DIVERSITY
IACS Plan for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access (January 2025)
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and access (DEIA) are foundation stones for IACS. The National Science Foundation reports [1] that African Americans (or Blacks), American Indians and Alaska Natives, Hispanics (or Latinos), Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders are underrepresented at many career stages. Individuals from these groups are underrepresented when compared to their age-cohorts in science-baccalaureate earners, among science-PhD earners, and in the workforce overall. Women and members of the LBGTQ+ communities are also underrepresented in many disciplines, and all underrepresented groups face discrimination and inequity. These disparities are exaggerated within elements of the computer and computational science disciplines and career paths, which are of special interest to IACS. In addition, IACS is expanding our view of diversity to include people living with disabilities who may encounter barriers to access.
All IACS activities and investments already emphasize both DEIA and excellence, and we have committed, for example, funds and resources toward the creation of pathways for engagement in computational science with high school, undergraduate, and graduate students from broader communities. However, since IACS spans multiple units and programs on campus, much of our work must be in partnership with others. Thus, while working with campus leadership to drive broader change, we must also focus on specific attainable objectives. There is much more work to be done and a great deal of learning and growth that must take place in order to create an inclusive community for all.
Our plan focuses on three high-level objectives:
- Increase the diversity of our students, staff, and faculty through enhanced recruitment and adoption of a proactive mindset toward accessibility;
- Support the success of students, staff, and faculty by eliminating barriers to participation, and through mentoring and professional development; and
- Promote a community within IACS that values diversity, including establishing policies, procedures, and structures to support and enable our vision.
For each of these we provide more details including metrics, targets, and concrete actions.
Goal 1: Increasing diversity
Our long-term commitment is that IACS reflects the composition of our larger society.
Metrics and targets: Over the next 5 years, we aim for the diversity of our student body to be in the top 10% of those on campus, and to have at least a half of all IACS faculty/staff searches result in diverse hires with a specific goal of increasing the number of faculty of color and the number of women participating in computationally-oriented research and scholarship.
Actions:
- Partner with leaders on campus including the Office of the Vice President of Equity and Inclusion (OVPEI), the Stony Brook WISE program, and the Center for Inclusive Education (CIE) to grow the number of URM graduate students and postdoctoral trainees at IACS, with an emphasis on both diversity and excellence.
- IACS funds application fee waivers for candidates who attend CIE/IACS recruiting and informational events. We will explore providing fee/tuition waivers to address economic barriers to advanced degrees.
- IACS will continue to support 50% of our Diversity Outreach Coordinator (dependent upon available budget and impact) to act as both a liaison and recruiter. OVPEI has already committed to this joint position, continuing the previous position joint with CIE. This position facilitates myriad recruiting and enrichment opportunities, for which IACS shares the cost or pays the full expense outright for IACS members (including faculty and students) to participate in recruiting events and at diversity-centered national and regional meetings such SACNAS (The Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science), ABRCMS (Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students), SREB (Southern Regional Education Board) and its Institute on Teaching and Mentoring, CMD-IT/ACM Richard Tapia Celebration Of Diversity In Computing Conference.
- We will partner and coordinate with academic units on admissions processes to promote recruitment and admission of computationally-oriented URM students. Elimination of relevant barriers is discussed below.
- The IACS New Recruit and Junior Researcher Awards, the IACS Graduate and Postdoctoral Fellowships, and other recruiting mechanisms will be evaluated, modified, and re-implemented as necessary to best serve these goals.
- Especially aiming to increase the number of faculty of color and the number of women participating in computationally-oriented research and scholarship, IACS will actively work with the Provost’s office and academic units to create and execute multiple pathways and opportunities to recruit and retain URM faculty.
- We will explore coordinating the IACS Postdoctoral Fellowship with an expanded version of the CAS IDEAS Fellowship. IACS has already contributed $20K startup funds for the very first IDEAS Fellow who will also be appointed as an IACS Affiliate. We will ensure a diverse applicant pool for academic and staff positions including by advertising on job boards of BIPOC focused professional organizations.
- Through and with on-campus partners we will strive to create and sustain strong K-12, university and industry partnerships to engage students from all backgrounds and ability levels, including creating pipelines for URM students into computational disciplines and careers. IACS will expand our two summer camps for high school students (IACS Computes! and Summer Youth Camp for Computational Linguistics, SYCCL) which also offer fee waivers as needed.
- Apply the Covid-era technology and methods to expand our reach into local primary school systems
Goal 2: Supporting success
Our students, faculty and staff should thrive and experience that IACS works proactively to support their success as well as their personal and professional growth.
