Juneteenth Celebration of Black Scientists and Engineers
The Virginia Tech community gathered at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC for the Juneteenth celebration on June 17 in Roanoke. Black researchers, educators, and leaders described their career paths and research contributions in the health sciences. The program also highlighted the importance of embracing opportunities for all under-represented groups through diversity, equity, and inclusion advocacy.
It's time to be, we are showing people that we see them, the different identities that we acknowledge and celebrate. We are a multicultural democracy. So that's an adventure in all of history. And it's not invention is never that easy. So we're in a process, so we're not finished. But you have a tremendous amount of progress, tremendous strides. And that is really exemplified by the great speakers. We look at these complexes. We think about some of the challenges that we also are able to see. Very specific answer. Here's his eyes and others who are able to experience. Success is advancing. I think the single most important thing is a recognition of many contributions and how substance of the contributions have been in our areas by Black Americans over past years. Too often as a society, we don't identify those recognized and celebrated it. So I think that will give it an incredible amount of optimism, spirit, and enthusiasm to the upcoming generation of black scientists.