Stanford
Aeronautics and Astronautics

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Aero/Astro’s work on diversity, equity & inclusion is underway. In July 2020 we started an Aero/Astro DEI Committee to begin researching, thinking, and collaborating to forge a new pathway forward. 

Stanford University Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Diversity Statement

Our department’s outreach and recruitment efforts have a long and proud history of bringing incredibly capable and well-qualified students, faculty, and staff to join us. Our vision for the future of the department strengthens both this tradition and our ability to solve challenging engineering problems by ensuring that we focus on our ability to successfully connect with, attract, and support talented people from all walks of life. Our strengths as individuals can never find their highest potential without the benefit of a richly diverse community within which we gain the wisdom and creativity of many lifetimes. For all our sakes, people of all gender identities, races, and class backgrounds must find a place of equal dignity, respect, and opportunity within our university.

Educational institutions play a critical role at the nexus of research, government, employment, and opportunity for their staff, students, faculty, and the broader communities they serve. It is therefore incumbent upon us to ensure that the makeup of the department encompasses a diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints. We believe this is the only way to maintain a cultural awareness of the institutional barriers, prejudices, and unique challenges facing all who would choose to join us.

Our goal is nothing less than a department that welcomes all people with open arms, and which makes itself and everyone within it stronger and better off for having done so.

To that end, the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee has been established with two primary aims. First, to coordinate and amplify our department’s ability to support and advance the university’s broader vision for diversity, equity and inclusion. Second, to implement new initiatives and strategies at the department level which go beyond our basic commitment to equity and non-discrimination on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, class, sex, gender identity or expression, LGBTQ+ identity, age, disability, religion, veteran status, marital status, parenthood or any other family circumstance. Our efforts will serve to ensure a continuous improvement of the department’s ability to address the concerns of and serve the interests of these groups.

Our intention is not to categorize or classify people according to their identity, history, or life circumstances, nor to exclude anyone or deny their own challenges, but to openly acknowledge and recognize the institutional prejudice faced by so many. Our ambition and commitment to meet and overcome these challenges, together, must continually grow alongside our understanding and appreciation of the lives of our students, faculty, staff, and everyone in our broader community.

Comments?  Questions?  Suggestions?  We'd love to hear from you!

 Feedback form (SUNetID required)

DEI committee meeting notes

DEI committee members & initiatives 2022-2023

Zoom link to monthly DEI committee meetings: TBD

Current Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Efforts in our Research Labs:

Stanford Intelligent Systems Laboratory Outreach

Stanford Autonomous Systems Lab DEI initiatives:

  • Women in Aerospace Symposium organization
  • hosting students from the Summer Undergraduate Research (SURF) program 
  • organizing projects for the AI4ALL program 
  • placing HCBU students at Stanford and at other peer institutions through the NASA ULI center: https://sites.google.com/view/nasa-safe-aviation-autonomy/home
  • placing underrepresented students from University of New Mexico at Stanford and at other peer institutions through the NASA ULI center

Stanford Plasma Dynamics Modeling Laboratory DEI initiatives:

 

More Resources

Stanford data dashboard

Diversity data (by school, degree, gender, URM status)

Enrollment data (undergrad, MS, PhD)

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

Stanford School of Engineering, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives

Lourdes Andrade, Director of Equity and Inclusion, School of Engineering

Other Diversity & Inclusion Committees at Stanford