July's Voice of PSC : 

• Date: July 20, 2023 at 1PM
• Meeting recording: Watch here
• Speaker: Lia Garvin, Workplace Strategist
• Topic: Owning Our Accomplishments
• Meeting info: Join on Zoom - Add to Calendar
• Abstract: With performance appraisal season right around the corner, everyone will want to join this month’s Voice of PSC conversation with renowned workplace strategist Lia Garvin. Harvard Business Review, CNN Business, Fast Company, and more have all featured Garvin’s content, which helps give participants concrete tools for building confidence in talking about their work and owning their accomplishments and impact.
  Why do we get stuck when talking about our work? What are the consequence of not talking about it? The good news is, we have the power to reframe our relationship with talking about our work.

August's Voice of PSC : 

• Date: August 17, 2023 at 1PM
• Meeting info: Join on Zoom - Add to Calendar
• Speaker: Dr Steve Robbins, S.L. Robbins & Associates
• Title: Your Brain is Good at Inclusion... Except When It's Not
• Abstract:
  This workshop provides an innovative, neuroscience-based look at the benefits of creating inclusive workplaces. Using the fields of cognitive neuroscience, social-psychology, and communication (among others), Dr. Robbins explores the human, hard-wired need to belong – and what happens when that need is not met. He demonstrates how our brain has natural and developed tendencies (e.g. unconscious biases) that can help us achieve goals, but also lead to unintended consequences, like the exclusion of others who are different than us. He provides listeners with terms and a language that invite people into productive conversations about inclusion and diversity. In the end, Dr. Robbins shows that the key to battling bias and a cultivating a more inclusive organizational culture begins with a practical understanding of how the brain operates, but ultimately requires continuous and intentional practice of fundamental skills (i.e., open-mindedness and mindful engagement). With such skills, organizations have a strong foundation for creating and maintaining an environment that unleashes everyone’s talents and skills.
  
  This workshop makes a compelling, neuroscience-grounded case for why addressing inclusion and diversity is not an option, but an organizational imperative for excelling in a dynamic, 21st century world. And as always, Dr. Robbins brings all this science-based content neatly packaged in real-world relevance, a good dose of storytelling and laugh-out-loud humor. Ultimately, listeners will walk away with 1) a greater motivation to engage the work of inclusion and diversity, 2) better understand what that work looks like, and 3) how such work will enhance individual and organizational performance.

June's Voice of PSC : 

• Date: June 15, 2023 at 1PM
• Meeting recording: Watch here
• Speaker: Jeannie Gainsburg, Savvy Ally Action
• Topic: Good Talk: The Art of Having Useful Conversations
• Meeting info: Join on Zoom - Add to Calendar
• Abstract: Successful diversity and inclusion initiatives involve creating judgment-free spaces where people can share their experiences, listen to each other, forgive mistakes, and encourage everyone to learn and grow. Yet the barriers to establishing these spaces in our increasingly polarized society can seem daunting. Starting with a conversation about how people learn, this workshop offers effective shame-free communication techniques that reduce defensiveness and open people’s ears to new ideas. Participants will leave feeling more confident in their skills as listeners and educators and more effective in their LGBTQ+ inclusion and advocacy efforts.

• Date: April 20, 2023 at 1PM
• Meeting recording: Watch here
• Speaker: Dr Lou Strolger, Johns Hopkins University
• Topic: Reducing systemic biases through anonymized application processes
• Abstract: Dr. Louis-Gregory (Lou) Strolger is an Observatory Scientist and Deputy Head of the Instruments Division at Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), and a Research Scientist in Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University. His scientific research explores supernovae, cosmology, and dark energy, where he primarily works on the nature of supernovae progenitors. Dr. Strolger has been involved in science policy for much of his professional career. Notably, he had a key role in developing the dual-anonymous peer review process for observing time on the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been adopted at many astronomical observatories, and is rapidly gaining interest in physics communities and with federal granting agencies.

• Date: April 19, 2023 at 1PM
• Meeting recording: Watch here
• Speakers: Dr Kristen Liesch, Forbes “D&I Trailblazer” and co-founder and co-CEO at Tidal Equality, & Dr. Sonali Mohapatra, Quantum Innovation Sector Lead at the National Quantum Computing Centre, Director of the Prospero Space Fellowship, and Founding Member and Chair of New Voices in Space Working Group on the Scottish Space Leadership Council.
• Topic: The power of small disturbances, the promise of ‘domino dynamics,’ and how to innovate for a more equitable future.
• Abstract:

  The grand challenges we face today - like climate change and inequality - can seem intractable. After all, the systems we live, work, and learn within are imbued with implicit bias and continue to produce inequitable and unjust outcomes. The field of science is no exception. Today, because bias, discrimination and inequity continue to prevent the full diversity of voices - and their ideas, questions, and solutions - from reaching the world’s megaphones and shaping what happens inside and outside the laboratory, we are necessarily stymying our progress toward a more equitable and sustainable world.  
  
  But this doesn't have to be our story.  
  
  With the need for innovation more urgent than ever, and a collective imperative to create the conditions where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed and reach their full potential, small systemic disturbances have the power to create seismic change. And each of us can play an active role in creating those disturbances.In this session, you’ll hear a guest perspective from Dr. Sonali Mohapatra who will describe why now is the time to innovate the systems in the field of science for greater equity and equitable scientific innovation. Dr. Kristen Liesch will explore how small disturbances and ‘domino dynamics’ have the power to transform our systems and drive a more equitable and innovative future. She will share insight drawing on the science of behavioral change and the art of social change, and provide practical examples and tactics you can use to create “small disturbances” of your own.

• Date: March 16, 2023 at 1PM
• Speakers: Dr Jess Wade, Imperial College London
• Topic: Jess Wade is creating inclusion in STEM, one page at a time: Meet the person who added 1,700+ underrepresented scientists to Wikipedia
• Meeting info: Join on Zoom
• Abstract: Jess Wade is a British physicist in the Blackett Laboratory at Imperial College London, specializing in Raman spectroscopy. Her research investigates polymer-based organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Her public engagement work in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) advocates to increase gender equality and diversity in science as well as tackling systemic biases such as gender and racial bias on Wikipedia. Since the start of 2018 she has written the Wikipedia biographies of women and people of color scientists every single day.

• Speakers: Carolyn Tomchik, ABLED Employee Resource Group & Chris Gorman, PSC DEIA Council Member
• Topic: Disability Equity in the Workplace
• Abstract: Carolyn and Chris introduce the concept of disability equity, different workplace situations that can present challenges for people with disabilities, and best practices for workplace disability inclusion. Following the presentation, we invite open discussion and reflect on how we can apply the concepts to promote a more inclusive and equitable workplace in PSC.
• Slides in box
• Recording from 2021 in box
• Resources:
  • A to Z of Disabilities and Accommodations: askjan.org
  • IFES Inclusion Inside
  • ABLED seminar on March 22, 2023 at 2PM (CT):  Mark Rentz from Argonne’s Employee Relations office will talk about Reasonable Accommodations and Working with Chronic Illness: Join on Teams 
  • ABLED email address: [email protected]