)
I was the president and founder of Washington University’s chapter of Orchestrating Diversity (OD) a non-profit classical music education program in St. Louis. OD is an El Sistema USA program that provides free classical music education to underserved K-12 students. Under my leadership of 4 years, WashU’s chapter became a key partner to the non-profit by providing individual music lessons for OD’s Urban Youth Orchestra, contributing to the staff of an elementary school strings program, creating and maintaining a group piano program for middle school students (my passion project), financing a St. Louis area performance tour, hosting semiannual performances on WashU’s campus, and providing other enrichment activities such as academic tutoring and mentorship to students. Orchestrating Diversity is an amazing program with passionate staff and the participation of incredible K-12 students with unlimited potential. I found meaning in my time in St. Louis because of the group, and will always be indebted to the founders (Mark and Max especially) for their wisdom, vision, and persistence.
Me (far left) with St. Louis high school students who completed WashU NSBE PCI’s overnight visit! (2013)
National Society of Black Engineers (Washu chapter) Pre-college Initiative (2011-2013)
I was the chair of Washington University’s National Society of Black Engineers Pre-College Initiative (PCI) Committee for two years. Under my leadership, the committee grew from 4 to 12 NSBE members and we were able to accomplish the following. We designed and taught workshops for K-12 students, generated an online catalog of the workshops to share with other similar groups, hosted NSBE Junior’s national membership (more than 300 students) on a STEM scavenger hunt on campus, hosted 20 St. Louis high school students overnight to expose them to WashU and STEM fields, and created a satellite program called Engineering My Future (EMF), geared specifically toward encouraging young women of color (Black and Latina) to pursue engineering.