“One voice can change a room, and if one voice can change a room, then it can change a city, and if it can change a city, it can change a state, and if it change a state, it can change a nation, and if it can change a nation, it can change the world. Your voice can change the world.” -- Barack Obama
Even as an undergrad, in addition to research and classes, I work to improve the climate in my department and community. Issues and crises are not unheard of at Berkeley, as in many institutions, but I'd like to think that my presence as a student and the things I've organized and fought for has improved the environment by just a little.
Undergraduate-wide:
When I arrived as a freshman, there was no organization to inform or support undergraduate Astronomy majors, thus I founded the Undergraduate Astronomy Society, a group that now facilitates meetings and socials, offers research presentation opportunities, and invites undergraduate collaboration to all declared and undeclared majors.
When the new Campbell Hall was constructed, many doors were (literally) locked to undergraduates and at the time there was no formal method for complaint or compromise. I fought for increased undergraduate representation in the department, which eventually led to the formation of an elected undergraduate representative, who has a seat at department meetings and vocalizes community concern. This position has now worked with the department to allow undergraduate access to many more areas of the building, and works to continue to improve the undergraduate experience.
Department-wide:
During the TMT protests at Mauna Kea, and after a few members of the Astronomy community spoke negatively about the Native Hawaiian community, I facilitated a group discussion between the Berkeley Astrophysics and Berkeley Native communities. As a student astronomer and leader in the Berkeley undergraduate Native community, my aim was to bring these separate communities together in dialogue and help astronomers understand how the quest for science, perhaps while well-intentioned, acts as an agent for colonialism and harms communities. While a single dialogue on its own cannot account for or begin to heal the impacts of generations of imperialism, it opened this channel of communication and many conversations have been sparked since. Shortly after, I was invited to the Indigenous World Views in Informal Science Eduction workshop held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which had attendees that ranged from astronomers to tribal elders, and many conversations were held there that spoke to the intersections of science education and indigenous knowledge.
A few months later during the sexual assault crisis in the department, I helped organize the undergraduate voice in collaboration with each level of the department to enact change, not only for that instance, but department-wide. There is now a board of Astronomy Climate Advisors within the department, with a representative at each level of the community, that serves as a point of contact for issues of harassment and works to asses and improve the department climate.
Additionally, it was from those several months of conversation between colleagues that emerged the Berkeley AstroJustice group, a weekly discussion group that talks about wide-spread issues in the astronomy community, reviews articles, and shares best practices to help members of the department become better scientists and better people
Going forward
My time at Berkeley is coming to an end, but never wavering is my commitment to a healthy, happy, and inclusive astronomy community. No matter what institution I end up attending, I will continue to work to support my peers and community members in every capacity I can. This summer I was sponsored by NRAO to attend the Women in Astronomy IV meeting in Austin, TX, and I was overwhelmingly impressed with the number of attendees, the presentations given, and the discussions that followed. There's a lot to work on in the community, but you can count on me to be there through it all. I aim to attend this meeting as well as others for many years going forward, as well as engage in online conversations through the Equity & Inclusion in Physics & Astronomy facebook page and on Twitter. My inbox is always open for collaboration!
Undergraduate-wide:
When I arrived as a freshman, there was no organization to inform or support undergraduate Astronomy majors, thus I founded the Undergraduate Astronomy Society, a group that now facilitates meetings and socials, offers research presentation opportunities, and invites undergraduate collaboration to all declared and undeclared majors.
When the new Campbell Hall was constructed, many doors were (literally) locked to undergraduates and at the time there was no formal method for complaint or compromise. I fought for increased undergraduate representation in the department, which eventually led to the formation of an elected undergraduate representative, who has a seat at department meetings and vocalizes community concern. This position has now worked with the department to allow undergraduate access to many more areas of the building, and works to continue to improve the undergraduate experience.
Department-wide:
During the TMT protests at Mauna Kea, and after a few members of the Astronomy community spoke negatively about the Native Hawaiian community, I facilitated a group discussion between the Berkeley Astrophysics and Berkeley Native communities. As a student astronomer and leader in the Berkeley undergraduate Native community, my aim was to bring these separate communities together in dialogue and help astronomers understand how the quest for science, perhaps while well-intentioned, acts as an agent for colonialism and harms communities. While a single dialogue on its own cannot account for or begin to heal the impacts of generations of imperialism, it opened this channel of communication and many conversations have been sparked since. Shortly after, I was invited to the Indigenous World Views in Informal Science Eduction workshop held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which had attendees that ranged from astronomers to tribal elders, and many conversations were held there that spoke to the intersections of science education and indigenous knowledge.
A few months later during the sexual assault crisis in the department, I helped organize the undergraduate voice in collaboration with each level of the department to enact change, not only for that instance, but department-wide. There is now a board of Astronomy Climate Advisors within the department, with a representative at each level of the community, that serves as a point of contact for issues of harassment and works to asses and improve the department climate.
Additionally, it was from those several months of conversation between colleagues that emerged the Berkeley AstroJustice group, a weekly discussion group that talks about wide-spread issues in the astronomy community, reviews articles, and shares best practices to help members of the department become better scientists and better people
Going forward
My time at Berkeley is coming to an end, but never wavering is my commitment to a healthy, happy, and inclusive astronomy community. No matter what institution I end up attending, I will continue to work to support my peers and community members in every capacity I can. This summer I was sponsored by NRAO to attend the Women in Astronomy IV meeting in Austin, TX, and I was overwhelmingly impressed with the number of attendees, the presentations given, and the discussions that followed. There's a lot to work on in the community, but you can count on me to be there through it all. I aim to attend this meeting as well as others for many years going forward, as well as engage in online conversations through the Equity & Inclusion in Physics & Astronomy facebook page and on Twitter. My inbox is always open for collaboration!