Empowering First Generation Scientists with Gabriel Reyes
对于美国的许多学生来说，科学生涯遥不可及。对科学感兴趣的年轻人通常永远不会有机会追求梦想，仅仅是因为他们来自低收入家庭或生活在参与科学研究的机会的部分地区。这导致科学界的批评缺乏多样性，这扼杀了创造力，创新和进步。
Fli Sci，第一代/低收入科学家的缩写，是一项非营利组织，旨在解决科学专业缺乏多样性的根源。该组织为贫困的高中和大学生提供财政支持，以获得，追求和参与科学机会。旗舰计划是一项为期两年的付费奖学金，在此期间，学生可以开展自己的独立研究项目。
Fli Scirecently became a member ofFAS的财政赞助计划这标识了科学和技术政策中新兴的企业家，并支持其慈善事业。FLI SCI的创始人兼执行董事加布里埃尔·雷耶斯（Gabriel Reyes）与我们坐下来，讨论他组织的开创性工作，以及他作为科学家的经历如何激发他有所作为。
FAS：在我们开始谈论FLI SCI之前 - 告诉我们一些有关您的科学故事的信息。您是如何首先发现对科学的热爱的 - 是一堂课还是一位老师？
加布里埃尔·雷耶斯（Gabriel Reyes）：我非常喜欢数学 - 到我父母去杂货店购物的时候，他们会带我去，我会去书籍部分，并尝试找到一本有数学问题的书，我会尝试完成尽可能多的书在父母接我之前，我会尽我所能。如果我没有解决所有问题，我会真的对自己生气。但是，真正的发现点可能是在我高中毕业的高中，当时我在新墨西哥大学参加了心理学课程。我真的参加了这门课程，因为大学的夏季课程有一个条件，如果我想免费午餐，我需要上晨课。因此，我当时想，“嗯，很好，我会参加这堂课。”我最终爱上了材料。
FAS：And from there was it just a logical transition into neuroscience?
GR：我上大学，对什么是科学以及神经科学的研究变得更加成熟。我以为我对心理学感兴趣，但我意识到我实际上对神经科学感兴趣 - 因为我最兴奋的心理学部分是大脑，神经元，以及诸如大脑发育之类的话题。
FAS：Your organization, FLi Sci, focuses on first-generation, low-income, budding scientists. You describe yourself as proud to have come from a first-generation, low-income background. Tell us more about your childhood and upbringing.
GR：My parents were Mexican immigrants. Now they have visas, so they have a residency status in the U.S., but for so long, we grew up in a mixed-status household. As a result of that, it was very difficult for my parents to access careers that offered affordable wages. And so all my life I lived in economic scarcity. That was one of the parts that contributed to us moving constantly when I was a child – my dad kept getting fired from his job, or he wasn’t getting paid enough to make rent. So we had to move.
FAS：你说你的父母来到美国n part because they had seen such a lack of educational opportunity in Mexico, and didn’t want the same for their children. But New Mexico presented its own challenges, at least compared to other parts of the U.S, right?
GR：是的，我是家人第一个上大学的人。是的，关于我的另一个独特方面是在新墨西哥州这样的地方长大。纽约或湾区等其他地方都有无数的预科课程；就像教低收入学生如何编码，或者让他们与纽约大学或斯坦福大学或附近其他大型大学的教授进行研究。我对在这些地方长大的高中生有点羡慕。但是，还有更多的地方，例如新墨西哥州，或者像阿拉巴马州或肯塔基州一样，没有类似的非营利组织或教育机会。重要的是，像我这样的人和其他人都可以早日参与科学，以了解科学和科学职业。
This is a focus of the work that my organization does and I hope other organizations in the future do more of this sort of landscape analysis. Which schools and cities already have resources? How do we maybe amplify those existing resources, or strategically work with them to target groups that may not be accessing them, and extend opportunities in areas that don’t already have them.
