Friday Evening Lecture Series: “Finding a Place in Science: Life Sciences and Lived Experiences” – Shirley Malcom, AAAS SEA Change

Many people from communities of color interested in STEMM gravitate toward life sciences because of the opportunities to answer questions that spring from their lives or that address issues experienced in their communities. This presents both challenges and opportunities: Challenges to the discipline when the current framing of research questions does not incorporate the concerns and perspectives of these communities and opportunities within the disciplines when they do. Drawing from historical and contemporaneous examples, the lecture will explore the inexorable link between equity and excellence in STEMM and why we cannot back away from a commitment to inclusion.

Shirley Malcom is Senior Advisor to the CEO and Director of the SEA Change initiative at American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She works to improve the quality and increase access to education and careers in STEM fields as well as to enhance public science literacy. Dr. Malcom is a trustee of Caltech, a regent of Morgan State University, and a member of the SUNY Research Council. She is a former member of the National Science Board, the policymaking body of the National Science Foundation, and served on President Clinton’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology. Malcom, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, received her PhD in ecology from Pennsylvania State University, a master’s degree in zoology from UCLA, and a bachelor’s degree with distinction in zoology from the University of Washington. She also holds 16 honorary degrees. Malcom serves on the boards of the Heinz Endowments, Public Agenda, the National Math-Science Initiative, and Digital Promise. Internationally, she is a leader in efforts to improve access of girls and women to education and careers in science and engineering and to increase the use of Science and Technology (S&T) to empower women and address problems they face in their daily lives, serving as co-chair of the Gender Advisory Board of the UN Commission on S&T for Development and Gender InSITE, a global campaign to deploy S&T to help improve the lives and status of girls and women. In 2003, Dr. Malcom received the Public Welfare Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, the highest award given by the Academy.