Coalition for Diversifying Science

Our Inclusion & Diversity team hosts workshops to support students’ classroom learning. We partner with the Office of Undergraduate Research to teach students about how to find research on campus and during the summer.

 It can be difficult to make connections during class, so the College of Science hosts Community Nights for students across campus. We partner with the Cultural & Community Centers, the Women’s Center, First Generation Student Support and more to provide a range of spaces for students to connect.

We know the transition into college can be challenging and we want to provide students with the support they need. Incoming freshmen from underrepresented and underserved communities can sign up to have a mentor in their first fall semester. They will meet with their peer mentor, an upperclassman with a similar academic and cultural background, once a week for the first 13 weeks of the semester. Incoming freshmen should check their VT email for more information the summer before they arrive on campus.

In partnership with the College of Science Inclusion & Diversity Committee, we host an Undergraduate Research Mixer once a semester. At this mixer, faculty and graduate students present their research to undergraduates to recruit students for their labs. Finding undergraduate research can be daunting, so our mixer breaks down barriers between faculty and students and facilitates the research process.

The Student Opportunity & Achievement Resources (SOAR) Program provides holistic support to underrepresented minority students through one on one coaching and collaboration with academic units. We are supporting SOAR in their goal of reaching each and every underrepresented minority student in the College of Science. Meet our SOAR Coach, Seth Sterlin.

The College of Science has invested $40,000 a year in our Dean's Graduate Awards for Excellence (DGAE). These awards will provide up to $4,000 during a student’s first 3 years of graduate study to support student research for diverse graduate students being offered graduate admission. Funds may be used to cover expenses such as conference travel, summer stipend, equipment, books, etc. This initiative seeks to enhance the success of students from these populations, thereby bolstering diversity from underrepresented or underserved groups within a specific field or discipline, and with a focus on drawing students from within the United States. Since this program was launched in 2018, we have made 49 offers with 21 acceptances.

This is a yearly fellowship program designed to support faculty or staff in the College of Science who are interested in assisting the COS Director of Inclusion and Diversity in planning, implementing, coordinating, and assessing the College's efforts in advancing inclusivity for, and diversity of, all the stakeholders in the College: students, faculty, and staff. These fellows propose goals/programs/plans they would like to initiate in the coming year. Such proposals might include support for current faculty, programs for undergraduates, and/or outreach. Each fellowship comes with a $4,000 stipend and access to a budget to support the enactment of programs and initiatives.

Applications are accepted by Sept 30, with awards granted on the calendar year.

Recent awardees

As an inaugural fellow, Alma Robinson, a Teacher in Residence in the physics department, is developing curricula that College of Science First-Year Experience faculty could easily implement in their classrooms to talk about race, gender, and LGBTQ+ representation issues with their students.

Dr. Meryl Mims, an assistant professor of biological sciences and the other inaugural fellow, is spending her fellowship expanding a workshop program she designed to support students applying for the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). This expansion will feature a special focus and emphasis on mentoring and supporting students from traditionally underrepresented and underserved populations.