The Center for Neural Science promotes a diverse and inclusive culture at all levels in our community. Our Committee for promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is comprised of faculty, administrators, post-doctoral researchers, and graduate students. The DEI committee meets frequently (approximately every 1-2 months) to discuss ongoing initiatives and plans. We also coordinate with our colleagues at the Neuroscience Institute at NYU Langone, and in the Departments of Biology and Psychology. The CNS DEI committee has the following mission statement:
To actively work to eliminate the barriers that individuals from underrepresented and marginalized groups face at all levels in being recruited to, being admitted to, and thriving within the CNS and NYU communities;
To create and maintain an inclusive, safe, and welcoming environment for all CNS students, faculty and staff, in particular regardless of gender identity and expression, race, age, socioeconomic background, national origin, disability, personal appearance, and sexual orientation;
To serve as ombudspersons (for members of the CNS community), to whom instances of intolerance, otherizing, and discrimination can be confidentially reported;
To equip the CNS community with the knowledge and tools to combat intolerance, otherizing, and discrimination not only in our own community but also in the wider world.
RECENT EFFORTS
In collaboration with the Departments of Biology and Psychology at NYU, CNS has recently developed a workshop about race and racism in the history of science. Science does not exist in a vacuum, but in the context of social and cultural forces, some of which have been oppressive, exploitative, and dehumanizing. Across history and continuing today, prominent and less prominent scientists have taken part in racist ideologies and practices in the name of science. For example, genetics and IQ research have both been deeply intertwined with eugenics, people of color have been taken advantage of in medical trials, and racial biases of machine learning algorithms are often dismissed. The workshop will cover topics ranging from genetics, human to subjects research and data science. It is mandatory for CNS graduate and postdoctoral trainees, and strongly recommended for faculty.
UPCOMING EVENTS
- 2022 RACE AND RACISM IN THE SCIENCES SERIES:
Thursday April 7th, 4:00 - 5:30pm
Dr. Marie Bragg, School of Medicine, Population Health, NYU Examining diet-related health disparities through a culturally sensitive approach that empowers communities and underrepresented students
5:30 - 6:00pm: Optional debriefing and discussion to discuss topics relevant to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to brainstorm applications of the topics within and across the sciences.
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 991 0333 2503 Passcode: 986678
RSVP HERE
ABSTRACT
The food environment plays a role in individual health outcomes. Dr. Marie Bragg’s research explores how food and beverage companies target youth of color with racially targeted advertising and how youth respond to these targeted advertisements. She will discuss how to approach recruitment among communities of color with cultural sensitivity. Additionally, Dr. Bragg will share how she facilitates team discussions around race and racism and its intersections with her research.
- Researching Neurodiversity: Bridging the gap between researcher and community Thursday, February 24th, 1-3pm (ET)
Following the publication of our Resource Guide on Neurodiversity and Science, the Scientist Action & Advocacy Network (ScAAN) is hosting a virtual panel with the goal of bringing together experts in a range of disciplines that do important work with and for the neurodivergent–particularly autistic–community.
We believe that it is time these discussions are brought to the traditional academic space in order to make progress in reframing how we think, communicate and ask questions about neurodiversity as neuroscience and psychology researchers and educators. Here, we aim to open up the conversation about the active role scientific researchers play in perpetuating structural ableism and racism. We invite audience participants to reflect on what informs and drives our research interests and to explore whether our work is genuinely connected to a community’s actual needs.
Topics to be discussed include:- The pervasiveness of ableism & eugenics in current scientific research and public health policy
- The importance of collective, first-hand experience and wisdom in scientific knowledge-building
- Community-Based Participatory Research and what that can look like in neuroscience & psychology
- Shifting neurodevelopmental research from its ableist and eugenicist foundations to frameworks that directly address the true needs and interests of the disabled community
Who gets to define “healthy development”?
Rejecting notions of futurity in research methodology
Re-evaluating the rationales behind research on socially normative interventions (from prenatal genetic testing to assistive technologies)
Virtual Panel Discussion, register here.
