Diversity Initiatives
Undergraduate Programs
The UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute strives to involve all people—regardless of race, class and gender—in our genomics-related research and scholarship.
Our diversity programs are designed to encourage and assist underrepresented students in the STEM field by providing financial aid, support, and access to campus resources.
Click on the squares below to learn more about each program and how to participate. If you have questions, you can reach out to our dedicated, full-time Office of Diversity Program Director (Zia Isola, zisola@ucsc.edu, 831-459-1702).
Program for currently enrolled UCSC students who participate in the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute Research Mentoring Internship (RMI) program can expect to gain a realistic picture of academic research careers based on actual experience in these roles. RMI exposes undergraduate students to the nature and rigors of a research environment under the close supervision of faculty mentoring.
The UC Santa Cruz Summer Short Course in Bioinformatics and Coding introduces community college students to essential data science skills for application in genomics, cancer research, and other biomedical applications. NO prior experience required! 100% online.
The UC Santa Cruz Treehouse Undergraduate Bioinformatics Immersion (TUBI) is a pediatric genomics research group for UCSC undergraduate students, run out of the Vaske lab as part of the Treehouse Childhood Cancer Initiative. TUBI researchers work on bioinformatics projects related to finding novel drug targets for pediatric cancer patients.
Training Mentoring Programs Available to GI Post-Docs
Hosted by the UCSC Institute for the Biology of Stem Cells, this program is one of 21 NIH-funded Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) programs in the nation that prepare postdocs for successful careers in academia. It is committed to promoting the well being and success of students and trainees who are historically underrepresented in biomedical research.
The GAIN program is also hosted by the Institute for the Biology of Stem Cells and supports and funds UCSC postdocs, primarily in biomedical-related fields, who aim to broaden their mentoring experience. Each UCSC postdoc will mentor four undergraduate students during the CSUMB spring semester (March, April, May) and two students during 2 months of summer research.
Racial Justice Learning & Action Group
The Genomics Institute Racial Justice Learning & Action Group is a group of staff, faculty, and students who gather to have informal discussions about diversity and inclusion topics. Past readings have focused on how institutional racism is baked into the fields of genetics and medicine, how racism has been a major part of the history of genetics and statistics, and how structural racism plays out within academic institutions and technology groups. The group also participates in activities aimed at actively dismantling institutional racism, such as an annual Wiki-a-thon to make Wikipedia less biased in its representation of scientists. To join, please join our google group (UCSC email required).