Black Lives Matter

Statement from the Members of the Sethupathy Lab

Statement from the Director of the National Institutes of Health

 

BIPOC-focused lab meetings

In our group, we dedicate every other weekly lab meeting to conversations and actions about equity in science, especially as it pertains to the explicit and implicit bias against historically-excluded communities.  During the Summer of 2020, we read individually and reviewed collectively the following articles, which stimulated rich discussions and difficult but extraordinarily important reflections.  This directly led to renewed commitment and action pertaining to diversity, inclusion, and belonging for the Cornell Center for Vertebrate Genomics.

During the Fall of 2020, each lab member studied and presented on the lives of two different historical pioneers (scientists and inventors) from the Black community who were not given the credit due to them for their extraordinary work.  The intent of this activity was two-fold: to become better-versed with our country’s history and to promote individuals from communities of color as scholars, leaders, and pioneers in their own right, even in the face of persecution, discrimination, and systemic bias.

During the Spring of 2021, we are studying leaders and pioneers from the Indigenous community.  We encourage everyone to learn more about Cornell’s American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program (AAISP) and Land Acknowledgements.

Since Fall of 2021, we have named these meetings TRUE, for Truthful Recognition of Unsung Excellence.  We continue to research, study, present, and highlight leaders from communities who are marginalized and/or historically not given the credit they deserve.