How do you find a peer support group when you are still learning? Dr. Alie Male arrived at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in 2019, eager to start her postdoctoral training in neuroscience. Upon her arrival, she unsuccessfully scoured the university website for opportunities to connect with other postdoctoral fellows
Original Articles
2024
Natalie Ringdahl and Alberto I. Roca, Ph.D.
2023
Lino Gonzalez, Ph.D.
This article was originally published in 2005.
Chris Blagden, Ph.D., and Ivonne Vidal Pizarro, Ph.D.
This article was originally published in 2007.
Tips on Decision Making, Applying, and Interviewing for the All-Important Postdoc
Clinton Parks and Alberto I. Roca, Ph.D.
Reporting on the #DivSch21 Lee plenary session.
2022
Have you ever wondered what it is like to learn new concepts in a language that is not your mother tongue? The language barrier for accessing knowledge is one that many Latinx people experience throughout their life, especially in science.
“Find a postdoc that adds VALUE to your career trajectory.”
Alberto I. Roca, Ph.D.
This article was originally published in 2006.
2021
Mani-Jade Garcia and Alberto I. Roca PhD
Reporting on the #SciTalk21 #BlackInSTEM session.
“For me, all of these groups represent a big tree of soothing that is long in coming.”
Clinton Parks, Stacey Glasgow, Edward Krug, and Alberto I. Roca
Reporting on the #NPA2021 Chalk Talks session.
2020
Reporting on the Latinx University Collaborative session of the #NLPA2020 conference
Funding drives the success and stability of a postdoctoral experience. A prospective postdoc benefits from thorough planning since when monies run out, there are no graduate student-like funding mechanisms to act as a safety net, e.g. teaching assistant positions.
For colored girls who consider a PhD when a Bachelor's wasn't enough: blogging while Black and female, writing my way through graduate school and a postdoc saved my sanity
2019
At the 2014 ScienceOnline conference, the scioDiversity session set out to identify and to address the pathologies surrounding privilege and how they impact the accessibility of STEM education.
A graduate student developed a rubric evaluating candidates for research-intensive faculty positions.
A lack of diverse storytellers harms the future of science, justice, and equality. How do we fix it?
I’m a small woman: only about 5 feet tall and a hundred pounds. And my features are eclectic. My nose? I can never decide if it’s the Sanchez nose I inherited from my Mexican side or the droopier nose, from my Japanese. But more than what I look like, I’ve been sure of who I am: a woman who loved science.
2018
Broad communication via social media can bring attention to science and more importantly to the scientist. Recognition leads to more resources and opportunities. Unfortunately in this contest, the challenges are magnified against minorities. Here I provide examples about how social media can be used to diversify the sciences for the benefit of those underrepresented minorities in STEM
Querida Familia. We need to talk. We want you to understand why Black lives are so important to us and hope you will join us in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Those of us who speak science for a living have to face a difficult unfortunate truth — people tend to listen mostly to others they think are part of their own group.
My first daughter broke through a chunk of the glass ceiling in November - a tribute to her passion and persistence - and an important event tucked in the shadow of National Native American History month.
2017
Kathleen Hall Jamieson is the doyenne of political communication. She said political orientation is often related to what folks think about science.
Science journalists who speak to the more than half a billion Latin Americans living in 33 nations share challenges with global counterparts. However, they often contend with added roadblocks to reaching audiences and enhancing their professional development.
At a July gathering of researchers in Houston, TX, a postdoctoral fellow from Johns Hopkins shared with new friends how disorienting it was to be from a family of non-scientists during graduate school.
2016
How does the DNA fit into the nucleus? To answer that question, Baylor College of Medicine geneticist Erez Lieberman Aiden and his team are investigating how genome remains functional in spite of being packed into such tight space.
On October 29, 2016, in a building built by missionaries on Apache land, a Mexican science journalist named Emiliano Rodríguez Mega asked a question: Why are we still talking about diversity? The short answer is: Science writing still does not represent the diversity of the people that it serves.
Reporting on the #SciWri16 #ComoSciWri session.
Reporting on the #SciWri16 #GardenRoots session.
Recap of the #NAJA31 Best Practices for Science & Health Reporting session.
2015
Reporting on the #SciWri15 #WhatsaUCE session.
