Diversity

BMES Diversity Program:

•  Seek to promote the appointment of a diverse staff, leadership, and board of directors that mirror the diversity of our society.
• Educate the membership and staff on the value of diversity that provides practical skills in building intercultural competency and gender equality, thereby strengthening our ability to relate meaningfully across differences of gender, race, and ethnicity.
• Continually seeking personal, organizational, and social transformation, with sensitivity of those marginalized by society's past and present patterns of discrimination.
• Confront and dismantle discriminatory behavior wherever it may be manifest-whether individually or organizationally.
• Intentionally seek partners, participants, and contributors to our programs, events, and publications that mirror the diversity of our society with special efforts to welcome those who are underrepresented.

 
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Mark Your Calendars!

 
BMES Celebration of Minorities  Luncheon
 
When: Thursday, September 26, 2013 @ 12:00pm
 
Where: BMES Annual Meeting - Seattle      

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BMES URM (Under-Represented Minorities) Program

 
All agree that inclusion of minorities in the Biomedical Engineering Society structure is extremely important for the success of the profession.  Inclusion is consistent with BMES's values and business objectives, the aim is to create a society in which individuals are involved, supported, respected and connected.
 
The idea with BMES URM Program is to take the resources and utilize them for developing solutions and creating new paradigms to take-off the feeling of isolation that most minority students, postdoral fellows, junior faculties and professional biomedical engineers experience.
 
Our Goal is to:
 
Hold educational workshops at BMES Annual Meetings
 
Collaborate among BMES Committees, other societies and other institution's URM Programs
 
Create a supportive network where everyone contributes skills and talents to benefit of BMES.
 
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Did You Know about MARC Travel Awards Program?

 
The FASEB MARC Program provides funding to support the participation of faculty/mentors and students, and poster/platform (oral) presenters at selected scientific meetings and conferences. For eligibility and requirements, click on the “Travel Awards” tab on the FASEB MARC home page.  For travel award applications, click on the “Travel Awards” Scientific Meetings & Conferences” tab.  The FASEB MARC awards help to defray meeting registration and travel-related expenses (lodging, transportation, per diem) associated with meeting/conference attendance.

Collaboration is key to solving daunting challenges, experts say at Minority Faculty Development Workshop

Faculty members at the U.S. universities have the challenge of both educating students and producing scientific breakthrough to address the world’s most daunting challenges, said Gary May, Dean of Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Engineering at the opening of the 2012 Minority Faculty Development Workshop.

It will be difficult solve those challenges without a diverse environment, May said at the four-day event on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus.

BMES President and Georgia Institute of Technology Professor Gilda Barabino agreed with May.

“It is important to bring the various disciplines together, if you don’t you can miss out on getting critical input,” Barabino said. “And diversity of the people working on a project is important too, each person brings different perspectives that can prove to be important.”

Barabino is the organizer of the event which started today at Georgia Tech. The sponsors of this year’s event include the National Science Foundation, Georgia Institute of Technology, Harvard University, North Carolina A&T and Wallace H. Coulter Foundation.

Engineering faculty members and innovators from Harvard, Stanford, North Carolina A&T and more than 40 other institutions are attending the event.

Wanda Moses, a Ph.D. candidate at Clemson University displayed her research poster during the opening night of the workshop. Moses is developing virtual reality technology that shows participants exactly what impact diet and exercise can have on individuals. The project is a joint effort between the university’s computer science and nursing programs.

“This is awesome, looking at the posters and seeing people doing similar research to mine,” Moses said.  “The feedback I’m getting is great.”

That kind of enthusiasm and networking is one of the results Barabino wants from the workshop. Getting students interested in science, technology and mathematics early is important, but it is also important to continuing supporting those students through their university careers, she said.

“The persistent and alarming underrepresentation of minorities and women in faculty positions and other academic positions of authority contributes to the lack of role models,” Barabino said. “Other hurdles in increasing broader participation are the often unwelcoming and unsupportive environments/climates in our institutions. Minorities and women and minority women in particular, are less likely to be included in collaborative research and their work is often devalued.”

To enhance success, students, postdocs and faculty require mentoring and support throughout all stages of their career, she said. 

“Activities such as the MFDW provides opportunities for participants to develop skills and networks, forge new partnerships and collaborations, escape solo status that most find themselves in in their institutions and learn how to navigate the academy, all of which enhances career success and retention so that we have better scientific discovery and are better able to train a diverse and well equipped scientific and engineering workforce.”