- TimeWorkshops on Race
April 15 at 4 pm: David Gresham, The history of race as a scientific concept.
April 22 at 4 pm: Ann Morning, The impact of science on everyday beliefs about race.
April 29 at 4 pm: Carolyn Hutson, Racial and ethnic biases in healthcare: slavery to the present.
May 6 at 4 pm: Joshua Loftus, Bias in artificial intelligence and data science.
For more information and registration click here.
- Growing up in Science:
- Growing up in Science is a mentorship series that highlights the behind-the scenes stories of scientists and that tries to make academic science a better place. Many Growing up in Science events have themes related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and identity; video recordings of several anti-racism events can be found here.
RESOURCES
HIGH SCHOOL OUTREACH
Clear Direction Mentoring: Mentoring of high-school minority students interested in pursuing STEM degrees
Neuroscience Institute Public Outreach & Science Education: The Neuroscience Outreach Group at NYU (NOGN) organizes and participates in outreach at local high schools, including classroom visits, partnerships with science fairs, and a podcast.
BrainWaves: BrainWaves mentors spend 1 semester paired with teachers at local high schools and teach/develop neuroscience curriculum
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH MENTORING
Hunter/NYU BP Endure program: Neuroscience-specific undergraduate research program for underrepresented minority students at a consortium of universities in New York City.
Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP): Summer research at CNS
GRADUATE STUDENT MENTORING AND RESOURCES
Graduate school of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) mentoring program: one-on-one mentorship for graduate students in GSAS to supplement their growth as academics. Program is across disciplines, and mentors must also be graduate students in GSAS
Diverse Neuroscientists Doctoral Training Series (DenDriTes): Mentoring, career planning, and skill training to help advanced-stage predoctoral students prepare for their future careers. Workshops are also open to postdocs.
Neuroscience students mentoring program: each first year student is mentored by a more senior student in the program.
The Neuroscience Predoctoral Interest League (NeuroPIL): All neuroscience graduate students are automatically NeuroPIL members. 7 students are elected annually to serve on the NeuroPIL Council as representatives for the student body; and all students can lead and join committees to develop and collaborate on various student-led initiatives. Observer status can be granted to non-faculty members of the broader neuroscience community.
NYU DIVERSITY RESOURCES
Office of Global Diversity and Inclusion (OGI): Parent office at NYU for diversity events and resources. Contains the centers for Multicultural Education and Programs, LGBTQ+, student and faculty groups, and NYU Being Together (an initiative to take university-level actions for diversity issues). In particular, see the NYU BeTogether Resources and Initiatives
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Advisory Task Force: The main NYU initiative for campus-wide diversity change. Includes the Being@NYU demographic report
Student Diversity Initiative (SDI): Hosts a variety of events and workshops to promote inclusivity and community building. SDI is a PhD student group at NYU Langone
Black Student Association (BSA): BSA is a PhD student group at NYU Langone
Raices (Latin American Student Association): Raices hosts social and educational events promoting inclusivity and is a PhD student group at NYU Langone
Vilcek LGBTQ+: Events are open to the entire NYU community and additional resources can be found at the NYU LGBTQ+ Center website
BROADER DIVERSITY OPPORTUNITIES
Growing up in Science (GUIS): A series of talk from scientists about their experiences, open forums, and themed discussions on mentorship and anti-racism
Deep Learning Indaba mentorship: Technical mentorship program to support African scientists performing machine learning and AI research (no NYU affiliation)
New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) STEM Education and Mentoring events: Themed events about STEM education and mentoring, including diversity issues (no NYU affiliation)
NIH Diversity Awards: Funding at all levels (high school through faculty), targeted to increase diversity by providing funding to underrepresented groups (no NYU affiliation)
A Critical Consciousness: A reading club centered around diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Científico Latino Graduate Student Mentorship Initiative: Mentorship program to provide one-on-one mentoring of underrepresented minority, STEM undergraduates during their graduate application process. (No NYU affiliation)
BraiNY and the Greater NYC Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience: NOGN collaborates with both for a variety of outreach events that can be found here.