DIVERSITY STATEMENT

Our goal is to create an inclusive, respectful conference environment that invites participation from people of all races, ethnicities, genders, ages, abilities, religions, and sexual orientations. The PVSC Conference Committee and Cherry Committee fully support and endorse the IEEE Photonics Society diversity statement:

The IEEE Photonics Society is committed to providing equal opportunity to scientists and engineers, regardless of ethnicity, race, nationality, disability, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, religion, gender, age, and/or personal identity. Our policy is to continually improve our practices in order to build and maintain an environment that reflects the rich diversity of the photonics and optics scientific community.

There is growing evidence and documentation that science and innovation are more productive when research communities are diverse and inclusive. We're actively seeking to increase the diversity of our attendees, speakers, and sponsors through our calls for proposals, other open submission processes, and through dialogue with the larger communities we serve.
This is an ongoing process. We are working with our program chairs, program committees, and various innovators, experts, and organizations about this goal and about ways they can help us achieve it.

Help Encourage Diversity

Here are some ways you can help us build a more diverse conference experience:

  • Recommend appropriate speakers and/or program committee members to the conference chairs. You may also send an email to [[email protected]]
  • Forward our call for proposals to relevant affinity groups with the message that we are looking for a diverse speaker roster.
  • Suggest to potential speakers that they submit a proposal during our Call for Proposals conference phase
  • Suggest ways that the onsite conference experience can be more welcoming and supportive, free from intimidation and marginalization (send an email to [[email protected]]).
  • Share your ideas and best practices for how we can realize our vision (send an email to [[email protected]]).

We value diversity in the communities we bring together. We strive to provide balanced representation of the richness of our collective human experience, and welcome your contributions to helping us achieve that goal by following our code of conduct.

Credit for the original version of this document goes to O'Reilly Media.

Diversity & Inclusion Oversight Committee 

A committee was formed to ensure that the global diversity of the community in which the PVSC serves is represented in all aspects of organization and that our PVSC leaders are addressing diversity needs and/or concerns appropriately.


Silvana Ayala
WiPV Chair


Lyndsey McMillon-Brown
Broader Diversity Initiatives • Minority Carriers


Emily Warren
D&I Oversight


Tyler Grassman
Program Committee Liaison


Angela Fioretti
Fundraising


Silvana Ayala
Publicity

Resources

We’ve made available resources for attendees of the conference such as Child Grants, Family Room, pronouns on badges, and others ~ go to the Attendee Resources to read more about this.