Written By: Michelle Guitard, USF CMS Ph.D. candidate, for Geoscientist (Guitard, M., Amplified voices: How identity shapes our scientific experience. Geoscientist 30 (1), 10-15, 2020, 10.1144/geosci2020-065)
The first time I heard about the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) I was reading a geological society’s monthly bulletin. The article summarized the lack of diversity in geoscience professions and included SACNAS as an organization dedicated to fostering success for the above-mentioned groups. I immediately logged on to the SACNAS website and enrolled as a student member. I remember feeling happy and excited. Here was a scientific community that intersected my cultural identity, made up of members with shared experiences, but also those from whom I could learn new scientific and cultural perspectives.