The Duke Microbiome Center (DMC) leadership team is happy to announce that the recipient of the 2022 DMC Diversity Matters Award is Eva Kim, a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Claudia Gunsch. The DMC is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion as fundamental to our center’s success and excellence (read more here). Our ability to achieve these ends relies on the initiative, leadership, and engagement of our center members. Launched in 2020, the annual Diversity Matters Award is designed to recognize individuals within the DMC that have made significant advances towards these ends within Duke and our broader scientific and geographic communities. We are very happy to recognize Eva as the recipient of this year’s DMC Diversity Matters Award for their contributions described below..
Eva’s receipt of the DMC Diversity Matters Award recognizes the vision, leadership, and generosity she has displayed in advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in her lab, within the Pratt School of Engineering, within the broader Duke community, and even beyond the walls of the university through her work in the NSF IBIEM National Research Training Program and PreMiEr Engineering Research Center. She has served as a member of (1) the Pratt Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Committee; (2) the Pratt School Student Government Council; and (3) the PreMiEr Scholars Leadership Council. Across all of these activities, Eva has worked hard to lend a voice to those who may not have the ability, fortitude or courage to speak up about their experiences in our community. However, her work does not stop at being a voice – she is also a champion for change and ensuring our community challenges itself to move beyond the comfortable status quo. Ms. Kim herself is a member of an underrepresented group within our community and her own lived experience serves as a driving force for championing change as well as a reminder that we all have different lived experiences. Even though we know that diversity is a driver of success, as a community we still struggle with truly bringing equity to the forefront especially when the work is hard. Eva Kim has been an effective student leader in those institutional efforts and is therefore a deserving recipient of this 2022 DMC Diversity Matters Award.
The next nomination cycle for the DMC Diversity Matters Award will be announced in fall 2023. For further details on this award mechanism, go here.
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