WP3: Diversity and inclusion
WP leaders: Professors Melina Duarte and Abhik Ghosh
The project seeks to develop tools and content aimed at making teaching and mentoring more welcoming and inclusive for all – women and men, LGBTQIA+ individuals, visible minorities, and individuals with disabilities.
This work package builds on three major international projects.
1. The 2011 popular science book Letters to a Young Chemist career choices in chemistry research as viewed by a hypothetical female undergrad Angela. With a foreword by the renowned bioinorganic chemist Stephen Lippard and edited by project leader Abhik Ghosh, the book presents sage advice from many of chemistry's leading – and especially leading female – practitioners.
2. A biography of porphyrin legend Martin Gouterman, one of the first openly gay chemists of modern times: Ghosh, A. An Exemplary Gay Scientist and Mentor: Martin Gouterman (1931-2020). Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 9760-9770. For a shorter account, published on LGBTSTEMDay 2020, see: Ghosh, A. Martin Gouterman: the gay man behind the four-orbital model. ChemistryWorld 2020 (December), 36-37.
3. A Virtual Issue of Inorganic Chemistry showcasing cutting-edge research by 38 queer inorganic chemists. For the editorial, see: Ghosh, A.; Tolman, W. B. Out in Inorganic Chemistry: A Celebration of LGBTQIAPN+ Inorganic Chemists. Inorg. Chem. 2022, 61, 5435-5441. See also the closely related and nearly contemporaneous 2022 Trailblazers issue of C&E News.
Our current efforts span a wide range. One key project is aimed at creating and implementing more effective teaching methods for neurodivergent students. In a second project, we are working with the legendary blind paleontologist Geerat Vermeij to shine a light on students and scientists with even more severe disabilities.
Check out a recent interview of Abhik as a queer chemist: Ghosh, A. Queer in Chem: Q&A with Professor Abhik Ghosh. Communications Chemistry 2023, 6, 208.