Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small
The College of Chemistry at UC Berkeley has appointed Dr. Marissa Elena Yáñez as Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer. Reporting to Professor Anne Baranger, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Dr. Yáñez joins the College with over twenty years’ experience in STEM education focused on DEI initiatives. She joins the College from a recent position as Engineering Faculty and Faculty Director of STEM Internships at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, CA.
Throughout her career, Dr. Yáñez has worked passionately to bring students from underserved backgrounds not just into higher education, but into the STEM pipeline. “As an undergraduate engineering student here at Cal, I led efforts to bring students from local underserved communities to expose them to engineering,” she recalled, “often caring more about the outreach work I was doing with the Hispanic Engineers and Scientists than my own academic studies. That should have been an indicator that empowering a diverse STEM workforce was what I cared most deeply about.”
As a graduate student pursuing her own PhD in Bioengineering, Dr. Yáñez led a national effort with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) to develop a graduate school track within the national SHPE conference to encourage more Latinx students to pursue advanced degrees in science and engineering.
Throughout her career, Dr. Yáñez studied equity closely – whether it was through her time at the National Institutes of Health where she led efforts to measure equity in the way that science funding was being allocated, or during her time leading her own nonprofit, Empoder, that helped to diversify the STEM pipeline by bringing more girls from low-income backgrounds into Computer-Science and tech careers. She eventually landed at Foothill College, where she partnered with the Director of the Science Learning Institute (SLI) to build, scale, and strengthen programs that increased the recruitment, retention and success of low-income, first-generation and underrepresented minority (URM) students in STEM.This included building a program that supported nearly 70 community college students a year from underserved backgrounds who successfully completed undergraduate research experiences at Stanford University and other tech and biotech companies throughout Silicon Valley.
Dr. Yáñez holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, as well as a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Washington. She is an Advisory Board Member of the Science Learning Institute at Foothill College and of FLi Sci, an organization preparing the next generation of scientists from historically excluded backgrounds.
In her position, Dr. Yáñez is committed to addressing systemic inequities, with the goal of making STEM more diverse and inclusive. In her first 9 months, she has led efforts to expand our outreach to diverse communities, and to work with the faculty to advocate for more inclusive practices in our admission policies. This year the College of Chemistry is welcoming the most competitive and diverse class in the history of the college, with 20.4% of the incoming class being from Underrepresented Minority (URM) backgrounds. As a result of her tremendous efforts in her first year with the College, Dr. Yáñez recently received a UC Berkeley Spot award in recognition of her efforts.
Dr. Yáñez is also extremely focused in improving mentorship overall within the College, not just for students (both graduate and undergraduate) but also for the faculty as well. “More and more, students are expressing a desire for more holistic mentorship, which goes beyond support on scientific and research progress, and includes emotional support and support for career development both within academia and beyond,” she said. “One of my goals is to help define what holistic mentorship looks like and empower the institution with tools to provide holistic mentorship and support.”
One way Dr. Yáñez believes in creating this support is by meeting with students and hearing directly from them. “I think it’s important to know what their experience has been like – and ask them directly what they need to thrive,” she said.
“I've been fortunate to have worked closely with Marissa this past year,” said graduate student Abigail Hinojosa. “As my research is in chemical education, it has been incredible to have Marissa's expertise, especially for our CoC Undergraduate Climate Survey project where her insights and feedback have been incredibly valuable. Having Marissa as a mentor has been an amazing resource for someone like me who aspires to follow a similar career path.”
Since her arrival, Dr. Yáñez has seen several successes, including high interest in the inaugural Summer Undergraduate Research Diversity (SURD) program that she launched and is running this year. The program has had a total of 100 applicants, with 70% of them being URM backgrounds. This summer the SURD program welcomed 8 inaugural fellows, all women who are either from a historically underrepresented background, from a low-income background or who are the first in their family to go to college.
“It has been fantastic working with Marissa this past academic year,” said Anne Baranger, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. “She brings her lived experience as a woman of color in undergraduate and graduate doctoral engineering programs and her considerable experience leading programming at other organizations.”
“Marissa has a seemingly limitless energy and enthusiasm for everything she does and has already had a measurable impact,” she continued. “For example, her efforts in graduate recruiting and admissions have led to an increase in the diversity of the incoming graduate student cohort in both departments.”
Additionally, with support from Dr. Yáñez’s leadership, the new Chem 49 Adjunct Class has helped students who come from under-prepared high schools keep up with the Chem 4A course by building a solid general chemistry foundation and good study habits. The class saw a 95% retention rate in Chem 4A as a result.
“We struck gold with Marissa, who is doing extraordinary work in bolstering existing programs and launching new ones for the all-important cause of DEIB,” said Doug Clark, Dean of the College of Chemistry. “Her tireless engagement and effectiveness in community building are making a true difference throughout our college, and I look forward to more exciting progress in the years to come.”
We welcome Dr. Yáñez and look forward to the work she will be implementing.