Message from the CDO | Natalie Holder

As I reflect on 2023, I cannot help but think about the adage, “What you think, you become.” As our lab experienced great transitions in leadership and priorities, the DEI+ Office decided to focus on outreach and investing in our people. Our goal was (and is) to become an employer of choice in the scientific and engineering marketplaces.

After a whirlwind of conferences and colloquia to close out the year, we have increased SLAC’s exposure to hundreds of historically underrepresented professionals in STEM. We toured Historically Black Colleges and Universities with our fellow national labs and committed to increasing our partnerships and collaborations with their faculty, staff and students. We experienced an uptick of Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos, Chicanos, Hispanics and women in our applicant pools.

And, let’s not overlook our returns for investing in our workforce--our greatest treasure. Many of our people who represented SLAC in professional forums (and for many, it was their first time doing so), described the experiences as motivating, inspirational and encouraging.

To close out 2023, I want to thank the people who are the DEI+ Office’s engine and make these successes possible: Chereace, Linday, Amina and Shirin, I truly appreciate you!

Featured

SLAC Reads "There There" by Tommy Orange Honoring Native American Heritage Month

Tommy Orange, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of the national bestseller There There, tells the story of twelve characters from Native American communities -- all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize.

On Nov. 17, members of SLAC Reads raised awareness around Native American traditions, land acknowledgements, celebrations, and reconciling history.

SLAC Reads is sponsored by the DEI+ Office and driven by our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). SLAC Reads is open to all SLAC employees. Each ERG selects a book and leads a discussion that provides insight into the unique experiences that have impacted the people who make up our lab community.

SLAC participates in diversity STEM conferences across the country

Over the last three months, SLAC's DEI+ Office teamed up with Employee Resource Groups and HR Talent Acquisition to participate in various diversity STEM conferences across the country, including the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), Society for Women Engineers (SWE), Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), the National Society for Black Physicists (NSBP), the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE), and DOE to the People at UC Riverside.

Engaging with these conferences provided opportunities for members of our laboratory to connect with professionals who are historically underrepresented in STEM and participate in educational workshops to understand the strategies that marginalized communities are using to break barriers and ascend through the STEM workforce.

Military Community ERG hosts a toy drive for the military families from 483rd Transportation Battalion.

They look forward to continuing this annual tradition, and in growing the outreach to even more military families in 2024. Special thanks to our elves: Linday Boyd, Tracy Chalmers, Al Cook, Ian Evans, Jan Gruenewald, Charlene Lake, Stefanie Myhre, Cindy Patty & Analisa Tan.;

Pictured are: Sergeant First Class Shelena Cook, Mike McDaniel, and Stefanie Myhre (Photo courtesy of Ramsey Razik) .

RISE ERG: Hot Chocolate Social

Jan. 10 | 10:00-11:00am | Berryessa Conference Room (B053)

RISE would like to welcome you back to the lab after winter closure with a Hot Chocolate Social! Join us in the Berryessa Conference Room (Building 53, Room 2002) to start off the new year with a hot chocolate bar and icebreaker games to help you reconnect with colleagues and forge new connections.

A calendar invite will be sent out to the RISE listserv and put on the #rise-erg Slack channel, so make sure you’re part of those networks to receive more communications on this event.

Events & Programming

SLAC Science Bowl - Call for Volunteers

SLAC will host two regional Department of Energy (DOE) Science Bowl competitions again in 2024. We are counting on the SLAC community to volunteer in this exciting DOE-sponsored program. The High School regional competition is on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024 and the Middle School regional competition is on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. The events run from approximately 8:45 a.m.-5:45 p.m. Training will be provided, and no previous experience is needed. No scientific expertise is required. Volunteers are not required to have a SLAC or Stanford affiliation. The National Science Bowl organization has provided many useful volunteer resources. There will also be a SLAC-specific training session on January 30th at 2pm.

For additional information, please see the Science Bowl Volunteer Flyer, visit the National Science Bowl website, and check out last year’s Regional Science Bowl at SLAC. To learn more, contact communications@slac.stanford.edu.

Additional resources: Volunteer Flyer, Science Bowl Flickr Album

Learn more and register to volunteer [internal link for staff].