Speaker
Erin Osborne Nishimura
Speaker's Institution
Colorado State University
Date
2023-03-01
Time
4:00pm
Location
Chemistry A101
Mixer Time
3:45pm
Mixer Time
Chemistry B101E
Calendar (ICS) Event
Additional Information

About the Seminar

I will present the efforts of the BMB (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) Department to assess and promote a stronger community culture. At the heart of this effort is the BMB IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Action) Committee that uses a multi-pronged approach to identifying and removing barriers to inclusion. Because we are using the Multicultural Organizational Development framework, these strategies are easily portable to other units. Along the way, we have had some hits and some misses that I will share. For example, our surveys and listening sessions have highlighted major gaps in support to our community college transfer students, and I will highlight initiatives to address those shortcomings.

About the Speaker 

Dr. Osborne Nishimura received her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at UC Santa Cruz. After working in biotech, Erin took a hiatus from science to pursue bookselling, organic farming, and horticulture. Erin’s interest in plant genetics ushered her return to academia where she worked as a researcher at University of Oregon and then at Stanford University.

Dr. Nishimura attended UC Berkeley as a doctoral student where she investigated Sir-protein mediated gene silencing in the lab of Dr. Jasper Rine. She performed part of her doctoral research in Akashi Japan. Dr. Nishimura’s postdoctoral research with Dr. Jason Lieb at the University of North Carolina focused on innovating single-cell transcriptome profiling to better understand cellular differentiation.

Dr. Nishimura has been a professor at Colorado State University since 2016. Her lab uses genomics and microscopy to investigate how gene expression coordinates development in C. elegans nematode worms. Her group has discovered that mRNA localization is a feature of early embryos, and they are currently working to understand its mechanisms and functions.

In her teaching, Dr. Nishimura is committed to making computational skillsets accessible to a wider population of life scientists. In her service, Dr. Nishimura is dedicated to building strong communities of scientists. To that end, she founded the BMB IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Action) committee and leads a Community College Support Initiative. Outside of the lab, she enjoys reading, studying classical piano, running, and still, growing plants.

Dr. Guy Hagen