Access & community empowerment in SIPS

It has been an absolute joy to connect with researchers who are also LGBTQIA2S+ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or gender expansive, queer and/or questioning, intersex, asexual and two-spirit] in my lab, across campus and at academic conferences. Having an environment or at least safe spaces where my colleagues, friends and myself can be open and honest about who we are has given me the courage and support I need to help create spaces in my office, lab and department where myself and my colleagues who are also LGBTQIA2S+ researchers can bring our full selves to our work, teaching and outreach. Identities are not boxes or distinct labels that only affect us in our personal lives or just in our work lives; identities are fluid and affect all aspects of our lives. 

I'm a senior lecturer in the Plant Biology Section and former chair of the SIPS Diversity and Inclusion Council. But I am also the first in my family to attend college, a story I share with my students to help them overcome anxiety and imposter syndrome.

As a nonbinary scientist I have experienced both transphobia and radical allyship in academia. My previous and current supervisors, Drs. Matt Kasson and Teresa Pawlowska, have been incredibly supportive of my identity, my advocacy and my research. 

A major source of joy has been the connections I have created with other LGBTQIA+ researchers in STEM. Through groups like Qgrads, which helps to represent and support the queer graduate student community, I have been able to forge friendships across disciplines in a way that would likely have not occurred without the shared connection of our queerness. 

A grant from the USDA's New Beginning for Tribal Students (NBTS) program (matched by Cornell CALS) has made it possible to fully fund Indigenous students to take part in Cornell AgriTech's Summer Research Scholars Program. 

In 2024,  Sebastian April (Mi'kmaq) joined the Christine Smart Lab as the first Indigenous Summer Scholar. Seb majors in Sustainable Plant and Soil Systems (with a minor in Cannabis Cultivation) at the University of Connecticut. 

Smart paired him with plant pathology PhD student Jocelyn Schwartz as a mentor for his summer project investigating management and resistance of hemp to the fungal disease Septoria leaf spot. "When I ... saw all that I'd accomplished in just a few short weeks, it felt good to know that I could make a real contribution to the science of cultivating cannabis," says Seb.

The cuisines of the African diaspora tell the story of how food plants native to Africa have, across generations, remained central to the foods that Black communities celebrate. Throughout Black History Month, Cornell Dining has been offering a series of dinners featuring its take on traditional dishes of the African diaspora. And at these dinners, the Cornell Botanic Gardens is introducing students to its exhibition, “Seeds of Survival and Celebration: Plants and the Black Experience.”

View videos: Honoring Black History Through Collaboration and Celebration: A panel discussion about the Cornell Botanic Gardens Seeds of Survival and Celebration exhibit - Feb. 23 | Feb. 24

Announced in fall 2021, the cohort initiative was led by Chelsea Specht, the Barbara McClintock Professor of Plant Biology and CALS’ associate dean for diversity and inclusion. The search committee, composed of 10 faculty members from across CALS, spent considerable time developing a recruitment ad that would reflect the values they were seeking, “to appeal to the hearts and minds of the people we wanted to apply,” Specht said. It worked: 381 people applied for the six positions. 

Fifth in a series of stories detailing actions CALS students, faculty and staff have taken over the past several years to make our community a more diverse, equitable and inclusive place for everyone. 

An exhibit at the Nevin Welcome Center reveals how enslaved Africans used their culinary skills and plants that came with them from West Africa to prepare foods, which eventually became regional staples. During the 2022 growing season, special gardens featured more than 20 plants grown and used by enslaved Africans in the Americas. Learn more:

Overview | Library guide | Featured plants | Exhibit panels | Audio narratives | Collaborators

Update: View panel discussions of the exhibit held during Black History Month 2023: Feb. 23 | Feb. 24