麻豆影院

March 31 is International Transgender Day of Visibility, a day dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness about the discrimination they sometimes face.听

On campus, the student group oSTEM @ CU 麻豆影院 provides a welcoming community for trans people and the broader LGBTQ+ community in science, technology, engineering and math fields. This week, oSTEM leaders shared thoughts about being STEM students and contributing to an inclusive environment in the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Transgender is a broad term that can be used to describe people whose gender identity is different from the gender they were thought to be when they were born. 鈥淭rans鈥� is often used as shorthand for transgender. - From

Arpi Grigorian is the event coordinator and past president of oSTEM @ CU 麻豆影院. He is majoring in physics and math with a minor in creative writing and art. Grigorian says he is fascinated by cosmological problems, nurtured by his work as a student researcher for several years at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)听in the Quantum Sensors Group. He has also received two Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program grants from CU 麻豆影院 to develop his science fiction project. His enthusiasm for his studies is matched only by his enthusiasm for building a strong oSTEM community through events, professional networking and outreach activities.听

鈥淩ather than creating just a social space, we really push toward听bringing in a lot more trans-identified people to come speak, of which there is sort of a dearth,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a way to address some of the issues I kept encountering my first couple of years at CU. I don鈥檛 think I would have made it if I didn鈥檛 have this mission of wanting to put together events and help bring in speakers.鈥�

Luca Bonarrigo is a sophomore in aerospace engineering sciences and serves on the department鈥檚 Inclusive Culture Committee. Since he was a kid, he has dreamed about being an astronaut. After graduation, Bonarrigo plans to pursue a master鈥檚 degree in bioastronautics at CU and then go into aerospace research and human spaceflight operations.

鈥淚t would be great to be the first trans person to step foot on Mars,鈥� said Bonarrigo, 鈥渙r just the first person.鈥�

When he鈥檚 not studying, he says he tries to entertain his creative side by drawing or working on the book he鈥檚 writing. Bonarrigo said he joined oSTEM because he wanted to meet other people in engineering who are like him. He currently serves as the secretary of the organization and next year will be the oSTEM president.听

鈥淓ven at 麻豆影院, at a school where they try to have increased diversity in their classes, sometimes it's hard to see yourself among your peers when you don鈥檛 really know you fit in,鈥� said Bonarrigo. 鈥�(oSTEM)听very quickly became a safe space for me to interact with other people, and to interact with staff and faculty as well, especially in the BOLD Center.鈥�

Kade Eisen recently transferred from mechanical engineering into the creative technology and design program in the ATLAS Institute. A sophomore in the program, he says he loves the fabrication and design, the creative process and using his brain and project-based nature to design things that change the world for the better. In his free time, he experiments with Asian and Indian cooking 鈥� he's currently into spring rolls and curries. His plan is to become a project manager in the aerospace industry after graduation.

Eisen said he originally came to the college identifying as female and was active in the Society for Women Engineers. Once he realized he was male, he no longer felt comfortable being in SWE and started looking for other communities to join.听

鈥淥ne of the things I absolutely love about oSTEM,鈥� said Eisen, 鈥渋s just the sheer amount of resources you receive through the College of Engineering and the university itself.鈥�

Eisen is the communications coordinator for oSTEM and will serve as vice president next year.

鈥淲hen I came out as trans, I kept hearing over and over again job prospects aren't going to be good for you,鈥� said Eisen. Through the speakers oSTEM brings in, he has made industry connections and discovered that many companies have Pride clubs. 鈥淭hat honestly made me so much more hopeful for my future,鈥� he said.

Being part of the oSTEM community has helped Eisen cope with experiences of isolation and alienation that sometimes come up.听

鈥淚 have been in classes where people would not want to interact with me or allow me to participate on their level because I鈥檓 the weird trans kid.鈥� He has also experienced being misgendered by professors or mistakenly grouped with the wrong gender.听

Bonarrigo echoed Eisen鈥檚 experience. His first year, he was frequently misgendered by peers and professors and says he found that invalidating.听

鈥淥n top of that fact, a lot of the times you want to correct people, but it鈥檚 not that easy to speak up and say 鈥榳ell, actually鈥︹��,鈥� said Bonarrigo. 鈥淚t was nice when I had people around me who would correct others for me.鈥�

Bonarrigo remembers one professor who started the first day of his class by introducing himself with his pronouns. 鈥淚mmediately, I was like, OK, this is a safe space. I think it's something that is so easy that faculty members could do to help.鈥�

Grigorian says a day like Trans Visibility Day is both a celebration and a good check on the community鈥檚 response. It鈥檚 an opportunity to encourage everyone to introduce themselves with their pronouns as a way of creating a welcoming and inclusive environment.

Grigorian will be graduating in May and has been active in oSTEM since 2016. In his time on campus, he has seen a lot of change.听

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a ridiculous shift from when I first came out. It鈥檚 just like night and day. I feel like a lot of folks are educated about specifically trans issues and sort of come in with a more balanced experience. In human lifespan time, it's a very short period to have that total change and experience.鈥