Talking to the Press About Diversity Equity (@ACSpressroom #ACSDiversity #ACSIndy @GT_CHEM)

As part of my participation in the Symposium on "The Impact of Diversity and Inclusion," I was asked to participate in a Press Conference today with some of my fellow speakers. It was the first time that I have done such a thing. It was exciting and scary at the same time. In order to ensure that I kept my remarks to under the allotted 2 minutes, I wrote some Talking Points, which I include below. I will note  the most important thing I learned from this experience: Don't start multiple prompts with the same letter! In my case, OXIDE, OPPORTUNITY and OBJECTIVE got muddled during my remarks and I revisited OPPORTUNITY a second time. I now see how easy it is for people in public positions to make small flubs. Fortunately, mine wasn't too terrible, and it won't hurt anyone!  You can see it at:
    Bringing more diversity to the nation’s… (26:22)
I was the second speaker, and also gave an answer to one of the press questions towards the end of the video.

Here follows the talking points I prepared for my opening remarks:

The tittle of the presentation was "Top-down approach for diversity and inclusion in chemistry departments" and was coauthored with my collaborator, Dr. Shannon Watt.

OXIDE is the Open Chemistry Collaborative in Diversity Equity

OPPORTUNITY: Visible under-representation in the diversity of the chemical faculties with respect to gender, under-represented minorities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, questioning,  and disabilities in comparison to the nation's broader demographics

OBJECTIVE: We aim to encourage the nation's best minds to enter the field in order to ensure the competitiveness of our nation's science.

TACTICS: Flattening diversity inequities by engaging middle
 management (chemistry departments) to find the solutions
 rather than burdening single agents

KEYS: 1. Inclusive excellence
, 2. Diversity writ large, and 3. Flattening inequities helps everyone

OXIDE enables dialogue between chemistry departments, diversity communities and social science