Summit Program Details
Check this page regularly for session updates and additional speaker details! All DMMM4 programming and networking events take place in the Anaheim Marriott.
DMMM4 programming is made possible through the generous support of the
TMS Foundation.
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
All-Summit Keynote Session (Grand Ballroom F)
The Road to Equity and Inclusion: Lessons Learned on the Journey
In this highly interactive keynote session, attendees will learn and be inspired by the stories of TMS colleagues as leaders of change in the diversity, equity, and inclusion space. A focus of this session will be to identify themes and strategies from these collective lessons learned that attendees can use to inform their own personal and professional journeys.
Keynote
Viola L. Acoff, Associate Dean
University of Alabama
About the Presenter
Viola L. Acoff is the associate dean for undergraduate and graduate programs in the College of Engineering at The University of Alabama. She is also a full professor of metallurgical engineering and a member of the board of directors for Carpenter Technology Corporation. Acoff received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in materials engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her areas of expertise are additive manufacturing, welding metallurgy, physical metallurgy, and materials characterization. She has been awarded more than $13 million in research grants, including a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. Acoff has more than 25 years of experience in increasing the number of STEM degrees awarded to students from groups underrepresented in the STEM fields. She has also introduced materials science to students at 82 of the nation’s 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in just over a decade. Since 2015, Acoff has led the Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program which is a statewide effort funded by the NSF. She has published over 80 peer reviewed papers and given more than 100 talks on her research on every continent except Antarctica.
Acoff has served for more than 25 years in various volunteer aspects of TMS. This includes organizing symposia for technical and functional committees, serving on the Nominating Committee, the TMS Foundation Board of Trustees, and as chair of the Ad Hoc Public and Governmental Affairs Sub-Committee on Racial Justice. She is currently an incoming member of the Board of Directors as the Membership and Student Development Chair. She is also the inaugural recipient of the TMS Ellen Swallow Richards Diversity Award. Acoff is actively involved in her community which includes serving on the Board of Trustees for the Four Little Girls Memorial Fund.
Other Session Highlights
Panel Discussion: Voices of TMS: A panel of diverse TMS members will build upon the discussion introduced in the Keynote Presentation through their own stories and perspectives, with ample opportunity for questions and engagement by attendees. The panel will be moderated by Clarissa Yablinsky, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and panelists will include: Lawrence Fung, Stanford University; Gabriel Ilevbare, Idaho National Laboratory; Suveen Mathaudhu, Colorado School of Mines; and Raul Rebak, GE Global Research.
Afternoon Concurrent Sessions
Career Development Tools and Strategies (Grand Ballroom F)
Underrepresented populations experience unique challenges in the workplace that require strategic guidance on career advancement. This session will give you the opportunity to engage with peers, leaders, and experts from a variety of sectors on topics such as seeking and facilitating mentorship/sponsorship, investing in self-growth (including resources outside of your organization), and investing in your employees’ growth.
Participants will gain actionable tools and strategies for both employers and employees to enhance career development and progression of underrepresented populations for the benefit of the minerals, metals, and materials profession.
Invited Talk
Stacie LeSure, Founder and Senior Researcher, Engineers for Equity
Presentation Title: "Bruised But Not Broken: Storytelling as a Method to Share to the Experiences and Persistence Strategies of African American Women in Engineering Degree Programs"
About the Presentation
While African American women represent a large void in engineering degrees awarded, the relationship between their representation and persistence has received very little attention (Lord et al., 2009). This presentation will share the findings from a qualitative investigation that focused specifically on African American women in engineering. It is presumed that they faced unique barriers in their engineering degree programs (Lord et al., 2009). This study answered the central research question: How do African American females resist or overcome stereotype threat and persist in engineering? It is grounded in three theoretical frameworks: (a) Stereotype Threat (STT); (b) Critical Race Theory (CRT); and (c) Intersectionality. The presentation will share inspiring stories of resilience and strategies to help participants persist in engineering degree programs.
About the Presenter
With nearly 20 years in the field of higher education and a decade as a DEI speaker and trainer, Sumun L. Pendakur’s work and research focuses on helping campuses, corporations, non-profits, and other organizations build capacity for social justice and racial equity by empowering individuals at all levels to be transformational agents of change in their spheres of influence. Most recently, she was the Chief Learning Officer and Director of the USC Equity Institutes at the USC Race and Equity Center, dedicated to advancing racial justice in higher education and other sectors. Prior to that position, she held roles as the Assistant Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion at Harvey Mudd College, serving on the President’s Cabinet and directing the Office of Institutional Diversity, and as the Director for USC Asian Pacific American Student Services.
Other Session Highlights
Panel Discussion on Career Development: Join our invited speaker alongside several of our TMS members, as they share insights into career development. (
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Learn how they have invested in their own and others’ career development, hear ideas for how to expand your career horizons, and ask questions about career development from this group of panelists devoted to supporting retention of diversity in STEM.
