Sylvia Hurtado Invited to Present 2020 ASCB Diversity Keynote

“Inclusive Science and Institutional Change” will be the title of the Diversity Keynote presented by invited speaker Sylvia Hurtado for Cell Bio Virtual 2020–an ASCB|EMBO online meeting. Hurtado is a professor in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Hurtado’s research centers on the impact that student-centered interventions for underrepresented groups has, not only on the students but on the institution itself.

“What is the departmental impact of culturally aware mentor training for faculty in the biomedical sciences?” Hurtado wondered. “What is the process of institutional transformation in improving STEM education at the undergraduate and graduate level?”

Hurtado was a professor of education and the director of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA for over a decade.

“I have written extensively on student development and college experiences, campus racial climate, STEM education, and diversity in higher education,” Hurtado said. “My current national projects focus on STEM education interventions and diversification of the scientific workforce, institutional transformation, and the impact of culturally aware mentor training for faculty in the biomedical sciences.”

Hurtado grew up in San Antonio, TX, and, she said, “Like many Latinas, I was a first-generation college student.” She earned an AB from Princeton University, a Masters in Education from Harvard, and her PhD from UCLA.

The Diversity Keynote will premiere on December 3 at 11:45 am ET in the Cell Bio Virtual 2020 online platform.