Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Opening Doors to Scientific Achievement

ARCS Foundation embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion as core values critical to scientific excellence and innovation. We believe these core values are crucial to creating a welcoming environment within our organization. We open doors to talented individuals who bring different perspectives to scientific research. ARCS Foundation celebrates and supports the efforts of our partner institutions as they eliminate barriers to academic and scientific achievement.

The ARCS Foundation, Inc., declaration on equity, diversity and inclusion was adopted as a statement of principle by the Honolulu Chapter in May 2021. Learn more about the ARCS Foundation national DEI activities

Positions of Leading STEM Organizations

National Academies Science, Engineering, Medicine logo“Convening a diverse community to exchange ideas and perspectives enhances the quality of our work and increases our relevance as advisers to the nation about the most complex issues facing the nation and the world. To promote diversity and inclusion in the sciences, engineering, and medicine, we … pledge to cultivate an environment and culture that promotes inclusion and values respectful participation of all individuals who help advance the mission of the institution.”
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

  American Association for the Advancement of Science logoAAAS “has long advocated the importance of bringing underrepresented minorities into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, both for the benefits diversity brings to the students and those with whom they interact but also as an important means of expanding the STEM workforce at a time when US economic development and national security depend on maintaining US preeminence in science and technology.”
American Association for the Advancement of Science

  Council on Competitiveness logo“Immigrants, women, and minorities underpin US entrepreneurial strength. … Businesses in the United States that are majority women-owned generate $1.1 trillion in annual sales, and about 20 percent of all majority women-owned businesses are owned by women of color. During the past 25 years, immigrants have started 25 percent of all US public venture-backed companies, including Intel, Sun Microsystems, eBay, Yahoo! and Google. … Entrepreneurship is essential to driving US economic growth and maintaining America’s global competitiveness.”
Council on Competitiveness
Read Congressional testimony by Council on Competitiveness Pesident Deborah Wince-Smith, an ARCS Metro Washington Chapter member, July 2020
 

Additional Voices

  • Tackling systemic racism requires the system of science to change” according to an editorial in Nature magazine (May 19, 2021)
     
  • "Academic medicine is far from immune from issues of racial injustice and inequity," write two University of Hawai‘i at Manoa faculty members and their colleagues in Academic Medicine (January 2022). The article reviews best practices and proposes strategies for learning, working, and educating others in an antiracist learning environment.

Related University of Hawai‘i News

Improving hospital care for diverse communities
John A. Burns School of Medicine Assistant Professor and clinical psychologist Hepua Hermosura has been appointed director of diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice and caregiver wellness for The Queen's Health System. Read more

Tackling underrepresentation in clinical trials
UH researchers will survey Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in national study of marginalized communities in medical research. Read more

Postdoctoral researcher receives MOSAIC Award
UH Investigator Andrew Kekūpaʻa Knutson received a National Institutes of Health Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers Postdoctoral Career (MOSAIC) Transition Award to Promote Diversity. Read more

Dr. Isabella Abbott at microscopeUniversity Science Building Named for Native Hawaiian Alumna

The University of Hawai‘i named the UH Manoa Life Sciences Building for 2000 ARCS Scientist of the Year Dr. Isabella Abbott. The first kanaka maoli (native Hawaiian) woman to earn a PhD and the first person of color to be a full professor at Stanford University, the pioneering ethnobotanist was instrumental in incorporating Hawaiian language and culture in the naming of marine algae. Read more.

Dr. Alika Maunakea at podium wearing leiIndigenous Professor is ARCS Scientist of the Year

Honoluluʻs 2024 Scientist of the Year and ARCS Scholar advisor Dr. Alika Maunakea blends the traditional knowledge of his Native Hawaiian upbringing with his training in biomedical sciences in his role as a leading epigenetics researcher at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa John A. Burns School of Medicine.. Read more

University of Hawaii at Manoa Cancer Center MarkTackling Cancer Disparities

The University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center's Community Outreach Core liaises between researchers and community to reduce the barriers leading to cancer disparities as part of the Pacific Island Partnership for Cancer Health Equity, a collaboration between UH and the University of Guam supported by the National Cancer Institute since 2003. Read more.

UH Manoa graduate students in STEM by genderUH Manoa graduate students in STEM by ethnicity