| Project Category | Possible Format |
|---|---|
| Events |
|
| Community Conversations |
|
| Communications |
|
| Dedicated Spaces |
|
| Organizations |
|
| Collaborative art pieces |
|
* This is a non-exhaustive list. Other ideas are welcome!
BIRD Fellowship (Reed Funded)
The Belongingness Intern Recognizing Diversity (BIRD) fellowship is an opportunity for Reed students within the Biology Department to engage in a paid summer fellowship centered around student belongingness, especially among students from historically underrepresented backgrounds and marginalized groups (students of color, LGBTQ+, first generation to college, lower income students, and students with disabilities). Throughout the summer, the BIRD fellow will develop and plan a project designed to increase belongingness within the Biology department and will be supported by a non-faculty mentor and coordinator in their work.
The application is due by noon on March 4th, 2026.
Application
Goals
Vision
We envision an academic atmosphere that is responsive, relevant, and accountable to the diverse needs, perspectives, and voices of all students by cultivating inclusive and equitable opportunities.
Mission
We strive to support student-focused and student-driven projects in the Biology department, centered around marginalized voices in STEM.
Making a Change
We encourage students from historically excluded backgrounds and marginalized groups (including but not limited to: students of color, LGBTQ+, first generation to college, lower income students, and students with disabilities) to apply.
BIRD Project Development
What to Ask When Thinking About Your Project
- Who do you hope to reach with your project?
- Why do you want to reach this subset of the Reed community/Biology department?
- Why do you want to do your project?
- What are your motivations for pursuing a BIRD internship?
- How will your project fulfill your goals?
- How will your project build community?
- What is your focus and what issue are you addressing?
- How will you reach Reed community members?
- Why will community members benefit from participation?
- What are the limitations of your project?
- Does your project exclude anyone?
- Is it possible to carry out the project with the resources available to the department (that you know of)?
Possible Projects
Each BIRD intern will begin their project by assessing the Biology Department needs (whether from your personal experience or from more formal community feedback). Your project for BIRD should focus primarily within Reed and the biology department, but connections to other departments and communities outside Reed may be appropriate. Projects focused outside Reed are unlikely to be funded through this program but may be submitted to the Reed Social Justice & Education Fund or other grants.
The tables below list possible focus areas and formats for your project. The project focus area is a summary of the issue you would like to address with your project. The format for the project is how you go about addressing the issue. The suggestions listed here are by no means exhaustive and are meant to guide your sense of what a project might entail. Although the internship occurs in the summer, any event, activity, or group developed by the BIRD fellow can occur during the school year.
Possible project formats
Possible focus areas
Previous Projects by BIRD Interns
Coloring Book Study Guides
Remi Castellanos, 2024-2025 BIRD Intern
The Coloring Book Study Guides are resources for bio and non bio majors. It is an additional resource for people to turn to when studying and building an introductory level knowledge base or simply engaging their curiosity in different subjects in biology. The guides are designed without jargon and added interactive components and guided reflection or note areas to help students learn studying habits and tactics.
Biology Student Lounge
Isabella Jupiter, 2024-2025 BIRD Intern
Isabella’s project built on a previous BIRD project that established the biology student lounge at Reed (room B101). Her project investigated the impact of a student dedicated space on collaboration and community, which culminated in the establishment of interactive displays that could showcase student voices, department events, advertise resources, and collect feedback. The vision for this project was to transform the student lounge to make the space more inviting to students and to help connect students who use the space with each other and with the department overall.
Establishment of Reed’s oSTEM chapter
Alister Orozco, 2023-2024 BIRD Intern
Alister Orozco established a student group and developed community programming to help queer/transgender STEM students at Reed College network with queer and trans scientists outside of Reed. Alister started a local chapter of Out in STEM (oSTEM) at Reed and, as a student group, has organized regular community events such as movie nights, headshot sessions, and drop-in advising. Alister also organized and applied for grants to send Reed students to the 2023 national oSTEM conference. He invited Jae Corning to speak at the biology seminar series about research on the accessibility of trans health care in the US. Alister organized a “What’s it like to be Out in STEM? A career panel,” consisting of 8 speakers from different areas of STEM (industry, academia, and PhD students) who all identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community to serve as a resource to students. To create community within Reed, Alister is also renovating the Pride Center, a physical resource space for queer students.
BioZine
Ram Nordahl, 2023-2024 BIRD Intern
Ram Nordahl developed a bi-annual zine to highlight student perspectives within the Biology department, particularly those from historically underrepresented backgrounds and marginalized groups. The zine collected submissions for the first half of each semester and then compiled submissions to release the zine college-wide.