Newsletter (June 2023)

Congratulations 2023 Graduates &

Happy Summer Sloan Scholars!

In this quarter's newsletter:

• Featured Scholar Interview: Dr. Cesunica Ivey
• Announcing the 2023 SSMN Research Symposium 
• We lost you on LinkedIn!  Follow the new SSMN LinkedIn Page
• Summer & Fall Events (RSVP Here!)
• Webinar Recording: Self-Branding & Promotion with Dr. Korie Grayson
• Scholar Highlights
• Career & STEM Resources
• SSMN Spring Recap! 
• Collaboration Form

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter for resources and to stay in the SSMN loop!

Featured Scholar Interview: Dr. Cesunica Ivey

This month’s Featured Scholar Interview highlights Dr. Cesunica Ivey! Dr. Ivey (she/her) is a 2016 Sloan Scholar PhD in Environmental Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of California Berkeley in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and is the lead PI for the Air Quality Modeling and Exposure Laboratory. She is also the Founder and CEO of BWINSTEM, an initiative supporting marginalized identities in STEM through accessible and tailored mentorship, coaching, and support.

In her department, Dr. Ivey is known as the ‘Air Quality Crusader’ who blends elements of traditional STEM research methods with advocacy and community engagement. Prior to her current position, Sunni was an Assistant Professor at UC Riverside, a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Reno, and an intern with various environmental engineering initiatives. She has received fellowships with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and was awarded the Air Quality Research and Study Award for her graduate work. Sunni looks forward to continuing to establish her presence in the field as an individual who sits at the nexus of environmental justice and equality.

Read the full article to learn more about Cesunica and her academic and professional work!

Announcing the 2023 SSMN Research Symposium

October 26, 2023, Tampa, FL

The Sloan Scholars Mentoring Network is pleased to announce the 2023 SSMN Research and Networking Symposium. Sloan Scholar Alumni (Legacy, UCEM, and SIGP graduates) are invited to express interest in attending and presenting at the symposium by filling out our brief interest form. The SSMN research symposium ​​will be held Thursday, October 26, 2023 at the JW Marriott, Tampa, FL and will serve as a pre-conference event coordinated with the SREB's Institute on Teaching and Mentoring. The full cost of attending the symposium and Institute (registration, meals, travel, and lodging) will be covered by the SSMN for those selected to attend. 

We lost you on LinkedIn! 😢

Following some technical issues in March, we lost our crucial network of Scholars on LinkedIn! (You!) Now, we've revamped the SSMN page and have exciting plans for sharing new resources, grant opportunities, event info, and more. 

But first, we need your help. Visit the new SSMN LinkedIn page here and click "Follow" or copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sloan-scholars-mentoring-network. 

Summer & Fall Events: RSVP Here!

The entire network of Sloan Legacy, UCEM, and SIGP Scholar Alumni is welcome and encouraged to attend our upcoming networking and community events, which include two special July events in Hawai'i. SSMN events are opportunities for alumni to meet and connect in fun, informal spaces. Light appetizers and drinks are provided. Visit our events page for more details.

In-person networking events for Sloan graduates and current scholars are currently scheduled in the following cities:

Self-Branding & Promotion Webinar: Live Recording

In her SSMN webinar on self-branding and promotion, fellow alum Dr. Korie Grayson expands on best self-branding and promotion practices to help scholars achieve career success and build platforms with purpose. We learn how authenticity is key to self-branding and promotion and we view real life examples of successful platforms. Dr. Grayson also shares technical advice (i.e., managing posts, best editing apps) and teaches us how to build a brand from the ground up!

Scholar Highlights

• 🌟 Damena Agonafer, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ’12, and fellow researchers at the University of Maryland won a $3.5 million grant from the Department of Energy for research to mitigate the environmental impacts of Cloud computing.
• 🌟 Nicole Benally, Purdue University ’18, received an honorable mention in the Ford Foundation’s 2023 predoctoral fellowship competition. Benally is a Ph.D. student in Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana, where she founded and leads the Indigenous Graduate Student Association.
• 🌟 Deji Akinwande, Stanford University ’09, presented to the American Chemical Society on his team’s development of a nanomaterial-based infection sensor to detect COVID-19 and flu.
• 🌟 Yaniv Scherson, Stanford University ’09, in his role at Anaergia, Inc., is part of a public-private wastewater biodigestion partnership in Southern California that recently won the 2023 Global Water Award for Wastewater Project of the Year. 

Do you have an award, career, publication, or other update to share? Send scholar highlights to [email protected]!

Career & STEM Resources

Grants

• Burroughs Wellcome Fund is accepting applications for Climate Change and Human Health Seed Grants ($2,500-$50,000) on a rolling basis through July 12, 2023. Read the RFP here. 
• NSF Virtual Grants Conference: If you missed the live conference earlier this month, individual session recordings are now available to view online. For session descriptions and speaker lists, check the conference agenda here. 

Events & Webinars

• ACE Webinar: What Works for Improving Mental Health in Higher Education? 
• Future Faculty Programs:
  • Cornell Future Faculty Program (Applications due Friday, June 23, at 5pm ET)
  • MIT Chemistry Future Faculty Symposium, hosted by the MIT Chemistry DEI Committee (Applications due Friday, June 23, at 5pm ET)
  • Future Faculty Diversity Program at Virginia Tech (Applications due August 15)
• The National Academies Climate Crossroads Summit is July 11-12, 2023.
• View the National Academies' upcoming events page for more climate and sustainability workshops.

Commentary

• Read: “Juneteenth in STEMM and the barriers to equitable science”
• Read: “Don’t let the Court disrupt science” by Adam Falk and Lorelle Espinosa

SSMN Spring Recap

It was a jam-packed spring season for the Sloan Scholars Mentoring Network! The season kicked off with the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign’s Sloan UCEM Conference. The conference was a collaboration between NACME, UCEMs, and the SSMN. The conference featured research presentations from current Sloan Scholars, networking opportunities, and a career panel featuring Sloan Scholar alumni: Alejandra Alvarado (ASU ’09), Chibueze Amanchukwu (MIT ’17), Kathryn Bailey (USF ’12), Pedro Bello-Maldonado (UIUC ’22), Regina Easley (USF ’13), and John Shelton (USF ’11).

In mid-April, former Program Associate, Selena Rodriguez, co-hosted her final SSMN Networking Event in Baltimore before transitioning into her new position as an Operations Manager at the Moynihan Center of City College of New York! In Baltimore, SSMN staff had the chance to connect with Sloan UCEM Scholars and chat about events and opportunities to support scholars' career success.

As summer ramps up, we are excited to welcome Camille Baptista to the SSMN team as a new Program Associate! Camille grew up in Berkeley, California, and previously worked as a historical and legal researcher for multimedia storytelling projects. She’s passionate about science communications and is excited to support the brilliant work of Sloan Scholar alumni.

Collaboration Form

If you’re interested in collaborating on an SSMN project (such as a workshop, conference session, featured interview, or survey), fill out our collaboration form or write us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter for resources and to stay in the SSMN loop!