General Lab Information

DEI Digest

Spring 2023

From the Desk of Noel Blackburn, Chief Diversity Officer

portrait of Noel Blackburn

Noel Blackburn

As you may know, I started in this role as Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Office here at Brookhaven Lab in January 2022 after 10 years in Workforce Development. In this new role as CDO, I’m shifting my focus from developing the workforce pipeline to the workplace itself. The goal is to create a psychologically safe environment where everyone can be their authentic self, thereby allowing all of us to be productive. When you feel comfortable and you feel you’re in a respectful environment, you can do your best work. And that’s how Brookhaven can realize its optimal potential.

Because when you have everyone at the table, you have better productivity and innovation, and more importantly, relevancy. According to the U.S Chamber of Commerce, “diverse and inclusive businesses outperform their homogeneous competitors in innovation, employee retention, talent recruitment, profit and many other business metrics that lead to long-term growth.” Remember Kodak? It was synonymous with the word “camera.” But Kodak is no longer the major player in the camera industry because they did not remain relevant.

The fact of the matter is DEI includes all. And even though you live in your world, and I live in mine, we also live in a world together. If we can each change our immediate worlds, slowly, over time, then we can make our staff here at the Lab feel that we are all part of diversity, and the culture will change. The only way DEI will work is when we all embrace it and live it.

I’m committed to this vision, and so is the entire DEI Office. I want you to have a chance to hear from the team here, so you know there are dedicated people working hard each day to make Brookhaven National Lab a more inclusive workplace, which will lead to greater relevancy, growth, and success as we move into the future.

DEI Glossary

DEI stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Learn the definitions of each of these terms and more below.

Diversity is difference in individual attributes like national origin, race, disability, gender, age, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, veteran status, and family structure.

Equity An equitable work environment gives everyone access to the same opportunities. Support for equity acknowledges that people start out with different advantages and seeks to eliminate barriers to success.

Inclusion is the act of connecting employees to the workplace by encouraging collaboration and fairness so that everyone feels they can participate and contribute to their full potential.

Accessibility is the practice of making information, activities, and/or environments sensible, meaningful, and usable for as many people as possible.

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to understand your own personal feelings and those of other people, and to consider other people’s feelings when making decisions.

Psychological Safety is the belief that you will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.

Raise Your Voice!

Our efforts are a work in progress, evolving over time as we move the needle to change the culture at the Lab. We welcome feedback—positive or negative. If you feel comfortable, email us. If you want to remain anonymous, that’s okay too—send us mail at Mail Stop 400B.

Meet the Team!

Judy Spencer

"It takes everyone’s collective contributions to continue to move the Lab forward in a positive way. Building relationships is very important to me because it helps me understand more about everyone and their work, but mostly how we can work together to contribute to the Lab’s success."

More about Judy

Abram Ledbetter

"When people feel well, they’re more apt to perform well. A part of wellness in the workplace is being valued, respected, and treated fairly. When the right conditions are in place, that wellness can grow into a sense of belonging. This is the essence of what DEI-mindedness strives to achieve."

More about Abram

Menzel Smith-Jones

"I take pride in being a part of an office that actively seeks to promote diversity and offers promising futures for underrepresented individuals. It is an incredibly rewarding experience to be a part of this initiative and contribute to its success."

More about Menzel

Jacqueline Rivera

"At the DEI Office, the door is always open—we want to create a welcoming feeling. People come in if they have a concern or an issue, but they also know they can come to me if they have a question, or even just to walk in to see a friendly face, to say hi and talk for a few minutes."

More about Jacqueline

Question of the Quarter: What is the “LDIP”?

LDIP is an acronym for the Laboratory Diversity and Inclusion Plan. You can find the full plan here.

Brookhaven Lab strives to create and maintain a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible work environment in which all members of the Laboratory community— including staff, guests, users, visitor, students, and all contributors—are respected, empowered to pursue personal career growth, and able to work to their fullest potential. Such a workplace will help the Lab attract and retain the top talent needed to achieve its cultural and future missions on behalf of the DOE to make the nation—and the world—a better place.

Changing the way people understand and embrace DEI issues is paramount. To address the major DEI challenges, the LDIP lays out a multi-year, strategic approach consisting of four broad pillars:

  1. Leadership Commitment & Accountability to address the primary challenge of culture change
  2. Addressing Structural Issues that hinder our workplace culture from being diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible
  3. Engagement of all personnel including guests, users, visitors, students, and foreign nationals
  4. Outreach and Education to strengthen the Lab’s brand and develop a diverse science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pathway for the Lab.

We encourage you to skim through the LDIP so you are aware of the different aspects of the strategy and how we are implementing it. We welcome your questions and input on how we can achieve this vision, together.

Coming Soon! Diverse Perspectives. The benefits of DEI are better understood when you can hear people you know and work with tell their personal stories. A new video series featuring members of the Lab community is currently in production and will be spotlighted in the next newsletter. Stay tuned!