Documents

I am firmly committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and recognize the systemic barriers that are faced my minorities in some fields. Being a cisgendered white man, most of my work regarding DEI has been in the background. In STEM, women are frequently underrepresented and can have a hard time finding that community to support them and relate to. In undergrad, I helped restart the local WiPA chapter (Women in Physics and Astronomy), and in graduate school, I helped create Coffee and Connect to create this community and safe space.

Throughout my time in higher education, I have always enjoyed and valued the time to get to know people from various backgrounds and lived experiences. Regardless of demographics, extending grace, compassion, and sympathy can go a long way in the classroom, workplace, and in life, and I strive to reflect those values in all that I do. Accounting for religious and cultural holidays in syllabus structuring and the timing of major assignments, ensuring access to accessible classrooms and restrooms, and being mindful of connotative language are just some of the ways that I reflect diversity, equity, and inclusion in practice.

While, writing this, I've realized that my capstone project in undergrad is essentially a long version of a DEI statement, and an anonymized version of the project can be found here.
In short, my rare neurological speech disorder put me in a "group of one" growing up; by being in a group of one, I have a unique ability to recognize and include those who are excluded. The project, A Speech Disorder's Effect on Character, lists examples of this ability for individuals, but it is trivial to extend it to marginalized groups instead of just marginalized individuals.

I am still learning and evolving in the best practices of DEI and the proper language to use, but the essence of what I do is rooted in DEI. Almost all of my administrative and service experience is tied to inclusion and equity through the proper creation of a strong community. Ensuring inclusion and equity is how to promote and ensure diversity and retention of minorities.

I look forward to working with and learning from your diverse community.

Certificate in College Teaching

As a PhD Student at Michigan State University, I'm in the process of completing the College of Engineering's Certification in College Teaching (CCT) program through the Graduate School. This is one of the only formal programs in the United States that provides graduate students a comprehensive preparation for teaching at the college level. The program involved coursework on teaching STEM, workshops, and completion of a mentored teaching project to advance five core competencies:

1. Developing Discipline-Related Teaching Strategies

2. Creating Effective Learning Environments

3. Incorporating Technology in Your Teaching

4. Understanding the University Context

5. Assessing Student Learning

For more information, refer to the CCT's homepage as well as my Teaching Portfolio where I go more in-depth in regard to the knowledge and practices learning while completing it.

Certificate in Community Engaged Scholarship

Michigan State University's Graduate Certification in Community Engagement is a joint initiative of the Graduate School and the University Outreach and Engagement Office. The certification is designed to help graduate students develop systemic, respectful, scholarly approaches to their community-engaged work. The certificate is composed of workshops and a mentored community engagement experience. These workshops cover competencies such as the Foundations of community-engaged scholarship and disciplinary variations, community collaboration techniques, community-engaged scholarship and practice, and more. For more information, refer to their website as well as my page on Community Engagement.

Entering Mentoring Certificate

Housed within the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER), this is an evidence-based, interactive mentor training curriculum. During this workshop, I was introduced to the Entering Mentoring curricula, which addresses the following themes: aligning expectations, addressing equity and inclusion, articulating your mentoring philosophy and plan, assessing understanding, cultivating ethical behavior, enhancing work-life integration, fostering independence, maintaining effective communication, and promoting professional development. Workshop participants become familiar with the curricula, practice facilitating training components, and develop a plan for implementing the training at their institution or organization.
We discussed tools to appropriate set and communicate expectations, describing all of the above themes, to our mentees, as well as to our mentors. Quality mentoring is an important contributor to success of researchers across all disciplines and career stages, and I sought this training to reflect this belief. A lot of the concepts were relatively familiar, but being able to tangibly define and discuss these ideas and best practices in a scholarly environment was incredibly beneficial to my role as a mentor, both in research and in academics.
View the certificate here!

CyberAmbassadors Certificate

The CyberAmbassadors program focuses on Communications, Teamwork and Leadership skills. There are nine individual modules in a logical progression of skills from the Communications sessions into Teamwork and then Leadership. We discussed communicating with a purpose, the minutiae of challenging conversations, and communicating about complexity. Furthermore, we discussed the value of teamwork, effective group and meeting management, presenting effectively, and problem solving and decision making. The last module was centered around leadership skills where the conversations regarded understanding style and personality, equity and inclusion, and ethics.
The curriculum was extremely helpful in detailing the best practices that I've quasi-learned through experience. Knowing the technical names and reviewing strategies to ensure transparency and cohesion in the team was quite rewarding. Accordingly, in December of 2025, I'm completing the training to become certified to facilitate the training myself!
View the certificate here!