Summer Internship for Native Americans in Genomics

Many thanks to Mike DeGiorgio for bringing this announcement to my attention:



Check it out here: http://conferences.igb.illinois.edu/sing/. From the website:

Genomics may be a tool of interest to Native American communities. However, Native Americans are underrepresented in occupations and careers incorporating genomics and the sciences in general.  According to estimates from the Census Bureau, Native Americans hold at least 5x fewer occupations involving science and engineering relative to their total population in the United States. Furthermore, there is a lack of Native Americans in advisory roles to the scientific community, which prevents proper relay of cultural values and concerns that developed as a result of difficult histories of Native American encounters with science. This lack of leadership also leaves few individuals who can explain the uses and limitations of scientific research to Native American communities that are considering participating in a scientific project.  To address this problem, faculty and students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus are working with leaders in scientific and Native American communities to create the Summer Internship for Native Americans in Genomics (SING) Workshop.