Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Working Group

Overview

The US-RSE Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) working group is dedicated to supporting DEI through education, outreach, and more as described in our mission statement. Those interested in contributing to this goal are encouraged to join our monthly Zoom meetings, held on the second Wednesday of each month at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET.

Getting involved

To get involved with the DEI working group, join the #wg-diversity-equity-inclusion channel for working group activities and the #dei-discussion channel for general DEI discussion on the US-RSE slack, or contact the DEI working group list. If you are interested in helping throughout the year or joining the group, fill out the DEI General Interest Form.

Suggestions for media, other resources (such as guides), speakers, and future activities can also be submitted through this form: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Suggestions

Co-Chairs: Lance Parsons, Alex Koufos

Current Focus

The working group’s efforts are currently centered on:

Annual Diversity Report

The US-RSE DEI working group is developing an annual diversity report for US-RSE to better understand the makeup of our community and to track progress over time. This effort is currently in progress.

Education and Promotion of DEI

The US-RSE DEI working group works to educate and promote DEI within US-RSE and the broader RSE community through the following efforts.

DEI Mission Statement

The US-RSE DEI working group’s first large initiative was to create a US-RSE DEI Mission Statement to integrate into the US-RSE core values. This DEI Mission Statement was published in August 2021 on the DEI Mission Statement page. We expect this mission statement to evolve and mature as the US-RSE community grows and welcome feedback.

DEI Speaker Series

The US-RSE DEI working group occasionally invites DEI speakers to present on DEI topics. A playlist with talks from all the speakers to date can be found on the US-RSE YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMgG8jy8w-8lUu8Uflt1WCsI8yzEEVybS

Suggestions regarding potential speakers are welcome, by reaching out to the working group in Slack or through the form above.

DEI Media Club

The US-RSE DEI working group hosts occasional DEI Media Club discussions in which we invite participants to read, listen to, or watch the chosen DEI media and come ready to discuss the content as a small group. In 2021, we hosted three sessions to discuss the book “Better Allies” by Karen Catlin and two Podcast sessions to discuss series 4, episode 6 of reWorked - The Diversity and Inclusion Podcast and Code Switch - The Folk Devil Made Me Do It.

These are announced via the #events and #dei-discussion channels on the US-RSE slack, as well as in monthly newsletters, and are hosted virtually via Zoom.

Resources for DEI in RSE

As part of its efforts, the US-RSE DEI working group is developing a curated collection of resources for improving diversity, equity, and inclusion specifically within the research software engineering community. The list of resources can be found here: RSE-specific DEI resources

Please feel free to suggest additional media and other resources through this form: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Suggestions

Equity and Inclusion Challenges

The US-RSE DEI working group seeks to understand the equity and inclusion challenges that members encounter in their RSE roles, so that US-RSE can better support a diverse community.

We want to hear from members. Please share your experiences and suggestions through the DEI Suggestions form, in the #dei-discussion channel on the US-RSE slack, or by messaging the co-chairs directly on Slack.

Celebrating Diversity

The US-RSE DEI working group leads US-RSE’s celebration of diversity throughout the year, including spotlight posts that recognize inspiring individuals in computing, science, engineering, and math:

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