Mission

We aim to increase access and transparency of ecology and evolution programs with the purpose of increasing diversity within these fields.

Motivation

Women, people of color, and other minoritized groups have historically been underrepresented in the fields of ecology and evolution as a whole (Beck et al., 2014; Wilga et al., 2017; Graves, 2019). This pattern is also present within the Population Biology Graduate Group at the University of California, Davis. There have been successful attempts to remedy this issue by preemptively exposing students to graduate level opportunities within the College of Biological Sciences. However, the majority of students invited to participate in such events have biomedical, molecular, chemical, or other interests that fall outside of Population Biology’s areas of specialization. While we commend such initiatives, we believe that recruitment efforts specifically focused on students interested in ecology and evolution would be mutually beneficial to both the Population Biology Graduate Group and potential graduate students. Our activities provide students with critical information, advice, and mentorship in order to increase the accessibility of and matriculation of students from all backgrounds into ecology and evolution graduate programs. Our long-term goal is to increase the diversity of people collaborating to push the boundaries of ecology and evolution.