Diversity Action Plan

The MagLab trains tommorrow's scientists through programs such as Research Experiences for Undergraduates.

The Diversity Action Plan was first developed in 2004 and updated in 2007 and 2011. A Diversity Advisory Committee advises laboratory leadership and an internal Diversity Committee on opportunities to promote diversity in hiring and outreach.

Building diversity permanence into the MagLab scientific population

• Continue to ensure that at least one member from the MagLab Diversity Committee actively serves on each MagLab Search Committee to increase awareness and knowledge of diversity issues within every search committee.
• Continue to train MagLab managers and search committees using Faculty Recruitment for Excellence and Diversity (FRED) classes, which are based on materials from the STRIDE program at the University of Michigan and other successful programs. FRED is required attendance for any scientist to serve on a scientific search committee. 
• Continue to advertise in venues that reach women and minorities (special subgroups of professional organizations, focused conferences and workshops, etc.), e.g., Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), Association for Women in Science (AWIS), National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP).
• Develop written bylaws for a scientific search process to specify the search committee composition, describe and adopt “open” searches and candidate evaluation tools, as well as other strategies based on STRIDE and other successful programs. The goal is to ensure that more than one female and/or minority candidate are invited to visit the MagLab as a finalist candidate for each search, as this disproportionately increases the likelihood that a woman and/or minority scientist will be hired.
• Continue to require each search committee to summarize specific efforts to recruit scientific staff from underrepresented groups.
• Maintain new hires at a rate above the present level of diversity at the MagLab, particularly for senior hires into permanent scientific positions. Continue to track progress using the three-year running averages of diversity statistics to provide annual concrete feedback while minimizing statistical fluctuations in this assessment.
• Provide an environment for success of MagLab new hires from underrepresented groups by providing mentors, opportunities to network within and beyond the MagLab. Organize new Faculty Mentorship Workshops, based on STRIDE and other similar programs, to train mentors.
• Promote retention of staff members in underrepresented groups by monitoring and cultivating progress at all career stages, including not only formal performance appraisals but also informal reviews among mentors and attention to maintaining a receptive and responsive workplace environment at the MagLab. Organize new workshops on Women and Leadership in the Sciences and Engineering, based on STRIDE and other similar programs.
• Continue to promote family-friendly policies, such as the recently launched the Dependent Care Travel Grant Program.

Developing and cultivating individually-crafted early career opportunities for members of underrepresented groups at the undergraduate level and above

• Continue to establish and cultivate relationships with historically black, Hispanic and female universities through the NHMFL CO-WIN (College Outreach-Workforce Initiative) program of exchanging scientific visits.
• Continue to invite identified individuals to apply to the MagLab's REU, postdoc and Visiting Scientist programs, including those positions reserved for underrepresented groups.
• Continue to provide financial support for summer research collaborations and seek year-round collaborations with scientists from underrepresented groups, including supporting proposals originated by these scientists.
• Continue to actively recruit members of underrepresented groups at all times, not only when there are predetermined searches. Maintain and cultivate relationships with potential candidates over many years.
• Continue to network to discover unforeseen opportunities to hire, including offering invited talks to female and minority faculty to visit the MagLab and establish connections with MagLab scientists.

Aiming educational outreach for K-12 and the general public to broad and diverse groups

• Continue to aim MagLab education and outreach to a diverse and large population of young students and the general public, to teach the importance of science as a career to the individual and the nation.
• Continue to broadly advertise the MagLab’s Annual Open House, as well as its REU and RET programs and assess the diversity of the group benefiting from each of these programs.
• Continue to aim MagLab education and outreach to the general public and government officials, to present scientific research as an engine for economic growth and national prosperity.

Maintaining awareness among MagLab staff and user programs that Diversity Matters

• Understand the national importance of increasing the diversity of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) population throughout the United States, by having active Diversity Advisory and Diversity Committees, periodic labwide informational meetings, FRED and other workshops, and permanent diversity resources on the MagLab website.
• Understand MagLab diversity in the national context, including the monitoring of progress through the maintenance of MagLab and national statistics on diversity.
• Continue to document evidence of success and ongoing improvement that will be available for presentation during the NSF Site Visit. This report is discussed at the meetings of the MagLab Executive Committee and forms a part of the MagLab Annual Report and the Mid-Year Diversity Report. The MagLab Annual Report is submitted to the NSF annually and is a primary document given to external review committees. The report focuses on measurable objectives, e.g., increases in participation of underrepresented students in MagLab programs, in MagLab research papers with authors from underrepresented groups, in scientific collaborations with scientists from underrepresented groups, the MagLab demographics, etc.

Maintaining frequent external guidance and review of MagLab diversity issues

• Continue to incorporate diversity presentations and discussions into meetings of the MagLab User Committee, the MagLab External Advisory Committee and at NSF Site Visits.
• Ensure that the Diversity Committee, the Diversity Advisory Committee, and the MagLab External Advisory Committee include a diverse membership, as well as university, regional and national leaders working to improve diversity in the scientific workforce of the future.
• Continue to seek to increase the diversity of the MagLab’s User Committee, whose membership is determined by vote of the user community, through active recruiting of a diverse slate of candidates.

For more information, please contact Dragana Popovic, Director of the Diversity Program.