Metrics and targets: Over the next 5 years we aim for our student graduation and retention rates to be in the top 10% of those on campus. Our surveys of IACS staff, faculty, and students including alumni should provide strong evidence of their engagement and positive perceptions.
Actions:
- IACS is committed to removing barriers for URM students, staff and faculty. Some recognized barriers include lack of academic preparation, financial hardship, admissions requirements especially for doctoral programs, lack of suitable mentors, and stereotype threat. Partnering with the graduate school and CIE, we will work directly with each collaborating department and graduate program to address barriers specific to each program, elevating solutions to be institute wide where possible.
- Building upon the graduate student surveys, the Professional Development Program will be continually refined and adapted to the changing needs of our community. This course of 10 career and 10 technical classes provides graduate students with the soft and technical skills necessary to be successful in their science professions. Elements to build an inclusive community and address other barriers will be woven throughout PDP.
- We will expand our program of internships and alumni visits, with an emphasis on minority students, to assist in creating career pathways and to address multiple barriers in entering the workforce.
- The IACS Student Association will receive at least $5K/year to support inclusive events directed towards community-building and student success, and the leader of the association will participate in staff and faculty monthly meetings, our annual retreat and other activities with an eye to leadership development. The IACS SA works closely with the IACS Educational Program Manager including to weave inclusion throughout all program elements.
- IACS will complete its roll out of our 3-mentor model and will formally assign peer and faculty mentors to all students when they enter IACS. All current and incoming IACS Core and Affiliate Faculty who are advising graduate students will complete the mentoring workshop developed for STRIDE/IACS by Dr. Christine O'Connell (formerly of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science) and IACS Educational Programs Manager Dr. Jennifer McCauley.
Goal 3: Promoting an inclusive culture
IACS will ensure it fairly supports all members, of all backgrounds, abilities, genders, ethnicities, and sexualities, to feel they can succeed, are heard and empowered, and are actively engaged with leadership.
Metrics and targets: Our surveys of IACS staff, faculty, and students including alumni should provide strong evidence of their engagement and positive perceptions.
Actions:
- IACS will implement an outcome-oriented and data-driven approach to establishing all elements of this plan, including establishing an annual survey(s) of students, staff and faculty (as well as finer-grain surveys of events and communities) to inform formative assessment of our programs. This will build upon success in using these tools in our STRIDE program, and will assist in tracking outcomes of expenditures and future planning.
- The Diversity Outreach Coordinator serves as a co-Chair of the IACS DEIA committee of faculty, staff, and current graduate students that reports to the Leadership Team. The committee will meet regularly to review all ongoing and planned activities for alignment with our DEI objectives including retention, and to propose new activities. All programs and activities will be examined. For instance, IACS Seed Grant Funding applications might be required to describe broader impacts and how projects will contribute to diversity and/or inclusion within the lab, academic department, the IACS and the discipline, with additional funds available to support such efforts.
- IACS will evaluate, formalize, and expand its program in diversity and inclusion, building on prior activities directed towards persons of color, individuals from the LGBTQ+ community, and women. Prior events include STRIDE-Con sessions directed towards inclusion and the LGBTQ+ panel event that provided an intimate setting for sharing lived experiences, finding support, and learning.
- All IACS staff, faculty and students will participate in implicit bias training offered by the university, with this training being repeated/expanded for those responsible for leadership, recruiting, or admissions. For IACS Faculty serving on admissions committees, this will provide resources to educate and reduce instances of bias in the review and evaluation of graduate applications from underrepresented and graduate applications from domestic, diverse candidates.
- IACS will include in core faculty performance evaluation their participation activities directed towards increasing inclusion and diversity, and ensuring the success of underrepresented students, staff, and faculty. For instance, an in-person or virtual college visit, attendance at a national conference such as the Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing, assisting with the coordination of a recruitment or research talk by initiating connections with prominent faculty in the field, serving on the admissions committee within their academic department, and advocating for IACS recruits in the admissions review and selection process. Essentially, in one's service to their discipline, IACS faculty should be including DEI activities, and that service to one's community will represent part of one's IACS evaluation. We will create a set of metrics for the evaluation that will be discussed with the Faculty and their home departments.
- We will incorporate new components into the PDP curricula that enhance cross-cultural understanding and communication skills (being sensitive not singling out the female and URM graduate students), as well as educating domestic and international students on how to be an ally for diversity and inclusion in their respective fields.
- We will identify key performance indicators for self-assessment, for comparison with similar organizations, and to make data actionable.
[1] Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering, National Science Foundation, 2019.