ABOUT INTERSECTIONS

A postdoc-driven, faculty-advised multi-institutional initiative

The main goals of the multi-institutional Intersections Science Fellows Symposium are to showcase the outstanding research contributions of postdocs in the biological sciences, including those from backgrounds historically underrepresented in academia, and to support the scientific and professional development of the next generation of academic faculty.

The Intersections Science Fellows Symposium is a multi-institutional symposium organized to showcase the work of, and to network with, visionary mid- to late-stage postdoctoral researchers in broad areas of the biological sciences (including genetics, genomics, developmental biology, cell biology, biophysics & biochemistry, neuroscience, immunobiology, microbiology, computational biology, quantitative biology) with the following goals:

  1. To highlight postdoctoral researchers’ scientific contributions in the broad areas of biological research.

  2. Provide meaningful mentorship through workshops, feedback, and direct access from established faculty at participating institutions (before, during, and after the symposium).

  3. Provide a network for visionary early-career scientists selected as Fellows, including those who belong to groups that have been historically underrepresented in biological sciences academic ranks, and an opportunity to meet, connect, and elevate each other and their work (underrepresentation include: Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, those with disabilities, are from low socioeconomic backgrounds*, women, or who identify as LGBTQ+).

  4. Connect outstanding Fellows with top institutions interested in hiring future faculty.

    *NIH Definition

Background and Motivations

The academic environment thrives on a diverse talent pool. Diverse teams in scientific research are more innovative, successful at problem solving, and effective (1,2). Yet, at every stage of training in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), the trainee populations remain much more diverse than the faculty training them (1,3). Systemic efforts to diversify the “pipeline” from primary school through graduate school have succeeded in increasing interest and retention across all levels of training, though there is still work to be done (4). Despite these efforts, and despite the talent pool already in the pipeline, the percentage of URM faculty recruited and retained at the highest levels of academia remains stagnant (5).

The lack of diversity in STEM faculty is not due to an absence of talented URM applicants (5,6); rather, it is a result of systemically biased recruitment processes (1,7).  

This symposium, peer-network, and mentoring-network aims to intentionally and impactfully address some of these barriers to success as faculty in academia, including those experienced by persons from historically marginalized and/or disadvantaged backgrounds. By providing a platform and access to the diverse talent pool that already exists, this postdoc-driven, faculty-advised effort, aims to aid the recruitment and network of the next generation of faculty that will reflect the diversity of this country. These future faculty will shape the systemic, perpetual shifts in the mentoring and training landscapes of biological scientific discoveries and academia.

Inspirations

The goals and ideas presented here are inspired by ongoing conversations and research all over Yale and across institutions throughout the U.S. (including partnering institutions for this Symposium), by the Yale Genetics Postdocs group, Yale Black Postdoctoral Association, Genetics leadership, Dean Darin Latimore and Associate Dean Rochelle Smith, Yale Ciencia Initiative, and successful examples of similarly-themed symposia targeting the postdoc-faculty transition, specifically (but not exclusively):

- Leading Edge Symposium (and personal communication with Dr. Kara McKinley):

https://www.leadingedgesymposium.org/about/

- Berkeley-Stanford-UCSF Next Generation Symposium:

https://www.berkeleystanfordnextgensymposium.com/

- Yale Neuroscience SYNAPSES seminar series:

https://medicine.yale.edu/neuroscience/seminars/synapses/

- Dr. Samuel Nabrit Conference for Early Career Scholars:

https://www.brown.edu/academics/biomed/molecular-cell-biochemistry/dr-samuel-m-nabrit-conference-early-career-scholars-0

References

1.** Bhalla, N. Strategies to improve equity in faculty hiring. Mol Biol Cell. 2019

2. National Institutes of Health (2018). NOT-OD-18–210: Updated Notice of NIH’s Interest in Diversity.

3. Heggeness ML, Gunsalus KT, Pacas J, McDowell G (2017). The new face of US science. Nature 541, 21–23

4. Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2019 | NSF - National Science Foundation. https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf19304/

5. Gibbs KD Jr (2014). Beyond “the pipeline”: reframing science’s diversity challenge. Scientific American Blogs

6. Nelson, D. J. Diversity of Science and Engineering Faculty at Research Universities. in Diversity in the Scientific Community Volume 1: Quantifying Diversity and Formulating Success vol. 1255 15–86 (American Chemical Society, 2017).

7. Sensoy O, Diangelo R (2017). “We are all for diversity, but … ”: how faculty hiring committees reproduce whiteness and practical suggestions for how they can change. Harvard Educ Rev 87, 557–580.