SPI Equity: ELSP
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SPI Equity within Heliophysics
Every Spring and Fall there tends to be an increase in requests for recommendation letters: undergraduate and graduate students start looking at new programs, opportunities, and experiences; while at the same time award season is in full swing and we begin nominating our colleagues for awards that highlight their hard work and efforts. Though we often experience writing fatigue during this period, not only from recommendations but pending award deadlines, it is important that we as a community continue to write good recommendations and nominations as these letters help propel the next generation of researchers forward in their career and reward our colleagues for their hard work. Unfortunately, in writing these letters unconscious biases can leak into the writing and work against any attempt at helping our colleagues and students get ahead.
Angeline Burrell is leading a new group the Equitable Letter’s in Space Physics (ELSP) which offers to review recommendation, nomination, and supporting letters to help remove these unconscious biases. This service aims to strengthen recommendation letters and support applications to help increase the chance of success of our colleagues and students in award, graduate school, and job applications. SPI team member Alexa Halford currently serves on the committee and is dedicated to helping to remove unconscious bias in recommendation letters and improving diversity in award applications within Heliophysics. If you would like to find out more about how to use this service, serve as a reviewer, or find other resources, check out the ELSP website.
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