Biomedical Engineering Special Seminar: Rigoberto Hernandez

Description

Rigoberto Hernandez, a professor of chemistry at Johns Hopkins and the director of the Open Chemistry Collaborative in Diversity Equity, will give a talk titled "Discipline-Based Diversity Research, and Inclusive Excellence" for the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

This is a hybrid event; to attend virtually, follow the department for webinar information (to be announced).

Abstract:

The Open Chemistry Collaborative in Diversity Equity (OXIDE) is aimed at institutional reform so as to lower inequitable barriers hindering the success of faculty from diverse groups. We implement the "top-down" hypothesis by asserting that academic middle managers—namely, department heads and chairs—held accountable for diversity and inclusion will make sustained and significant improvements in the representation and climate of their deportments. The collaborative itself is a partnership with the department heads of research-active chemistry departments, social scientists and other key stakeholders. The lowering of these barriers increases the likelihood that individuals already in the tenure pipeline will have equitable chances of success and thereby leads to changes in faculty demographics closer to those of the broader U.S. population. The creation of a more equitable climate is also expected to encourage more disadvantaged students to enter academic careers in the chemical sciences. We will report on OXIDE's approaches to increase awareness of effective policies and practices that decrease inequitable barriers and improve the diversity climate in research-active chemistry departments. We will discuss how these findings can inform the intentional management of inclusive excellence in related departments, and why the lens of discipline-based diversity (DBDR) research is needed.