Contributed by Dr. Adán Colón-Carmona
Principal Investigator for NRMN’s Pilot Award Project, “Cultivating Community Based Disparities Research Mentoring Fellowship“
The Society for Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) gathered at UMass Boston on Saturday, April 9th to hold its third New England Regional Conference.
More than 110 participants from 18 different institutions (colleges, universities, and government organizations) gathered at the Integrated Sciences Complex to celebrate science, community, and culture.
SACNAS gathered at UMass Boston on Saturday, April 9th to hold its third New England Regional Conference. More than 110 participants from 18 different institutions (colleges, universities, and government organizations) gathered at the Integrated Sciences Complex to celebrate science, community, and culture.
The organizer of the regional conference, Associate Professor of Biology Adán Colón-Carmona, opened the gathering with a warm welcome to the campus, encouraging all participants to socialize and share one’s science.
The conference included a collection of scientific speakers who spoke on topics ranging from health disparities to climate change to molecular and cellular biology. A number of professional development workshops were also offered to participants, such as grant writing, applying to graduate school, and mentoring relationships. Undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty had opportunities to network and mentor one another.
David Burgess (Cherokee), professor of biology at Boston College, served as keynote speaker and discussed his experience as a cell biologist and one of few Native American scientists. He motivated conference participants to pursue a career they love to do, to be proud of themselves, and to not settle until they have achieved great success.
SACNAS is one of the largest and oldest national societies of scientists dedicated to fostering the success of Latinos and Native American scientists to attain college degrees, careers and positions of leadership in all science fields. Additionally, SACNAS is a strong promoter of diversity in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, organizing conferences open to everyone, providing mentoring and recruiting resources, promoting the professional development of young scientists, and working collaboratively with other scientific societies, corporations, academic institutions, and government agencies to advance public policy agendas that enhance diversity in the sciences.
The conference was sponsored by UMass Boston, the UMass Boston-Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center U54 Partnership, and the National Research Mentoring Network.