Career Development for a Diverse Workforce:
Networking Event: Join us for a networking event focused on sharing best practices to support career development for a diverse workforce. (
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Whether you have lots of experience in career development or are just starting on your journey, we would love to have your perspective and questions at this session. Tables will be arranged to focus on key topics, and there will be opportunity to rotate tables and topics through the event.
STEM Outreach Case Studies and Best Practices (Grand Ballroom H, J, K)
The economic benefits of a diverse workforce are vast, including increased product output, implementation of more efficient solutions, and development of more creative, innovative, and profitable ideas. However, employers and academic institutions around the world still struggle with recruiting a diversity of individuals to STEM careers. A critical first step in addressing this is sparking and maintaining interest in order to fill the pipeline with a diverse population.
This highly interactive session will share benchmark examples of STEM outreach from leaders in the field, with participants rotating through a series of workshop stations for an immersive learning experience in preparing and implementing STEM outreach activities and programs.
Invited Talks
Suveen N. Mathaudhu, Professor, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Colorado School of Mines
Presentation Title: "Materials Calisthenics: Harnessing your Interests to Inspire Diverse Audiences"
About the Presentation
Materials science and engineering is not as well-known as other engineering disciplines, and exponentially suffers from the lack of a diverse, inclusive pipeline. This absence of exposure starts from an early age, but extends to more senior populations pursuing lifelong learning. This talk will focus on key strategies that can transition the interests of the speaker into effective tools for piquing the curiosity and inspiring longer-term connectivity and engagement. More pointedly, research-based outreach practices that prioritize inclusivity and ensure engagement in an era of remote instruction will be emphasized. Examples from Mathaudhu’s successful usage of pop-culture, comic books and hip-hop music to teach MSE principles will be presented, along with interactive heuristic application of the presented concepts to assist the audience in developing their own unique outreach tools.
Jessica A. Krogstad, Associate Professor, Materials Science and Engineer, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Presentation Title: "Building Effective STEM Outreach Programs"
About the Presentation
For quite some time, outreach has been presented as a key part of diversifying professions in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)—but does it work? Are there steps we can take to make outreach efforts more effective? Participants will explore what effective outreach actually means and then how to design a new outreach camp around these goals. Based on current literature and local case studies from the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) camps at the University of Illinois, this talk will identify the factors that are important to consider depending on the target audience, camp format, and available staffing/resources. A strategy will be presented at the end that integrates well defined goals with these critical factors as the foundation for outreach camp development, implementation, assessment, and dissemination.
THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2022
Morning Concurrent Sessions
The Invisible Pipeline: Recruitment/Retention of Underrepresented Minorities (Grand Ballroom F)
The recruitment and retention of Underrepresented Minorities (URM’s) in materials science and engineering (MSE) starts with understanding the barriers that these groups face. These barriers require specific and unique strategies for increasing the population of these groups within our field. This track will focus on methods for recruiting and retaining URM’s in our professon and your organization.
Invited Talks
Gabriel O. Ilevbare, Ph.D., Manager, Materials Science and Engineering Department / Idaho National Laboratory
Presentation Title: "Building an Inclusively Diverse Workforce at Idaho National Laboratory"
About the Presentation
Despite efforts to recruit diverse populations, organizations continue to report low numbers of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty and administrators in STEM. Stories of URM faculty often are disheartening and represent recurring issues that result in workplace dissatisfaction and employee attrition. Challenges that were present decades ago remain, leaving organizations without blueprints for success. With an increased focus on anti-racism, it is time to stop “playing” diversity and begin practicing effective practices that result in environments that promote and advance URM faculty and administrators. This talk will present perspectives about individual and collective actions needed for academic environments to become authentically diverse.
Ashleigh R. Wright, Associate Director, Institute for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Presentation Title: "Stop Playing Diversity with Underrepresented Minority Faculty"
About the Presentation
Despite efforts to recruit diverse populations, organizations continue to report low numbers of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty and administrators in STEM. Stories of URM faculty often are disheartening and represent recurring issues that result in workplace dissatisfaction and employee attrition. Challenges that were present decades ago remain, leaving organizations without blueprints for success. With an increased focus on anti-racism, it is time to stop “playing” diversity and begin practicing effective practices that result in environments that promote and advance URM faculty and administrators. This talk will present perspectives about individual and collective actions needed for academic environments to become authentically diverse.
Other Session Highlights
Building the Pipeline – Addressing Diversity Issues in Materials Science and Beyond: Engage with a panel of experts in a discussion of physical and invisible barriers as well as institutional policies that create and maintain systemic disparities in underrepresented and marginalized groups
Combating Biases in STEM (Grand Ballroom H, J, K)
Learned social stereotypes about groups of people that can unintentionally influence our decisions and interactions with others can have negative impacts on important decisions, including hiring, promotions, and project assignments. This session will enable participants to recognize this and to develop a toolbox of techniques and approaches to mitigate it in the workplace and in other aspects of life.
