Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

Vision Statement

Diversity Drives Discovery

Purpose

USRA seeks to reflect the increasingly diverse workforce in the space-related sciences by promoting awareness, understanding, and appreciation of diversity throughout the organization and beyond. USRA values diversity, equity, and inclusion as this increases the quality of the workforce and brings diverse opinions, life experiences, and points of view to the decision making process.

The purpose of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee is to:

Develop, recommend, plan, and implement initiatives that support DEI at USRA
Strengthen the sensitivity of all employees to diverse races, cultures, ethnicities, nationalities, lifestyles, genders, and ages
Serve in an advisory role in areas such as diversity and equity in recruiting, hiring, and promoting
Promote opportunities for underrepresented groups to apply to and onboard at USRA
Increase understanding of working within a diverse workforce, to include managing a diverse workforce

Membership

The President and CEO of USRA appointed the chair of the DEI Committee and, together with the Vice President Human Resources and the chair, selected the 14 members from a pool of self-nominated employees to represent the Institutes and Programs across the organization.

Operation

The DEI Committee shall meet formally once per month. In addition, informal “pop-up” meetings may be called on short notice to discuss a particular topic or topics.

DEI initiatives are formulated and discussed by the committee. Members can then edit descriptions in a series of google docs. Once an initiative is complete, the DEI Committee Chair submits it to the USRA President and Vice President of HR for discussion and approval.

The DEI Committee Chair shall present a summary of DEI activities and initiatives at the USRA Directors’ Meetings.

The DEI Committee will communicate the initiatives via the USRA monthly newsletter and possible emails to all staff from the USRA President and the Vice President of HR.

"So many organizations seem to struggle when it comes to improving diversity in leadership. In my experience, unless and until diversity becomes a routine consideration in hiring and promotion decisions, little is likely to change. The best leaders recognize the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion to the organization and reflect that in their actions."

Dr. Jeffrey A. Isaacson

President and Chief Executive Officer

"2020 brought unscripted challenges to USRA and employers around the globe. These challenges amplified the need for organizations to rapidly redefine what would set them apart as employers. For USRA, the power of our partnerships are tightly connected to fostering an inclusive culture where innovation thrives and individuals progress. For me, it means we must infuse inclusion into every aspect of the organization – from talent selection and development to our policies and values."

Eric Weaver

Vice President, Human Resources

Committee Members

Dr. Joan Schmelz
Director, NASA Postdoctoral Program,
USRA Chair, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee

Zaheer A. Ali
Safety, Product, and Quality Assurance Manager, SOFIA USRA

Dr. Assaf Anyamba
Manager & Principal Scientist, USRA

Carlene Campbell
Executive Assistant to the President and Chief Executive Officer, USRA

Elena Einstein, Ed.D.
Principal Manager, Contracts and Grants, USRA

Eric Hammond
Director, Government Relations

Dr. Fred Lipschultz
Senior Scientist, USRA/GESTAR

Dr. Kennda Lynch
Scientist, Interdisciplinary, LPI

Dr. Rosa Padilla
Engineer, Aerospace

Dr. Falguni Patadia
NASA SERVIR AST Portfolio Manager, Air Quality Lead, STI/USRA/MSFC

Angie Quaranta
Human Resources Manager

Dr. Bill Reach
Associate Director for Science Operations on SOFIA, USRA

Dr. Edgard G. Rivera-Valentín
Planetary Scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI)

Dr. Davide Venturelli
Associate Director, Quantum Information Sciences, USRA

Sha’Rell Webb
Education Specialist, LPI

DEI Initiatives

Initiative 1 – USRA staff consider adding Personal Gender Pronouns to their e-mail signature

DEI Committee Members: Elena Einstein, Ryan Hendricks, Ed Rivera-Valentin

Approved 8/25/2020

Status: Complete

More Initiative 1 info

Including your Personal Gender Pronouns in your email signature helps to normalize and de-stigmatize non-binary gender pronouns;
Gender is not always reflected or cued by someone’s outward appearance;
Including Personal Gender Pronouns in email signatures ensure we respect everyone’s identity;
Announced in Jeff Isaacson’s 22 Sep 2020 email to all USRA staff;
Summarized in Oct 2020 USRA newsletter;
Presentation by Joan Schmelz at the Nov 2020 USRA Directors meeting.

