Treating People Like People Statement

In the Esser-Kahn Group, we believe in acknowledging individuality in science and engineering and promoting the ability of every individual to act effectively as part of our group. Our lab’s mission is to actively work towards a future where people in science have equal opportunities and voices. We see this as three key principles: acknowledging that people are different, providing room for difference while building a cohesive team, and treating people as individuals while treating them equally in process and mechanism.

We prioritize these goals because it is the best way to do science and engineering with the world’s best scientists and engineers.

Plotting a future in science with the best and brightest accounting for each person as an individual is ambitious and easier said than done. People differ because of their background, experience, and history. Each person is path-dependent. Some of these factors are intrinsic, but many are extrinsic. Many are well beyond the scope of our lab. However, in the ways that we can, we strive to be part of a collective, earnest, and thoughtful effort to seed the growth of a culture of treating people like people in our lab members and lab spaces. Though we are just one lab, we find our commitment to treating people like people vital because we hope that many labs making such commitments will help start to encourage change.

To this end, since its inception, our group has been composed of people originating from almost every settled continent in the world (still working on Australia) and people with many different socioeconomic, racial, and gender identities. From post-docs to undergraduates, we believe that a diverse group leads to the richest intellectual environment and, consequently, enables us to do our best science. We also believe that a diverse group makes us a stronger community of people as we engage with and understand different ideas, cultures, backgrounds, and more.

We have several lab programs that seek to foster an open and inviting environment for all and to include each other in our research projects and working lives:

Mealbot: Lab members volunteer and are then randomly paired with another member to have lab-funded lunches once a month. We use these meals to engage in conversation, get to know one another, and understand each other’s perspectives on research projects and identities.

Passion Topics: During some group meetings, a lab member is asked to present on a topic that they are passionate about which can be anything at all. This is an opportunity to teach us something about themselves and their background—and for us to learn something new!

Structured Mentoring: Each lab member has a mentoring committee composed of senior lab members that is formed when the lab member starts in the group. They develop a structured mentoring plan together with the new member and set clear goals for the new member’s project and idea development. The mentors are also the first of many friendly faces for the new member to rely on.

We also recognize there are a few challenges in working with a richly diverse group of thinkers, and not every day is perfect. Occasionally, there are misunderstandings, mistakes, and disconnects. Our most important tool is the mechanisms we have in place to catch these concerns and talk through them—as individuals or as a group. We provide many candid and open opportunities to flag and address intra- and interpersonal concerns so that we can maintain focus on supporting one another in research and in life.

Those are some ideas that we have implemented in the past, and we will continue to have many more ideas in the future. Not all the ideas we’ve tried have worked, but even less successful action has brought new growth, understanding, and the knowledge that there are many more things we could improve upon. If you would like to learn more, feel free to contact us. If you have ideas of your own, we are always open to trying new things—we’d love to hear from you.