Laurel Smith-Doerr Gave NSF Distinguished Lecture on Advancing Equity in the U.S. Bioeconomy

On Dec. 16, Laurel Smith-Doerr, professor of sociology and PI of the $3.1 million NSF ADVANCE-Institutional Transformation grant at UMass Amherst, gave an NSF Distinguished Lecture on her work on biotech contexts and equity, as part of the series of National Science Foundation Distinguished Lectures on the Bioeconomy. In the panel on “Equity, Behavior, and Ethics in the Advancing U.S. Bioeconomy” Smith-Doerr addressed the organizational contexts that allow equitable collaboration among knowledge workers and thus innovative outcomes. She concluded with a discussion of how lessons for fostering equity might translate to all organizations, and from her current work with the UMass ADVANCE team, how to sustain equity gains during times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. The lecture can be viewed on YouTube.

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In addition to participating in the distinguished lecture panel, Smith-Doerr spent the day visiting virtually with NSF leadership and dozens of NSF program officers in the BIO and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorates. Smith-Doerr and the other distinguished lecture panelists offered their perspectives to NSF on exciting new directions for research on technology, innovation and partnerships.

UMass ADVANCE is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to advance gender and racial equity for faculty in science and engineering.