gLoBaL ERG
A CONVERSATION WITH ANTOINE WOJDYLA AND ALISA BETTALE
The pandemic has made life difficult for everyone, with more challenges for those who are working and living thousands of miles away from family and friends. The gLoBaL Employee Resource Group (ERG) wants to knit them into the social fabric of the Lab through its virtual and in-person events.
The co-chairs are Antoine Wojdyla and Alisa Bettale. Alisa, originally from Tokyo, recently joined the Lab as K-12 Content and Instruction Coordinator. Antoine, originally from the French Caribbean, came to the Lab in 2013 as a postdoc.
Alisa: I haven’t been able to visit my family, who all live in Tokyo, during the pandemic.
Antoine: I was supposed to visit my parents on the Island of St. Martin in May 2020, but I had to cancel the trip due to the pandemic. I am currently in France, where I am visiting other members of my family, some with health issues. It is quite tricky to travel while the travel restrictions are in place.
They recently shared more about gLoBaL’s mission and the activities that are underway to bring people together.
What is the ERG’s mission?
Alisa: The purpose of gLoBaL is to provide support and a sense of community for international Lab employees. We aim to foster an inclusive community where all cultures from around the world are celebrated. We welcome domestic employees to join the ERG and/or participate in events to learn about the many cultures represented at the Lab.
Antoine: We want to organize hikes and picnics so people can meet others and build a local community. We also see gLoBaL as a vehicle to interact with other international institutions in Berkeley, such as UC Berkeley VSPA and the International House.
We also want to use art and education, since art is an international language that also helps us to see science in a different light and question the possibilities beyond its technical application: how does a new invention impact the broader community? We want to collaborate with the other ERGs on these thoughts.
What big challenge(s) are you hoping to solve with the work of your ERG in the next 20 years?
Alisa: Although very exciting, moving to a new country can bring many challenges as well. Through gLoBaL, I hope that every international employee is connected to a community where they can support each other, and access resources to navigate through these challenges.
One of the things I love about working at Berkeley Lab is how there are employees from all over the world. I’m hoping that gLoBaL provides an opportunity for more cultural exchange and events for celebrating all the different countries represented here at the Lab.
Antoine: We want to make sure international employees get all the information they need when they relocate. The United States has a healthcare system and an education system that is quite different from other places. It is challenging to navigate when you start from scratch, with no phone number, no credit card, and no social security number.
Because of its very diverse makeup, the Bay Area is also a pioneer in many technological and social issues. Allowing international employees to fully embrace the culture is also a way to enable them to move the needle whenever they return to their countries to foster a more inclusive environment.
We also want to provide a forum to exchange ideas on issues such as the climate. This is a global issue, and while we all work for the Department of Energy, there are very few avenues to talk about these issues with colleagues, share our expertise and perhaps reframe our line of inquiry to align with the goals of DOE – and potentially kickstart new collaborations!
What steps are you taking today to accomplish this vision?
Alisa: Antoine and myself restarted gLoBaL this past spring, so I would say that was our first step! Rebecca Hartman-Baker and Charlene Yang started gLoBaL in 2017 and established a wonderful organization, so we have quite the shoes to fill. We are looking for members in the gLoBaL ERG, or any members of the Lab community who would like to join us in leadership roles as we work through the restart process.
Antoine: Rebooting a group with a solid social component during a pandemic is not easy! Nevertheless, there is much information about events and places to discover we can gather and share with the community through the newsletter and, soon, a gLoBaL orientation. We want to organize events in person so that people can have conversations afterward, but for the moment, we’ll leverage the possibility of instant travel in space through virtual seminars to bring speakers who would otherwise be difficult to bring on site.
Who do you partner with at the Lab to bring this vision to life?
Alisa: The IDEA Office is constantly supportive, as is our executive sponsor, Sudip Dosanjh. We are so grateful that they are with us as we go through the process of restarting gLoBaL. We have also started to collaborate with the team at the International Researchers and Scholars Office (IRSO). One of the most stressful challenges that international members of our community face is navigating the ever-changing travel restrictions. We are starting to organize workshops and seminars and IRSO is graciously sharing their expertise with us so the community can stay up to date with the latest information on visas.
Antoine: We want to collaborate with other ERGs so our international colleagues can learn about the many different experiences of the population of the United States, each with a vibrant culture and specific challenges. We intend to invite participants from other ERGs to talk about specific aspects of US culture during gLoBaL orientation, and co-organize events whenever we can use art to blend various topics together.
We also want to collaborate with the Berkeley Lab Foundation, as it would allow us to collaborate with entities outside Berkeley Lab (exhibitions, volunteering opportunities) – or perhaps allow former international employees to give back to the community!
Who from the past, present, or future would you like to collaborate with? And on what?
Alisa: I believe gLoBaL has many intersections with other ERGs, so I would love to collaborate with them in the future in various events, especially cultural celebrations.
Antoine: I am a great fan of Art Rosenfeld, who left particle physics to work in the field of energy efficiency – undoubtedly a global problem! He managed to tackle policy problems, talking to people out of his field, with a great understanding of their perspective, while using his analytical skills to find solutions that would work – bringing science policy solutions to the world.