Sharing diverse perspectives in a welcoming and supportive environment is important to enable new scientific discoveries and approaches. Creating and maintaining such an environment for staff, students and researchers is critical to fulfilling the scientific mission of CHESS.
We work closely with our funding partners and Cornell University to ensure a welcoming environment for everyone at CHESS. This includes but is not limited to:
- Recruiting and retaining a diverse staff in scientific, technical, and administrative roles.
- Fostering a workplace culture that encourages a sense of belonging and respect for everyone.
- Maintaining and advancing the careers of all staff through workshops and training.
- Creating a pipeline for a diversity of scientists coming into STEM fields.
- Examining and addressing how present culture and procedures may perpetuate society’s historic forces of exclusion.
Examples of our recent activities to enhance and support diversity and inclusion in STEM and at CHESS
NSF funded Partnership for Research and Education in Materials Research (PREM)
The NSF-funded Center for Interfacial Electrochemistry of Energy Materials, CIE2M, is a Partnership for Research and Education in Materials Research (PREM) between four institutions: Universidad Ana G. Méndez Cupey Campus and Gurabo Campus, the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, and CHESS. CIE2M brings together a diverse and talented scientific community with experience and expertise in electrochemistry, solid-state chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and synchrotron-based techniques for characterization of energy materials in operando conditions at CHESS. The partnership develops a fundamental understanding of charge transfer mechanisms and electrochemical processes across surfaces, sub-surfaces, and interfaces in nanostructured materials. It will motivate and prepare undergraduate and graduate students to pursue interdisciplinary careers using synchrotron-based techniques.
Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure award supports training the next generation X-ray scientists.
CHESS received one of only three Ms-RI-2 awards from the inaugural competition of the new NSF Mid-scale Research Infrastructure initiative. The project is a collaboration between CHESS, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) and the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). The $32.6M award will support the construction of a high-energy X-ray beamline equipped with a high field magnet providing unique capabilities for the large, multidisciplinary user communities of two NSF-funded facilities – CHESS and the MagLab. Moreover, the project will engage early career researchers in design and implementation of cutting-edge instrumentation, with particular focus on training students from the University of Puerto Rico to become future leaders in X-ray science and technology. CHESS received one of only three Ms-RI-2 awards from the inaugural competition of the new NSF Mid-scale Research Infrastructure initiative.
Education & Workshops
The NSF funded Center for High Energy X-ray Sciences (CHEXS) at CHESS regularly offers workshop that introduces students, postdocs, and early career scientists to X-ray techniques with lectures and hands on training.
2020 PREM X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy and EXAFS Workshop
High Energy X-ray Techniques (HEXT) workshop 2020
2019 Synchrotron Essentials
CHEXS supports 4 graduate students as well as 4 postdoctoral fellows who pursue research at CHESS beamlines.
Summer Programs and Internships
The NSF funded Center for High Energy X-ray Sciences (CHEXS) at CHESS provides research and engineering experience for community college, undergraduate, graduate students, and post-doctoral researchers.
The Summer Engineering Research for Community College Students, SERCCS, program hosts 4-5 students from community colleges for eight-week internships in accelerator and x-ray sciences research. The students are mentored by CHESS scientific and technical staff and also participate in formal seminars, tour research facilities, and enjoy social and recreational events.
The Summer UNdergraduate Research in Science and Engineering (Sunrise) program provides a supportive research environment for underrepresented students from minority serving institutions where Cornell faculty affiliated with CHESS have a long-term personal relationship (currently Fort Lewis College and the University of Puerto Rico). Students and a faculty mentor from their home institution come to CHESS and work together on projects in collaboration with Cornell scientists.
With support from the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), CHESS also hosts several students each summer. Each student is associated with a specific research project, where he/she works closely with the faculty and other researchers.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Summer 2020, all programs were held remotely.
Cornell University-Wide Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives
We embrace Cornell University’s core values and we are committed to the institutional initiatives put forth by the university’s Presidential Task Force on Campus Climate and the Provost’s Task Force to Enhance Faculty Diversity. The eight main tenets of this plan feature changes in culture, policies and priorities; a commitment to increasing the diversity of the university’s faculty and staff; and a promise to enhance the student experience to support social belonging and wellness.
Anti-Racism Resources
The Office of Faculty Development and Diversity has shared a list of Resources to Engage in Conversations About Race and Anti-Racism and the Cornell Library has created an online guide about anti-racism.
Diversity, Equity & Identity Resources for our Community
For Faculty | For Staff | For Students | For Alumni, Parents and Friends
Visit this page to report an incident of bias.