By Nilanjana “Buju” Dasgupta, Director, IDS
When I visited Seattle earlier this fall, I brought two overlapping missions.
One was to introduce my book Change the Wallpaper—and its premise that durable culture change that’s within reach of ordinary individuals starts by acting collectively in the local spaces where we live, learn, and work—to new audiences in one of the country’s innovation capitals. The second was to show how the Institute of Diversity Sciences’ (IDS) mission of supporting science and engineering that tackles social issues brings diverse communities together and turns good ideas from vision to action.
I have old roots in Seattle. I lived and worked here as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington after receiving my PhD from Yale. What I saw was a city that’s the leading edge of culture change through technology, music, and the arts. Open to new ideas, innovative, and non-traditional. Yet it is also a city that has some familiar inequalities. So I was eager to introduce my new book and the Institute of Diversity Sciences to Seattle audiences because of this city's openness to big ideas and curiosity to explore ways to translate fresh ideas into positive action. And that’s what I want this book to do—spark hope and action in service of justice.
When I came home, I brought back new connections and promise of new collaborations, as some of Seattle’s leading executives, philanthropists, and UMass Amherst alumni embraced these ideas eagerly.
That conviction mirrors the founding principle of IDS: use STEM to solve social problems, and dedicated people across fields and backgrounds will join the effort.
Local Action Has More Traction
At the national level, social justice work and higher education alike are facing stiff political headwinds. But while politics can shift, facts are facts.
Research shows that people are drawn to STEM when they see it addressing real-world needs and justice. This attracts more young people into STEM education and career pathways. And these young people bring new energy, creativity, and collaborative spirit.
Change the Wallpaper echoes a similar idea in a broader way: based on decades of research and real world application, the book shows that the best way for ordinary people to act as change agents is within our local organizations and communities. If we encourage social mixing among people from different backgrounds, roles, power and status to strengthen cross-group relationships, networking, and information sharing; if we step forward to serve as mentors to teach underserved people the “roadmap” to navigate school, college, workplaces; if we uplift stories that normalize struggle as part of life’s journey; and if we make relatable role models available to all, we start changing the “wallpaper”—the subtle social cues that signal who belongs and whose ideas flourish.
Conversations Spark Connections
Over two evenings, I held small, intimate gatherings and discussions with two very different groups. The first brought together UMass Amherst alumni now in leadership roles in STEM, healthcare, journalism, and other sectors—all of whom graduated from UMass before IDS existed. The second gathered younger tech professionals, nonprofit executives, and philanthropic leaders eager to connect evidence-based culture change with their own missions and organizations.
Both groups brought the same curiosity, enthusiasm, and follow-up. We were trading business cards, brainstorming ways to mentor students and support IDS programs, and sharing funding opportunities to support IDS initiatives. We discussed how to collaborate on workshops and pilot programs implementing Change the Wallpaper and IDS principles.
After those house parties, I stepped onto the stage for a book interview at Seattle Town Hall, a century-old forum that has hosted Nobel laureates and neighborhood organizers alike. My talk distilled two decades of research into practical guidance: Which well-meaning strategies seem intuitively appealing but don’t actually work according to the science? Which small actions repeated over time rewire environments toward greater inclusion? And why is acting hand-in-hand with others, locally, —on campus, at our company, in our community—the most reliable engine of lasting change?
The audience asked engaging and insightful questions. Each exchange reminded me that people like you and me—who don’t wield national policy levers—are hungry for tools they can apply right where they stand. That enthusiasm reaffirmed the central insight that durable culture change starts in the environments we touch every day.
Turning Insight into Action
In the weeks since returning from Seattle, I’ve continued follow-up conversations with many of the people I met—alumni interested in visiting campus for IDS-hosted events, foundation leaders exploring partnerships, and consultants interested in applying IDS principles to organizational change. For me, those are the true metrics of success. They show that these ideas excite people, resonate far beyond academia, across sectors ready to translate research into action.
Eight years ago, when I founded IDS, I wanted to test a simple proposition: if we tackle socially relevant questions with scientific rigor and interdisciplinary collaboration, we expand both who participates in science and engineering and how we do it.
My time in Seattle affirmed that this proposition has reach well beyond Massachusetts. It leaves people feeling empowered at a time of widespread pessimism. It offers a resilient, hopeful way forward for higher education and for anyone who believes in science as a public good.
That is the blueprint at the heart of Change the Wallpaper, of IDS, and of every community ready to change its own environment first; confident that wider transformation will follow.