At the end of October, SACNAS held its National Diversity in Stem Conference, where UC Davis Graduate student Jasmine Esparza won the SACNAS Life Sciences award for her poster presentation. 

With over 1,000 other poster presentations, Esparza won for her “MCAF2 directs meiosis-specific regulation of H3K9 methylation,” a research project she had worked on the past year. 

“The judges were so engaged, and I had done so much work for that project. It was nice to get one-on-one interaction and have folks from different fields have thoughtful questions,” said Esparza. “It was nice to see the excitement from people I had never met.” 

This moment was memorable for Esparza because she was recognized in a room with over 6,000 attendees and was met with so much support from the judges congratulating her on her successful research.

When asking Esparza how she would describe SACNAS in three words, she said it was empowering, unique, and inclusive. When asked why she chose these words, she discussed the keynote presentations she attended while at the conference.

“I feel like I was able to relate to many of the keynote speakers, and it's just something I did not get from any other conferences, so for me, it was empowering by being able to relate to these people who are so successful,” said Esparza.

This sense of community was an important part of SACNAS for Esparza, who got to hear from these keynote speakers and then discuss it with the other attendees opening up these safe spaces for what it is like to be a minority in the science field. 

Esparza discussed how she could compare her background and experiences of her culture with others. She was having more than surface-level conversations, which she had never experienced at a science conference before.

“I feel like this should be a conference all students can attend. You just learn so much about the culture and the intersectionality of scientists in science,” said Esparza. “That's just something you don’t get at other conferences.”

She also discussed how the keynote speakers brought up the topic of imposter syndrome in conversation. She felt a personal connection to this because she struggled with not having the same desire to think about her research constantly as other scientists led her to believe she needed to. 

“I still feel successful in my accomplishments, but I'm just not giving 150% because that wouldn’t be productive for me in the long run,” said Esparza. 

This is one of the many topics at this conference that allowed for genuine conversations and a space for them to discuss how being in this field can elicit such complex emotions. Esparza felt a difference at SACNAS, even in the connections she made with others, and these deep conversations led to bonds with others that were more than genuine.

“The connections don’t feel like empty promises, but that they want to help me because the fact that they're in a conference like this already demonstrates that they want to make a change and see diversity in science,” said Esparza. 

Esparza left the conference with hope and a drive to stay on her path because it made her feel that all the work she was doing was important and worth pursuing. She feels SACNAS will continue to grow and demonstrate the changes in science.

“They are a lot of allies at the conference and not just minorities, and that just gives me hope that science is definitely in a time of change, and we’re seeing that in real-time,” said Esparza.