Emphasis will be placed on gaining a first-hand understanding of these concepts through small group discussions and engaging, hands-on activities.
Invited Talks
Clarke
Jackson
Blythe Gore Clark, Research and Development Department Manager, Sandia National Laboratories
Olivia D. Underwood Jackson, Principal Member of Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories
Presentation Title: "Mitigating Implicit Bias as Individuals and Institutions"
About the Presentation
Bias. It’s a word that makes most of us squirm. Bias implies to us that we are “bad people” and are being accused of deliberately discriminating against others. Yet, if you ask a social scientist, you will find that it doesn’t mean that at all; implicit bias is a neurologically based, energy-saving short cut. We form our implicit biases subconsciously over time, influenced by our upbringing, societal norms, and life experiences. While bias is benign in some examples, when relied on for decisions regarding people, implicit bias can inadvertently cause us to exclude others, tune out their ideas, or under- or overestimate their abilities. In this talk, we will discuss how to actively address, or mitigate, our biases---both individually and institutionally---so that we can truly realize our value system of meritocracy in science and engineering.
Katie Thomas, Associate Human Resources Director, Organizational Development and Culture / Idaho State University
Presentation Title: "Leveraging a Strengths-based Approach to Diversity and Inclusion"
About the Presentation
We are all unique! How can you identify, invest in, and leverage the talents of your team members to create a sense of belonging where each individual is celebrated for their unique abilities? We are often able to see talent in everyday behaviors through yearning, satisfaction, rapid learning, and glimpses of excellence in our everyday interactions. The Gallup Clifton Strengths® assessment identifies individuals’ natural talents, and provides a common language to celebrate differences within a team. In this session, we will explore the idea of approaching inclusion through integration of a strengths-based philosophy, and discuss how identifying and investing in the talents of our team members can increase productivity, teamwork, belonging, and engagement.
Other Session Highlights
Learn by Playing: The Buffalo Card Game: Join us for playing Buffalo, a card game designed by Tiltfactor to subtly challenge your own stereotypes and unconscious bias through play.
Unconscious Bias Scenario Discussions: How does unconscious bias impact your experiences at work. (
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Participate in small group discussions of scenarios relevant to the minerals, metals, and materials professions. If you have attended the other sessions in this track, this will be a chance to put what you have learned into practice and share your own experiences. If this is your first introduction to the topic, it is a great way to help you start to recognize unconscious bias around you and how you can take actions to mitigate it.
Afternoon All-Summit Closing Plenary (Grand Ballroom F)
Engaging Those with Physical, Cognitive or Sensory Challenges
Despite legislation on diversity in the workplace, many people with physical, cognitive, or sensory challenges do not experience work opportunities and environments similarly to their peers. A 2018 STEM Inclusion Study by the National Science Foundation found that 16% of TMS members have some kind of disability, whether mental, cognitive, or physical and reported more negative workplace experiences than respondents that did not identify as having these challenges. Addressing this situation requires a deeper understanding of the obstacles and barriers that can result in these negative workplace experiences.
In this session, we will explore methods to engage and support persons with physical, cognitive, and sensory challenges in order to create a more inclusive workplace and organization.
Keynote
"Maximizing the Potential of Neurodiversity in the Employment and Educational Settings"
Lawrence Fung
Director, Stanford Neurodiversity Project
Stanford University
About the Presentation
Neurodiversity is about accepting variations in brain functions and behaviors as part of normal variations of human beings. Uncovering the strengths of neurodiverse individuals empowers them to increase innovation and productivity, resulting in favorable outcomes not only for them but for the entire community. This keynote presentation will describe the Strengths-Based Model of Neurodiversity in developing neurodiverse individuals in learning and work environments. Examples will also be shared on how the model is implemented in the Neurodiversity at Work Program, Neurodiverse Student Support Program, and other programs within the Stanford Neurodiversity Project.
About the Presenter
Lawrence Fung is a scientist and psychiatrist specializing in autism, and the father of a neurodiverse teenager with ASD. He is the director of the Stanford Neurodiversity Project, which strives to uncover the strengths of neurodiverse individuals and utilize their talents to increase innovation and productivity of society as a whole. He directs the Neurodiverse Student Support Program, Neurodiversity at Work Program, and Adult Neurodevelopment Clinic and is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. His lab advances the understanding of neural bases of human socio-communicative and cognitive functions by using novel neuroimaging and technologies. His team devises and implements novel interventions to improve the lives of neurodiverse individuals by maximizing their potential and productivity. He is currently conducting a study to demonstrate that specialized employment programs such as Neurodiversity at Work program will result in higher retention rates and quality of life.
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