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Initiative 2 – USRA hosts a Career Expo exhibit booth at the 2020 National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP) virtual conference (5-8 Nov)

DEI Committee: Kennda Lynch & Sha’Rell Webb

Approved 10/19/2020

Status: Complete

More Initiative 2 info

initiative 2 National Society of Black Physicists graphic

Kennda Lynch (LPI), Sha’Rell Web (LPI), Jennifer Becerra (NASA Intern Program), Melissa Corning (AFRL Scholars), and Taifa Simpson (NASA NPP) staffed the USRA exhibit booth at the virtual conference;
Kennda Lynch presented an invited talk in the Earth and Planetary Systems Track of the conference;
Leslie Proudfit (SOFIA) created the meeting graphic;
Joan Schmelz wrote the summary for the Dec 2020 USRA Newsletter;
Kennda Lynch wrote the Lessons Learned summary with the input from all who participated in the booth;
Presentation by Joan Schmelz at the Mar 2021 USRA Directors meeting;
Under construction: a plan to leverage this experience and lay the groundwork for future recruitment at similar conferences (NSBE, SACNAS, SHPE, SWE, etc.).

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Initiative 3 – USRA sets standards and uses templates for new employee introductions and promotion announcements

DEI Committee members: Elena Einstein and Angie Quaranta

Approved 11/19/2020

Status: Ongoing

More Initiative 3 info

Initiative 3 intro and announcements graphic

New Employee Introductions:

Elena Einstein drafted an employee introduction template that HR can include with the 90-day checklist – the set of instructions sent to hiring managers;
Angie Quaranta submitted it to HR and shepherded it through the vetting process;
Presentation by Joan Schmelz at the Mar 2021 USRA Directors meeting.

Promotion Announcements:

Promotion announcements will become a regular part of USRA corporate life;
USRA will adapt the model that Jeff Isaacson uses when he announces promotions at the VP and Director level;
The Executive Leadership Team will set new corporate policy by determining what management level will make the promotion announcement and how widely that announcement with be distributed within USRA.

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Initiative 4 – USRA begins a mentoring program for underrepresented minority students

DEI Committee members: Zaheer Ali

Approved 12/10/2020

Status: Ongoing

More Initiative 4 info

USRA partnered with PeopleGrove on a one-year, mentoring pilot program;
DEI committee members volunteered for this program: Zaheer (SOFIA), Assaf (GESTAR), Elena (NAMS), Rosa (GEARS), Falguni (STI), and Carlene (HQ);
Mentors completed training and onboarding;
Mentors were connected with mentees;
Presentation by Joan Schmelz at the Mar 2021 USRA Directors meeting;
Mentoring is ongoing.

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Initiative 5 – DEI component of USRA’s public facing web page

DEI Committee members: Carlene Campbell & Falguni Patadia

Approved 2/2/2021

Status: Ongoing

More Initiative 5 info

Create DEI content for the USRA public facing web page;
Include DEI photos and bios of committee members;
Include DEI initiatives and status of each;
Presentation by Joan Schmelz at the Mar 2021 USRA Directors meeting;
Add more content as the work of the DEI committee continues.

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Initiative 6 – USRA DEI Speaker Series

DEI Committee members: Eric Hammond & Ed Rivera-Valentin

Approved 4/6/2021

Status: Ongoing

More Initiative 6 info

The speaker series includes bimonthly talks via Microsoft Teams;
The organization of an introductory talk is under way;
Planned presentation by Joan Schmelz at the Jun 2021 USRA Directors meeting
Potential topics include broadening participation in STEM, unconscious biases, anti-racist philosophy, intersectionality, cultural sensitivity, microaggressions, imposter syndrome, stereotype threat, and vulnerability in the workplace.

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Initiative 7 – USRA Discovery Newsletter Articles on DEI Topics

DEI Committee Members: Bill Reach & Joan Schmelz

Approved 6/30/21

Status: ongoing