FAS：您的组织FLI SCI的目的是使科学更容易访问，以帮助低收入，第一代美国高中学生就读资源有限的高中。您对研究的特定重视 - 为什么？
GR：I say ‘research’ specifically because there are already many pre-college science programs that put a big focus on ‘industry.’ They might teach students, for example, how to code, so that they can pursue careers in tech at Google or Amazon, or to become engineers so that they work in the field of engineering. But FLi Sci specifically is hoping to get a group of students interested in pursuing a PhD or a medical degree.
I think that focus is because along my journey I’ve seen a lot less first generation and low income students and students of color following my path. Every year we talk about the lack of diversity in science, but I don’t see enough action to actually combat the root causes of why there’s not a lot more diversity in the profession. We want to provide students early exposure to these career pathways, and set them up for success by having them do their own research projects. That way they’ll be able to access further science opportunities the minute they get to college.
I want to move away from a model of where low income students are sort of given these science kits; you know, it’s like, ‘Here’s a chemistry kit!’ and that’s supposed to be the thing that inspired them to do science. Instead, I really want to see what people produce – like what are these young people chasing? Because for me, I became a scientist because I got to decide what questions I wanted to ask. But many students in high school that I’ve been interacting with don’t have that same privilege.
FAS：FAS的财政赞助计划基本上允许您以自己无法独立的方式筹款。您的特定野心或倡议是您的目标吗？
GR：我们的旗舰计划是FLI SCI学者计划，该计划目前为期两年。We’re in the process of recruiting the next cohort, but our true goal is for this to be a longer multi-year fellowship program where we get students at the high school level and support them until they apply to medical school or a PhD program. We know that it can be very easy to fall off the path to a career in science; because access to science isn’t just about getting opportunities, it’s about when you get those opportunities.
The other thing is we are a virtual program primarily because we started during the pandemic, but also because, again, one of our goals is to target and reach students that don’t have access to science, and virtual outreach has been great for that. But with more funding, it would be great to be able to provide some in-person activities. So for example, one of the things that we’re thinking about is a summer conference, either for all of our FLi Sci scholars or a summer conference for people before their first year of college, so that we can do some preparation and support before they start their very first day in higher education.
然后，我认为，一旦我们处于更稳定的地方，我们要实现的长期目标是开始培训老师。我们的课程旨在帮助学生追求自己的独立顶峰项目 - 但最终，我不想成为该课程的唯一守护者。如果我们可以训练敏锐的老师，我们可以接触更多的人。也许我们甚至可以帮助那些想从事自己的科学研究的高中老师 - 那些从来没有这个机会的老师，因为像Flisci这样的计划不存在。
FAS：That gets to our last question: what does it feel like to be helping students who remind you of yourself in high school – and trying to give them opportunities that you didn’t have yourself at their age? Rewarding? More challenging than you thought?
GR：这是一系列情绪，每天都有变化。It’s very humbling because one of the things that I try to tell myself is that I worked very hard and I am good at my craft and I’ve created this organization, but there were people before me who did the hard work to provide that access that I’ve been given. Not too long ago the Ivy League schools I attended did not have generous financial aid programs for people like myself to be able to go to school for free. Other people had to advocate for that. They may have taken out loans that they may still be paying on but I was able to go and graduated debt free because of the work others did. So in those moments where I feel sad or angry that there wasn’t a program like FLi Sci when I was in high school, I have to remember that.
我仍然会质疑我认为来自低收入背景的孩子是否具有在科学方面表现出色所需要的。这些学生总是必须证明有很多机会，而较富有的人 - 他们只需要写支票或刷信用卡即可。
I have some friends who do not share my identity, either race or my gender or my sexuality or my class background. For them, sometimes as little as proposing an idea is enough for them to get a substantial amount of funding that I haven’t been able to obtain. Whereas in my case, the scrutiny is a lot more intense. Like if I don’t have a perfect model, then I’m not ready for funding. Or if I haven’t tried this with at least 100 students, I’m not ready for funding. So it’s very fascinating to see, as an entrepreneur of color, just how different it is for me to get traction in the organization that I’m building. So I imagine that when I was a student, the lack of programming wasn’t because no one cared; I’m sure it was because someone was blocking the emergence of such an opportunity.
太空经济是巨大的，但其最大的挑战之一是微小的：太空碎片。
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