Name: Alycia Mosley Austin
Job: Director of Graduate Recruitment and Diversity Initiatives and Executive Coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program at the University of Rhode Island
Source: Branching Points [original post from June 2013]
Excerpt:
I was perhaps a little too involved with campus organizations during graduate school, which is related to the fact that my original advisor and I did not make a good match. I didn’t feel supported and my research was not progressing, so I sought opportunities away from research where I could feel competent, that my contributions were valuable, and that were enjoyable. Many of these activities were similar to the types of service that I did as an undergraduate, such as Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) and Brain Awareness Week, so in a way I continued on the path I’d started before starting graduate school.
This list doesn’t include everything I did, but this it will give you an idea of the ways in which I was involved as a graduate student outside of the lab. I served on committees related to recruiting a diverse pool of graduate students. I was a founding member, vice president, and then president of Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (GradWiSE). For two summers I was a mentor in a program that provided underrepresented, undergraduate science students with an intensive summer research experience in preparation for graduate school. I participated in both neuroscience and genetics science outreach programs in public schools and at the local science museum.
All of these experiences helped me to develop a unique set of skills, including the ability to work on collaborative projects with every possible campus constituent from students and faculty in other departments to senior staff and administrators.
Read the rest at Branching Points.
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