***under construction***

This page is centered on how the CSC promotes inclusive excellence. As a core facility that trains users to employ advanced technologies in their research,  the CSC can play an important role in recruiting, retaining, and advancing scientists in their careers. Therefore, we believe that interventions to improve access to core facility skill training and research technologies, especially early in career development, will help lower the barriers to success that some students face more than others.

This idea will be developed in more detail on this page. Stay tuned as the information gets added!

Questions to be addressed:

• Why is diversity, equity, and inclusion important in science?
  • Research excellence depends on healthy, engaged researchers.
• Is it even possible for the leaders in science to ever reflect the demographics of the general population?
  • What if we center the student as the expert, assuming they already have the talent, intellect, and capabilities to succeed, and then the role of the faculty becomes to enhance the effectiveness of the experience? (Paraphrased from Nathan Romero, UCSD, speaking at the UC DEI Conference on Apr 15, 2023.)
• Can interventions really make a difference?
  • “Do what can be done, don’t get bogged down by the problem being so large” – Dean Tantillo, UC Davis (speaking at the UC DEI Conference on Apr 15, 2023)
• What does this have to do with core facilities?
• What does this have to do with chemical screening?
  • Research has shown that minorities are more likely to identify with the more altruistic and community values of science. When a student’s personal values align with that of their work, then they are more motivated to stay and succeed in the field. (research presented by Kay Xia, UC Berkeley, at the UC DEI Conference on Apr 15, 2023)
• Isn’t supporting a student’s career the job of the student’s research mentor, not the scientific staff?
  • “Everyone serves as a mentor in one capacity or another.” – Rigoberto Hernandez (Johns Hopkins, speaking at the UC DEI Conferenec on Apr 15, 2023) Sometimes the canonical mentor-mentee relationship can inadvertently reinforce the perceived power hierarchy, so it helps the students to have colleagues at multiple levels that they can relate to.
• What core facilities do we have, what do they do, and where are the key intersections with DEI goals?
• Who are examples of core facility managers at UCSC actively working towards DEI?
• Who are examples of STEM Diversity program students who have benefitted from CSC training and where are they now?
• What do experts in the field of DEI and core facility management have to say on this topic?
• What makes core facility management a good career for students looking for nontraditional jobs in STEM?

A short list of some ways we are already contributing:

• Tours for faculty candidates, grad orientation, grad recruits, and diversity-oriented programs (PREP, ACCESS). We do live demos during the tour, to show robots and high throughput liquid handling in action.
• Participating in experiential learning for graduate-level classes (BIOC110L, METX125).
• Training anyone whose PI sponsors them through the process. Training is usually one-on-one and tailored to the individual student’s needs. We also provide training materials online in the form of videos, documents to read (protocols and manuals), and summarized signs at each piece of equipment with key information. We assist as needed, to help trainees navigate the learning curve as they incorporate the advanced technologies into their experiments. PIs of trainees pay for only the instrument time and staff time used by the trainee. These skills go on the trainee’s resume and can help the succeed in their next position. Moreover, by doing the work themselves hands-on, they gain confidence that they CAN become a scientist, that they have something to offer, that they could be successful in a scientific career.
• We help researchers succeed in their work by providing high class facilities. We maintain the equipment including calibrations and quality control, ensure smooth scheduling and key access, keep the facility compliant with safety guidelines, and communicate with users. All this is lumped in to the user fees of the equipment.
• Participating in DEI-related activities in our unit:
  • UC Chemistry DEI conference on Saturday, April 15, 2023. We had a poster!
• Participating in other DEI-related activities in our community:
  • Dr. Rabbitts belongs to the Association for Biomolecular Resource Facilities, a professional society for core directors and managers. The ABRF promotes DEI through several activities and recently released a statement in response to the June 2023 supreme court on race in college admissions.

Ideas for expansion:

• We would love to be able to offer training to all students enrolled in STEM Diversity programs (e.g. PREP) without burdening the PI for the fees (i.e. locate another source of funds to make it more accessible to all these students).
• We would love to be able to offer training to graduate first-year students, since PIs may not want to invest in training a rotation student that is not guaranteed to join their lab and continue the work. However, the first year is a time when students are focused on learning new skills and ideas, and they could take this to all the labs they work with if trained at the start.
• We would love to incorporate CSC technologies into an undergraduate-level class, so that all students in the class get the opportunity for hands-on experience, not just students engaged in extracurricular research activities. Imagine a class where the students are as a team conducting a real drug discovery screen! We would need protected time to be able to devote to developing a learning experience suited to the current curriculum, and funds for the disposables used in the test runs and during the class itself.