Community and Experience Committee – MIT Department of Chemistry

The Community and Experience (C&E) Committee is a standing advisory body of the MIT Department of Chemistry. It supports the Department’s commitment to being a place where exceptional people of every background and identity can join, thrive, and do their best work.

The Committee identifies barriers to access, participation, and success and recommends improvements that help all members of our community contribute fully to our shared mission of research, education, and service. Its work is guided by the Department’s core values of respect, well-being, inclusivity, and integrity.

Charge

The Committee advises the Department Head on policies, practices, and resources that improve the experience of undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, staff, and faculty.

Responsibilities

Identify barriers. Examine structural and procedural barriers to recruitment, retention, alignment, and advancement.
Gather and analyze evidence. Draw on community surveys, exit interviews, demographic data, peer-institution benchmarking, and alumni feedback to inform action and measure progress.
Prioritize improvements. Evaluate potential interventions for urgency, feasibility, and likely impact.
Recommend policies and practices. Develop proposals across recruitment, admissions, hiring, onboarding, mentoring, professional development, workplace culture, and quality of life.
Track outcomes. Monitor the implementation and effectiveness of adopted recommendations and report progress to the Department Head.
Stay informed. Consider relevant developments, policies, and practices at MIT, peer institutions, and across the scientific community.
Identify resource needs. Advise on the human, financial, and administrative support needed for the Committee’s work and its recommendations.

Scope

The Committee’s work encompasses the full arc of membership in MIT Chemistry. Priorities are developed in consultation with the Department Head within four broad areas.

Recruitment and admissions. Outreach and selection practices that attract a diverse and excellent pool of students, postdoctoral researchers, staff, and faculty.
Workplace climate. Belonging, respect, and psychological safety within research groups, administrative units, and the Department.
Policies and procedures. Departmental policies bearing on accommodation and other aspects of community life.
Quality of life. Physical spaces, social connection, and institutional supports that contribute to community members’ well-being.

Operations

Contact

Members of the Department are welcome to reach out to any member of the Community and Experience (C&E) Committee with concerns or ideas. You may also share input or feedback through the C&E feedback webform. The form can be completed anonymously. If you would like someone from the Committee to follow up with you, please include your contact information.

Feedback and suggestions are always welcome, but this form should not be used to report urgent or emergency situations. Emergency resources for members of the MIT community are available on the School of Science’s Emergency website. The Committee does not investigate or adjudicate individual complaints or determine findings or remedies in individual cases. Additional MIT resources are available for students, postdocs, faculty, and staff.

Membership

The Community and Experience (C&E) Committee brings together graduate students, postdocs, staff, and faculty. Appointed representatives from the graduate student and postdoc groups serve as full members of the Committee, providing a direct avenue for their groups to share input, learn about the Committee’s work, and suggest issues for consideration.

The Committee’s membership is listed below.

Faculty

Staff

Postdocs

Graduate Students

Join Us

If you are interested in learning more about joining the C&E Committee, please contact Prof. Alex Radosevich.

Attend the Next Meeting

The date of the next C&E Committee meeting is to be determined. Individuals who wish to attend are asked to RSVP for each meeting at C&E-rsvp@mit.edu.

Meeting Minutes

The C&E Committee relies on interaction with the Chemistry Department community to inform its work and seeks to be transparent about its discussions. Recent meeting minutes are available to the MIT Chemistry community upon request to Prof. Alex Radosevich.

Confidentiality

Topics discussed at C&E meetings may be shared with interested parties. However, the names or roles of those who contributed should not be disclosed without their permission. Draft documents under consideration should not be shared until they are formally approved, unless the Committee Chair provides other guidance. The general contents of draft documents may be discussed with interested parties.