As members of Johns Hopkins University and of the greater scientific community, we acknowledge the harm perpetuated through systemic racism and unjust biases. Our research community is committed to providing a supportive environment in which the dimensions added by diversity of race, ethnicity, nationality, immigration status, culture, socioeconomic status, veteran status, disability, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, and marital status are valued and celebrated. Our laboratory, as well as the affiliated BCMB and PMB graduate programs, condemn any form of past, present or future discrimination. It is our mission to consistently provide equitable access to the highest quality education possible. In addition, we acknowledge that creativity, innovation, and synergistic learning arise from diversity of approaches, thoughts, skills, and experiences. Thus, to build an optimal learning environment, we must actively seek to build diverse research groups in communities based on respect, equity and inclusion. Here we provide a series of commitments, goals and action plans to build and maintain a safe, diverse and inclusive environment.

 

Our plans regarding the lab demographics are:

  1.  Host local undergraduate students from historically excluded backgrounds for research internships and/or mentoring sessions.
  2.  Advocate to promote diversity in departmental seminar series by inviting speakers in our field from diverse backgrounds.
  3.  Actively recruit students and postdocs from underrepresented backgrounds

 

We commit to provide a safe, inclusive, and equitable environment where:

  1.  All members feel emotionally and physically safe at all times. Particularly while expressing frustration, addressing conflict, and/or making mistakes.
  2.  All members feel comfortable and capable of sharing their opinions and experiences.
  3.  All members do everything in their power to actively make everyone else feel included and valued. We acknowledge that our actions and implicit biases can directly or indirectly make others in the group feel more or less included.
  4.  All members treat each other as equals without preferential treatment of any kind.

 

To build and maintain this environment our action plan as a group includes:

  1.  Take and discuss implicit bias training as a group
  2.  Offer and value feedback to and from all members of the lab
  3.  We stand firmly against any form of conscious or unconscious bias or lack of respect in one-on-one or group interactions. We will work to both take responsibility for our own actions, and to act as allies for one another if we witness such behaviors. These behaviors will be reported through the anonymous BCMB provided channels.

 

To collectively pursue these goals, we commit to yearly discussions about our demographic goals, our definition of a “safe, inclusive and equitable environment”, as well as our action plan to build and maintain this environment.