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
Humans of BioE: Bill Koski
Bill Koski talks about his path to bioengineering through neurobiology research, and how the major sparked his interest in entrepreurship.
Bioengineers with UW’s ISCRM lead educational outreach event at Mill Creek Middle School
The event marked the third year the UW Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine visited Mill Creek Middle School to lead activities designed to teach students about science and health.
Deok-Ho Kim receives $1.7M NIH R01 to develop tissue engineered human neuromuscular junctions for modeling axonal neuropathy
In this project, Dr. Kim and colleagues will apply novel stem cell and tissue engineering strategies to investigate underlying etiology of a common debilitating peripheral neuropathy (Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease; CMT).
Nonprofit “DIYbio” lab SoundBio featured by Geekwire
SoundBio is currently funded via a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant awarded to UW Bioengineering Associate Professor Herbert Sauro to support its science education and outreach efforts.
Acoustic micro-tapping for non-contact 4D imaging of tissue elasticity
The researchers demonstrate acoustic micro-tapping – the use of focused ultrasound propagating in air to generate transient mechanical waves – as a non-invasive approach to dynamic elastography for mapping the elasticity of biological tissue without any physical contact. They propose to use it with 4-D phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography to create a tool for ophthalmology, dermatology and other applications where direct contact with the tissue being studied may be undesirable.
Humans of BioE: Connor Tsuchida
Undergrad Connor Tsuchida talks about his experience in leadership with BMES and student journal Denatured, and offers advice to prospective students.