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.

Two women in Lutz lab at whiteboard

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.

Three students in Lutz lab

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

Gender

LGBTQ

Individuals with disabilities

International students

INCLUSIVE ADMISSIONS OR HIRING

INCLUSIVE TEACHING

UW INSTITUTIONAL MISSIONS, POLICIES, AND RESOURCES

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

  • Sam Krahling

Humans of BioE: Sam Krahling

February 14th, 2018|

Sam Krahling is a senior in the Max Lab in the Speech and Hearing Sciences Department, and plans to go into consulting and potentially pursue an MBA in the future. Her activities range far beyond BioE, including becoming ordained to marry her housemates.

  • Winston Ciridon

Winston Ciridon nominated for 2018 UW Distinguished Staff Award

February 7th, 2018|

Winston Ciridon, research technologist in bioengineering and chemical engineering, has been nominated for a UW Distinguished Staff Award. He joins Shirley Nollette, assistant to the chair, as a 2018 DSA nominee from BioE.

Humans of BioE: Soren Johnson

February 7th, 2018|

Soren Johnson is a senior in bioengineering currently doing research in Dr. Suzie Pun’s lab. His work involves developing nonviral methods for efficient and stable gene transfer in renal progenitor cells. Upon graduation he plans on working in industry after hiking across the United States along the Pacific Crest Trail.