A culture of Belonging in UW Bioengineering
At the University of Washington, diversity, equity, and inclusion are integral to excellence. We value and honor diverse experiences and perspectives, strive to create welcoming and respectful learning environments, and promote access, opportunity, and justice for all.
What Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion means to the UW Bioengineering Community
Towards Justice, we believe that engineers must understand the social justice aspects of technology research and development practices, and are therefore including these topics in our curriculum. Towards Equity, we believe that admissions, hiring and retention practices must utilize best practices shown to overcome institutional and individual biases. Our Department values Diversity as individual differences (e.g., personality, prior knowledge, and life experiences) and group/social differences (e.g., race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, country of origin, and ability as well as cultural, political, religious, or other affiliations)1. We seek to have our educational and research programs represent the diversity of our country. Towards Inclusion, the Department focuses on intentionally creating a welcoming environment for everyone, absent of negative feelings and experiences such as fear, insecurity, social tensions, and unaddressed microaggressions, as well as fostering active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity (1,2). These efforts are multi-dimensional and include collaborations with numerous UW programs, recruitment efforts, policies, curriculum, practices, faculty/staff promotions, decision making, and mentoring and continuing education for members of our community.
Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee
The UW Bioengineering JEDI committee has been tasked with developing mechanisms and providing guidance to increase our department’s level of expertise on equity and inclusive teaching and mentoring, and to provide similar expertise to our trainees.
JEDI Resources
Race and Ethnicity
- Graduate Student Equity & Excellence (GSEE)
- Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity (OMA&D)
- UW Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center
- UW Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (UW NSBE)
- UW Chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (UW SHPE)
- UW SACNAS Chapter
- w??b?altx? – Intellectual House
- Undocumented student resources
Gender
LGBTQ
Individuals with disabilities
- D Center
- Disability resources for Students
- Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology
International students
- UW International Student Services (ISS) office
- Undocumented student resources
- Career Center @ Engineering
- Counseling Center
INCLUSIVE ADMISSIONS OR HIRING
INCLUSIVE TEACHING
- PR2ISM
- Teaching@UW
- Equal Access: Universal Design of Instruction | DO-IT
- UW Well-Being for Life and Learning Guidebook
UW INSTITUTIONAL MISSIONS, POLICIES, AND RESOURCES
- UW 2022-2026 Diversity Blueprint
- Diversity at the University of Washington
- Diversity council
- Diversity statistics & policies
- Office of Inclusive Excellence in COE
- Strategic planning in the College of Engineering
- Disability Services
Feedback & Reporting Mechanisms
It is our goal that all members of the BIOE community feel included and supported. We want to highlight the resources available to you if you would like to provide feedback to improve the program or resolve a situation, or would like support in an incident of bias. We have provided links to different methods of providing feedback or reporting, and some information to help you decide which suits your purpose.
See also
Diversity at the University of Washington
UW Equity Focus, the UW’s hub for stories highlighting diversity and equity
In the News
2019/2020 Bioengineering Industry-Sponsored Student Capstone Projects
Stryker, the medical technology company, sponsored two UW Bioengineering capstone projects in the 2019-20 academic year. Read about both projects on the College of Engineering industry page.
UW Bioengineering eNews | COVID-19 Special Issue 2020
One-third of University of Washington Bioengineering faculty quickly pivoted and are adapting their research to addressing needs created by the coronavirus pandemic.
UW Bioengineers pivot to develop coronavirus solutions
A number of UW Bioengineering faculty members quickly pivoted and are adapting their research to addressing the needs created by the coronavirus pandemic. From developing rapid at-home tests and protective masks to vaccines and treatments, here is a sampling of some of the ways UW BioE faculty, staff and students are stepping up to help.
Bioengineering Students Developing Platform to Assess Public Understanding of COVID-19
A group of UW Bioengineering undergraduates came together this spring to develop a way to promote public understanding of the COVID-19 crisis. Through two design challenge competitions and the aid of mentors, they have refined their idea and are developing a platform that aims to capture how well the public understands the disease and identify gaps in knowledge.
How Credible are the COVID-19 Models? Center Aims to Find Out
The multi-institution Center for Reproducible Biomedical Modeling, led by UW Bioengineering Professor Herbert Sauro, is partnering with top U.S. government agencies to determine how credible several commonly used COVID-19 models are.
UW Bioengineering eNews | Spring/Summer 2020
In an unprecedented year, UW Bioengineering celebrates achievements in research, education and outreach. Our department is known for our culture of openness and collaboration. Let’s continue to build on that to create a more equitable, inclusive and compassionate community together.