Event Description

McCann Health is one of the largest science communications companies in the area and hires many PhD level scientists to help create content for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. They also provide a range of services including strategic consulting and healthcare marketing.  Come see their facilities and hear from employees who have made the transition to medical writing and marketing which is the fastest growing field for fresh graduates and postdocs. 

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Event Description

RA Capital Management is a multi-stage investment manager dedicated to company formation and evidence-based investing in healthcare and life science companies developing drugs, medical devices, diagnostics, services and research tools. Come learn how as a PhD level employee you can get involved in a career in the exciting field of venture capital. The firm’s portfolio of private and public companies spans the globe and most therapeutic areas across all stages from discovery through commercialization.  RA Capital is fostering diversity in their portfolio companies and in the broader biotech community.

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Event Description

Come hear from women in groups historically underrepresented in the sciences to learn how they go from completing their PhD training to their current position at Rutgers: running successful biology research labs, teaching and performing university service.  They will share their stories and advice.

Amariliz Rivera, PhD – Immunologist

Maribel Vazquez, PhD – Biomedical Engineer

Nataki Douglas, MD/PhD – Physician Scientist

Renata Pasqualini, PhD – Cancer Biologist

Treena Arinzeh, PhD – Biomedical Engineer

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Event Description

Dr. Abby Dernburg will deliver the 2022 N. Ronald Morris Lecture, titled “Spatially Regulated Condensation Mediates Chromosome Synapsis and Crossover Control."

Dr. Dernburg studies chromosome organization and dynamics during meiosis. Her work has helped describe how chromosomes find and recognize their partners, and how recombination between chromosomes is regulated. Dr. Dernburg’s recent studies have elucidated a role for liquid-liquid phase separation (condensation) in these processes. Her team leverages the worm Caenorhabditis elegans as a powerful model system, using the tools of genetics and biochemistry, as well as cell and structural biology. 

Dr. Dernburg is a professor in Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Berkeley and a faculty senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She has been an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 2008. In 2017 she was elected as a fellow of the American Society of Cell Biology.

Event Description

This event is part of the Language and Social Justice Initiative Speaker Series hosted by The Language Center at the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences.

LINGUISTIC INEQUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION: Solving the Problem We Created
Dr. Walt Wolfram
William C. Friday Distinguished University Professor at North Carolina State University
March 4, 3:00-4:30pm ET
RU-NB CAC - Location TBD (in-person event)

Notwithstanding the avowed commitment of higher education to equality and inclusion, the issue of language has been excluded from or erased in diversity programs at most universities. This presentation empirically documents the basis of linguistic prejudice and discrimination in higher education through an extensive series of student and faculty interviews in a large metropolitan university. Based on the conclusions, we developed an innovative, campus-infusion model for language diversity targeting students, faculty, and staff at the university. Activities include integrated classroom materials, videos highlighting linguistic diversity on campus, formal and informal workshops for diverse campus populations, the establishment of a university-ratified Linguistic Diversity Student Ambassadors program, and other activities and resources that have led to the creation of a national model for authentically including language in the diversity canon in higher education.

Walt Wolfram is William C. Friday Distinguished University Professor at North Carolina State University, where he also directs the Language and Life Project at North Carolina State University. He has pioneered research on social and ethnic dialects since the 1960s and published 23 books and over 300 articles. Wolfram’s current focus is on the application of sociolinguistic information to the public, including the production of 14 television documentaries (three Emmy Awards), the construction of museum exhibits, and the development of innovative formal and informal materials related to language diversity. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the North Carolina Award (the highest award given to a citizen of North Carolina), Caldwell Humanities Laureate from the NC Humanities Council, the Board of Governor’s Holshouser Award for Excellence in Public Service, and is a fellow of the prestigious American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Event Description

This event is part of the Language and Social Justice Initiative Speaker Series hosted by The Language Center at the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences.

THE IMPLICATIONS OF SOUNDING LIKE A STEREOTYPE: Cognition and African American English
Dr. Rachel Elizabeth Weissler
Postdoctoral Research Fellow Psychology, Linguistics, and Black Studies at College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oregon
February 9, 5:00-6:30pm ET (Virtual Event)

Register online today.

This research investigates the relationship between perception of race and perception of emotion by operationalizing the Angry Black Woman Trope through survey and eye-tracking methods. In the first study, participants listened to isolated words from an African American English (AAE) speaker and a Standardized American English (SdAE) speaker in happy, neutral, and angry prosodies, and were asked to indicate perceived race and emotion of the speaker. Results showed that SdAE was rated whitest in the happy condition, whereas AAE was rated blackest in neutral and angry conditions. In the second study, participant experiential linguistic knowledge was measured. It was hypothesized that listeners with higher experiential linguistic knowledge of AAE would show less bias, determined by identifying emotional speech with emotional and racialized image stimuli as recorded through the virtual eye-tracker. The results indicate that participants have a broad range of experiential linguistic knowledge with AAE, and trends in the data suggest that higher usage can predict less bias. 

Rachel is a postdoctoral scholar in Psychology, Linguistics, and Black Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon. Her research focuses on the linguistic multidimensionality of individuals, and how different intersecting identities, communities, and environments influence perception and processing of standardized and minoritized language varieties. She uses theories and methodologies from sociolinguistics, neurolinguistics, and psycholinguistics to investigate how American English-speaking listeners cognitively interact with Black and white individuals. She also engages in multiple public linguistics efforts, most consistently through her role as Production Assistant for A Way With Words Radio Show and Podcast.