Harassment

There are ongoing issues of discrimination and harassment in the STEM fields (e.g.: Faculty with a history of misconduct honored at Yale - https://goo.gl/RdBTLF and https://goo.gl/Pvvnwb). Recent findings from the National Academies (https://goo.gl/B6jd2d) suggests that harassment of women in academia is second only to the rates experienced by women in the US military. Connecticut boasts a number of large, prominent universities, including Yale and UConn, as well as high profile military bases, including the Coast Guard Academy and Naval Submarine Base New London.

What have you done or plan to do to address these issues should you be elected?

We need to take harassment and sex discrimination more seriously in our culture. Studies have shown that education about how to recognize and report abuses tends to cut down on their occurrence, but we also need an independent entity to take harassment and discrimination reports, investigate them, and work to resolve grievances, especially in academia where the "chain of command" is often a big part of the problem.

How have you or will you ensure that CT women have the protections in place that they need, as well as an avenue for reporting and prosecuting offenders?

As outlined above, having an independent state entity who can investigate reports, and provide findings to law enforcement or other suitable entities. Situations of misconduct, harassment, and sexual assault have to be investigated by specially trained personnel, and it would be best if that's done by an entity outside of the institution where the misconduct took place, where there may be a cultural protection of offenders.

Inclusivity

Numerous studies show the benefits gained from organizations building equity and inclusion in their workforce (https://goo.gl/YEMyeK). Lack of inclusivity and equity is an issue particularly in STEM fields and in politics. Connecticut can be considered less inclusive than other states, especially when it comes to education, where many minority students attend largely homogenous schools (https://goo.gl/TYF4bA).

What have you done or what do you plan to do to address this issue?

I'm open to ideas on how to increase diversity. We've made progress, but not enough, so I'm not sure the programs to increase diversity need more time or if they've plateaued and we need to try a different approach. I do believe we lack diversity in early levels of education, so we need to start thinking about this on a community level, not just an educational level.

What have you done or plan to do to attract a more inclusive workforce to Connecticut?

We can attract a diverse workforce by offering a high quality of life, quality public education, a strong economy, and affordable places to live that are reasonably close to employment hubs.

What have you done or plan to do to break down the barriers faced by people of color to pursue higher education and access fair wage positions?

Environmental Stewardship

Connecticut is prone to numerous environmental disasters including pollution, coastal flooding, blizzards, etc. These are predicted to be worsened by the impacts of shifts in Earth's climate patterns (https://goo.gl/PvZQik and https://goo.gl/AEtLb5). Connecticut was also ranked as having the worst air quality of states east of the Mississippi - Fairfield County was ranked the 19th most ozone polluted county in the nation and Hartford-West Hartford the most ozone polluted city - by the American Lung Association's 2018 State of the Air report.

What policies and actions will you take if you enter office to help safeguard our state?

I did not know we had the worst air quality. Is that due to pollution generated within out state, or does it blow in from PA? We need to put environmental regulations in place that have been removed at the federal level, and go steps further to ensure we proactively improve our air, water, and soil quality.

What climate and energy policies do you support?

Green energy funding - which was drained in the last budget session by my opponent.

What have you done or plan to do to improve the air quality of our state?

Increase compliance personnel to be sure that bad actors are caught and made to come into clean air regulatory compliance.

Immigration/Family Separations

We were particularly pained over the past months by the heart-wrenching situation of migrant children being separated from their parents with some of the children reportedly detained in our state. Some of our members are mothers of young children, and as scientists we are aware of an extensive body of research (https://goo.gl/yQrXNg) on how separating children from their parents can cause toxic stress and impair mental and physical development. 500 Women Scientists views this issue as representative of a larger immigration problem. Additionally, many Connecticut scientists are immigrants and have made significant contributions to U.S. excellence in research and development, and current immigration policies put this excellence and the well-being of immigrants at risk.

Tell us about steps you’ve taken or plan to take to reform our immigration system and guarantee human rights are protected.

Other than maintaining that our local police do not do ICE's job for them, there is little that can be done on a state level. We need to support our federal delegation in their efforts to uphold decency and end the horrible practices of treating immigrant families and individuals in a sub-human manner.

What have you done or will you do to ensure protections for immigrants seeking visas to study and work in STEM fields in CT?

I am not familiar enough with the process. I'll need to ask your help in understanding better ways to protect immigrants seeking visas.

Dreamers

Today, there's a generation of immigrants who have lived in the United States since childhood and only know this country as home, yet they do not have the opportunity to become U.S. citizens and fully join society. Through the DACA program, thousands of Dreamers were able to pursue studies in STEM and succeed in these fields.

What have you done or plan to do to provide a permanent solution for Dreamers?

While this is a federal issue, if it were up to me, I would offer an amnesty program to give DACA recipients appropriate visas while they apply for citizenship.

What are your thoughts concerning proposed H.B. No. 6709, proposed S.B. No. 591, and proposed H.B. No. 7000 submitted in 2017 concerning sanctuary state status, establishing an immigrant bill of rights, and access to higher education funds for Dreamers?

Support all the above.

Scientific Integrity

Politicians are disputing settled science and firing government scientists for political reasons.

How will you foster a culture that respects scientific evidence and protects scientists?

yes

Can we count on your commitment to support stronger oversight of any efforts to cut science out of public protections and to oppose similar attempts?

yes