MOST team reflects on this year’s SACNAS conference
By: Drs. Tomotaroh Granzier-Nakajima, Ramon Martinez III, Zack Miller
The Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Latinos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) held its first in-person conference after the pandemic in San Juan, Puerto Rico on October 27th-29th. Founded in 1973, SACNAS is a professional society focused on the recruitment and retention of diverse talent in the STEM (Science, Technology, Math, and Engineering) fields. Once a year, the society holds a conference to gather students and professionals to present their research, participate in professional development, and learn about the importance of equity in the sciences.
MOST Workshop
As part of this mission, MOST Policy Initiative facilitated a professional development workshop called “A Roadmap to Science Policy: How Scientists can Communicate Data and Engage in Decision-Making.” Zachary Miller, Tomotaroh Granzier-Nakajima, and Ramon Martinez III facilitated the workshop for over 60 “SACNISTAs” from around the country and in all stages of post-secondary education. The goals of the talk were to:
- highlight why engaging in science policy is important in society,
- discuss how policy engagement can happen at different levels of government (federal, state, local, tribal, territorial), and
- spotlight different opportunities for students and professionals to engage with decision-makers.
Many students expressed interest in policy engagement as an integral part of their academic careers. Students were especially engaged in the possibilities of federal, state, and local policy as a career path, primarily as either honest brokers (like MOST!) or issue advocates.
Building New Connections
While at SACNAS, the team was able to connect with many existing partners and establish several new relationships. The exhibition hall contained over 400 booths from universities, government agencies, scientific societies, research centers, foundations, and private corporations. Our team met with friends, colleagues, and faculty from University of Missouri, Washington University, ProSPER, Penn State, UC Santa Cruz and Johns Hopkins University.
The SACNAS NDiSTEM conference was also a great chance for our team to learn about science policy-related professional development opportunities. Our Legislative Policy Fellows learned about science policy opportunities from a range of groups, including the AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellows and federal agencies (like NOAA, EPA, DOE).
Our team also visited other booths, such as National Geographic, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Genentech, and GlaxoSmithKline, to both share our vision and impact, while also getting useful insights into other professional and scientific opportunities that may exist adjacent to the science policy space.
Exploring Puerto Rico
The team was fortunate to have some free time to adventure to some of the popular sites of Puerto Rico. The first visit was to the El Morro Castle, which is a Spanish fort built between the 16th and 18th centuries to protect the San Juan Bay from seaborne enemies. The castle was impressive and beautiful, but also evoked a complicated history for those native to the island.
Afterwards, the group met up Christian Perez of Mizzou Biology to explore El Yunque National Forest. Although part of the forest was temporarily closed due to impacts from Hurricane Fiona, we were still able to hike to a lookout atop the mountains and to see some cool biodiversity (snails, lizards, orchids, and birds). We capped the trip off with some famous gelato at Anita la Mamma del Gelato in San Juan. All in all, it was an excellent and productive trip to Puerto Rico, and we are all hoping that we can make it back down there soon.