Reporting on the #SciWri15 #OtherStories session.
Reporting on the #SciWri15 conference.
Reporting on the #SciWri15 #TinyThrusters session.
Reporting on the #SciWri15 #AppsRule session.
While attending the 2015 ScienceWriters conference at MIT as a DiverseScholar fellow, I had the opportunity to interview
At their fall 2015 conference, members of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) got the opportunity to share their story ideas to science magazine editors at the
Reporting on the #SciWri15 #SciWriWomen session.
Reporting on the #SciWri15 #ExoplanetScience session.
The 2015 Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference brought together over 800 students, faculty, researchers, and industry professionals in Boston, Massachusetts in order to promote diversity in computer science.
2014
The basement was packed, and dozens of voices filled the space. I hear the bartender said they were not expecting this big a turnout at the diversity mixer, they expected at best seventy people. I estimate there were at least twice as many.
Coastal tribes began documenting thousands of dead fish, crabs and other alarming changes on the beaches of Washington State's rugged coastline in 2006.
I had the great opportunity to attend the Supporting Diversity in Science Writing panel at the
Here's the good news first -- the representation of women and ethnic minorities in science and science journalism has increased in recent decades. Here's the bad news -- the overall pace of diversification remains pretty slow.
Reporting from an indigenous perspective strives to change the public's perception of issues that are important to Indian Country and worldwide Indigenous Peoples, by reporting their issues as they perceive them.
We live in a world of have and have-nots. Both groups have the same goal: to be healthy and happy. However, the haves are the science-rich who have a deep understanding and access to science resources, while the have-nots are science-poor.
How would readers react to a self-proclaimed science news report about the misguided "connection" between race and IQ?
2013
Alberto I. Roca, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral scholars are the primary candidate pool for open faculty positions especially in the STEM disciplines at research universities. Mentoring minority postdocs will create a talent pool for recruiting future faculty of color. We will describe our MinorityPostdoc.org website, DiverseScholar Doctoral Directory, and professional development & advocacy activities that are directed toward diversifying the professoriate. We also present the results of our diverse postdocs survey revealing the demographics of our faculty candidate pool.
2012
My current position is the culmination of many years of hard work as an undergraduate, graduate student, and a postdoctoral associate. This is my opportunity to share my love of science with undergraduates in the classroom and through research in the lab. I wear my Ph.D. title proudly, because I know that it has not been years, but generations of hard work, dedication, and sacrifice that have gotten me to where I am today.
Alberto I. Roca, Ph.D.
These comments draw attention to the needs of underrepresented postdocs. Postdoctoral scholars, not students, are the primary candidate pool for open faculty positions especially in the STEM disciplines. Most federally-funded STEM diversity interventions promote diversifying the professoriate as their program’s goal. However, intervention activities only target the beginning of the training “pipeline” (from K12 up thru the doctoral graduate student stage) thereby leaving these student alumni exposed to vulnerabilities during their postdoctoral training.
Story-telling at the ScienceOnline2012 #scio12 #diversity Session
No wonder American Indians have a problem with the concept of Science (with a capital "S") -- in most North American indigenous languages there is no word for science.
2011
The "Diversity in Science" blog carnivals have returned with the theme of LGBT science and scientists. A blog carnival is one
Alberto I. Roca, Ph.D.
Welcome to the first printed issue of DiverseScholar, a collection of original articles published online on my web portal MinorityPostdoc.org and soon on their own web portal DiverseScholar.org. This is a dream come true for me.
Every year thousands of students, professionals, and professors gather at the annual conference of SACNAS: the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science.
2010
Alberto I. Roca, Ph.D.,
The National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals held an Out to Innovate career summit, a first-of-its-kind event for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender professionals in the scientific and technical workforces.
Reporting from the SACNAS National Conference, San Jose, California.
Alberto I. Roca, Ph.D.
Ethnic minorities are underrepresented among faculty in academia. This situation motivates interventions that promote minority students to pursue a doctoral degree. However, the postdoctoral population is the actual talent pool for a faculty search especially in the STEM disciplines.
Alberto I. Roca, Ph.D.
In 2000, the National Academies' Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP) published a report which attempted to address issues of particular importance to postdocs who were members of underrepresen