2020 Midwest SACNAS Regional Meeting

2020 Midwest Regional Meeting

Title: Science and Equity: Allyship and Inclusion in STEM and Beyond

Date: Friday, October 2nd – Sunday, October 4th

Time: 1:00PM -5:00PM (CST)

Virtually over Zoom!

This year’s theme is Science and Equity: Allyship and Inclusion in STEM and Beyond

In light of what is happening in the country and the re-emboldened social justice movement focusing on justice for Black lives, we are focusing the Regional Meeting on anti-racism in STEM and how to be better allies (as Latinx and Indigenous folks) to our Black colleagues.

The goal of our first day is to examine our identities and reflect on how intersectionality impacts our lives and the lives of others. Our first keynote talk by Raven Baxter MS, advocate for media representation in science as Raven the Science Maven and the founder of STEMbassy.

On the second day we will be addressing problems facing Black communities and understanding how to build an equitable environment, both in STEM and outside the university. We hope to have talks on how stereotyping and discrimination impact both diversity in workplace and mass incarceration, and how to build equity through changes in policy and transformative justice.

The third and final day we will be talking about inclusive science research and communicating our science to the general public. Ashley Smart PhD, the associate director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT and a senior editor at Undark magazine will close out the meeting with his keynote talk.

Meet the Regional Planning Team

Lead Organizers: Natalie Gilbert and Alexis Reyes

Workshops Coordinator: Nicole Palacio

SACNAS Chapter Coordinators: Carolyn Ramirez

Financial Coordinator: Gloria Alvarado

Social Media Chair: Chloe Archuleta

Artistic Director: Alberto Lopez

Grant Writing and Faculty Sponsor: Toni Gutierrez PhD

Liaisons to Diversity and Inclusion & Undergraduates : Marcelo Vinces PhD

Schedule

Day 1 (Friday, October 2nd): Science Communication and Representation

1:00-1:10 pm – Opening Remarks

Natalie Gilbert Gonzaga-Saavedra
Dr. Toni Gutierrez
Carolyn Ramirez

1:10-2:00 pm – Keynote: Raven Baxter

2:00-3:00 pm – Presentation: Graduate Recruitment Initiative Team (GRIT) at UChicago

2:00-3:00 pm – Workshop: Communicating Your Science to Non-experts

Lead by: Dr. Kiki Zissimopoulos

3:00-3:15 pm Break

3:15-4:00 pm – Student flash talks (6 total)

Flash talks (5 min each)

Lauren Simitz, Northwestern University
- TITLE: Carbon Black for Use in Energy-Efficient, Flow Capacitive Deionization (FCDI) Desalination Technology
Eleanor Degen, Northwestern University
- TITLE: Characterization of the in vivo affinity of the morphogen Bicoid for target enhancers
Diana Velazquez, Northwestern University
- TITLE: Carbon isotope ratios reflect the relative diversity of carbon metabolisms in hot springs Archaea
Vennela Mannava, University of Chicago
- TITLE: Carbon dioxide utilization in plastic production: Development of a nickel catalyst
Russell Steans, Northwestern University
- TITLE: Understanding Riboswitch Genetic Control

4:00-5:00 pm – Breakout Room Social Hour

Academic Careers with Dr. Laura Lackner, Dr. Cindy Bachurski, Dr. Judd Hultquist
Non-Academic Careers with Elysse Longiotti
Networking (Virtually Leveraging Your Network for DEI): Rashaad Barnett
Queer in STEM: OSTEM, QPGSA
Social: Comunidad LatinX
Antiracism, Allyship, and Activism: SPOT

Day 2, (Saturday, October 3rd): Anti-racism and Allyship in Academia and Beyond

1:00-2:00 pm – Workshop: Anti-racism & Allyship

Lead by: Christine Platt

2:00-2:45 pm – Panel: Importance of Inclusivity in Higher Education

Panelists: Dr. Marcelo Vinces, Damon Williams, Tobias Spears, Dr. Neha Kamat

2:45-3:30 pm – Panel: Transformative Justice

Panelists: Riki Drout (NPEP), Alicia Hurtado (Care Not Cops), Ami Gandhi (Senior Counsel at Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights)

3:30-3:45 pm – Break

4:00-5:00 pm – Student Talks (10 min talks with 5 min questions)

Session A: Chemistry

Michele Myong, Northwestern University
- TITLE: Photophysics of Perylenediimides Self-Assembled on Anodic Aluminum Oxide

Nicolas Watkins, Northwestern University
- TITLE: Investigating Photophysical Responses in CdSe Semiconductor Nanoparticles with Laser Spectroscopy

Eugenia Vasileiadou, Northwestern University
- TITLE: Stability of 2D halide perovskites for optoelectronic applications.

Session B: Biology

Akanksha Mahajan, Northwestern University
- TITLE: STINGing Glioblastoma with Spherical Nucleic Acids

Elizabeth Munguia Trujillo, San Diego State University
- TITLE: Defining the Role of CG11617 in the Transcriptional Control of Muscle Development in Drosophila melanogaster

Luis Miguel de Jesus Astacio, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- TITLE: Carbon Cycling in Functionally Redundant Closed Microbial Ecosystems

Day 3 (Sunday, October 4th): Working Towards Inclusionary Science

1:00-2:45 pm – Workshop: Contextualizing Your Science

Lead by: Carolyn Ramirez

2:45-3:00 pm – Break

3:00-4:00 pm – Student Talks (10 min talks with 5 min questions)

Session A: Neurobiology

Devon Greer, Northwestern University
- TITLE: Identifying retinal ganglion cells that innervate medial amygdala and how this pathway depends on sex, hemisphere and parental experience

Gabriela Lopez, Northwestern University
- TITLE: Modulation of Dopamine Signaling During Pain

Kennen Hutchison, Northwestern University
- TITLE: Functional TLR3 Prevents Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Neuroinvasion of Central Nervous System Neurons

Session B: Engineering

Derick Suarez, Northwestern University
- TITLE: Multiscale Modeling For The Self-Piercing Riveting Process

Julia Downing, Northwestern University
- TITLE: Graphene-Metal-Organic Framework Composite Sulfur Electrodes for Li-S Batteries with High Volumetric Capacity

4:00-4:50 pm – Keynote: Dr. Ashley Smart, “No Such Thing as (Just) a Science Story”

4:50-5:00 pm – Awards Ceremony and Closing Remarks: Dr. Toni Gutierrez & Alexis Reyes