Diversity1

title: “Diversity Statement” collection: diversity

Significance of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility

Diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) are integral to achieving academic excellence at the University of Texas at El Paso, as stated on the University’s website. My commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility aligns well with this philosophy. I believe that the academic environment can be unwelcoming, unfair, and inequitable because of not fitting into gender schema and ethnicity. Moreover, such settings restrict intellectual engagement and decrease productivity. Therefore, I am committed to making a difference in ensuring everyone is given opportunities to excel in their scholarly activities.

DEIA Promotion at the University of North Texas (UNT)

I worked as a teaching assistant and a researcher at UNT. UNT is one of the Hispanic and Minority Serving Institutions (HSI, MSI). UNT highly values diversity, equity, and inclusivity and spends much time, energy, and resources developing a common platform with equal opportunities. The university promotes cultural programs, international events, and multi-national advertisements through international student organizations. Pursuing my commitment to DEI, I served as a Vice-President for the UNT Bangladesh Student Association (BSA) organization, promoted our culture, and invited students from diversified ethnicity, gender, religion, and region to experience our traditions. During this time, I arranged events and encouraged women to participate in cultural programs. Moreover, I encouraged one of the women officers to manage and host events. I was also elected as the Senator of the College of Engineering for the Graduate Student Council (GSC), a graduate student body for graduate student representation, to serve a diverse group of graduate students. I enjoyed working with student senators and executive officers of diverse racial, ethnic, gender, and ability backgrounds. It was an honor to work under the supervision of two female presidents. Additionally, I had a wonderful experience working with sundry students while pursuing my doctoral degree. I worked with students from the United States, Nigeria, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Turkey. Currently, I am supervising two female graduate students to develop their research. I encourage them to present their work and improve the quality of the experiments to produce better results. Furthermore, I always strive to provide equal opportunities to students from different ethnicities at UNT. During my teaching assistantship tenure, I ensured that everyone was given equal attention and help for their academic success.

DEIA Commitment

Diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility are inevitable in the classroom and the research laboratory as it is essential for academic development and excellence. I will actively pursue opportunities to enhance diversity and opportunities for students from historically underrepresented backgrounds in research, the classroom, and across campus at the University of Texas at El Paso. As part of my efforts to recruit minority students, I will seek out scholarship and fellowship opportunities in my lab, the department, and external institutes. Moreover, I will seek National Science Foundation (NSF) funding such as “Broadening Participation in STEM” to recruit and train minority graduate students in my field and provide mentoring to women and minority students to encourage them to pursue academic careers. I will work with students and faculty regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, language, abilities/disabilities, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or country of origin. My goal is to uphold these values and lead by example through outreach to international scientific communication and advance women’s and minority representation through leadership and participation in programs.