Please join us Monday, November 16 during the normal colloquium hour (12:00-1:00) for a special seminar focused on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) in the scientific community. We encourage all members of the EPS-ESE community to attend as we discuss this very important topic.

Speaker: Christina Richey, NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) – "Let’s Talk IDEA in Science"

Abstract: IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) work has become a focal point for many scientific communities in recent years, including the planetary science and astrophysics communities. Demographic studies (meant to understand the diversity of a population), workplace climate surveys (which seek to understand issues with inclusion and accessibility), and major national reports (which are created to help shape that policies that lead to equity) will all be discussed, and examples from recent reports will be used. One of the example studies that will be shown is the CSWA Survey on Workplace Climate (which the speaker is a co-author and lead organizer for), which sought to discover whether scientists in the astronomical and planetary science communities experienced a hostile work environment. Notable conclusions from this survey include that inappropriate comments, harassment, and assault lead to a number of scientists feeling unsafe in their workplaces, and pursuing fewer scholarly opportunities as a direct result of these experiences. These results were directly connected to diversity, with intersectionally-underrepresented populations typically reporting the most harassment. This presentation will also highlight not only the problems being seen within these field, but also the solutions being worked out to mitigate biases and harassment within the sciences. The conversation will additionally include a discussion on allyship and leadership’s responsibility to create safe environments. This presentation is meant for anyone looking to improve their work climate and create a safe, welcoming community for all scientists to achieve success.

Bio: Dr. Christina R. Richey is the Program Manager for the Planetary Science Research & Analysis Office at JPL. Dr. Richey provides guidance on best practices for proposal submission and review and is additionally an affiliate on the Europa Clipper Mission. Prior to joining NASA JPL in 2018, Christina worked at NASA HQ as a Program Officer and the Deputy Science Advisor for R&A. In addition to their science management activities, Dr. Richey has held several leadership positions and is currently the co-Chair of the EDI Working Group of the NASA Planetary Science Division Assessment Groups, which recently worked to create and highlight major IDEA paper efforts for the 2023 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey. Dr. Richey was a member of the NASA Headquarters Working Group on Implicit Bias, as well as a member of the Hubble Space Telescope Working Group on Anonymizing Proposal Reviews, which won a 2020 NASA Group Achievement Award. They have also been awarded a Special Service Award at NASA HQ (2014) for their work within the Planetary Science community. In 2015, Dr. Richey was honored with the AAS DPS Meritorious Career Service Award, the Harold Masursky Award.

Host: Marisa Borreggine