Astrobiology (general)

Letter to the Astrobiology Community: Strengthening Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, & Accessibility

By Keith Cowing
NASA
October 18, 2021
Filed under
Letter to the Astrobiology Community: Strengthening Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, & Accessibility
Astrobiology
NASA

Dear Astrobiology Community: We at NASA Astrobiology are continuing to prioritize thoughts and efforts in justice, equity, and belonging. We are seeking your inputs at this time on several fronts toward building momentum for growth, change, and action… for ourselves and our beloved community.

We are issuing a call, asking if you would please share with us your thoughts and ideas, both specifically related to these areas and in general:

NASA Mission Equity Request For Information (RFI)

New Science Mission Directorate RFI for IDEA Language in Future Announcements of Opportunities (AOs)

Do you do fieldwork? What documents do you have in place that guide and govern your group’s ethics, conduct, process, policy, etc.?

Recommendations of scholars to feature in a symposium wherein they share their research about the current barriers and challenges faced by minoritized/marginalized students and professionals in STEM, and discuss strategies for addressing them

Other, non-specific inputs

Please identify if you are interested in working together on these fronts.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

We see ourselves in service to community-based efforts, as gatherers of our collective thoughts and ideas, and facilitators of dialogue and action. Our vision is to organize groups to work on co-creating and advancing activities based on these inputs. All will be treated as proprietary and used only to take our collective pulse toward moving forward as a community.

Astrobiology, Astrochemistry,

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