Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Justice (DEIJ)
Marine Science Endowed Scholarship
Eckerd College
May 2019
Graduated from Eckerd College
June 2019
Created Endowed Scholarship for Black Students
July 2019
Scholarship fundraising began
January 2025
End of scholarship fundraising
August 2025
Inaugural scholarship will launch at Eckerd College!
About Scholarship
Building off of my years of work to address Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ) issues in STEM and Environmental Conservation fields, I created the Anjali D. Boyd ’19 Marine Science Endowed Scholarship for African American Students at Eckerd College. The goal of the scholarship is to provide African American students with access to marine science education at Eckerd and to increase the number of African American students pursuing careers in aquatic sciences. The monies/donations collected for the endowed scholarship will be used annually to award an African American student in good academic standing and majoring in Marine Science at Eckerd College.
BWEEMS
Black Women in Ecology, Evolution and Marine Science
Impact & Contribution
Black Women in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Science (BWEEMS) is a newly founded non-profit organization focused on creating a global network of Black women in EEMS fields to foster mentorship, push science boundaries, and create new narratives on the contributions of Black women in EEMS fields. At BWEEMS, I serve on the Board of Directors and over the last two years I have assisted with growing the membership to more than 300 members in 14 countries, with members ranging from high school students to tenured professors and working professionals. As the 2021-22 Chair of the Professional Development committee, I organized multiple workshops on topics from budgeting to science communication, which engaged over 100 members throughout the year. Now, as the current Chair of the Advancement and Development, I have recently led an effort to rebrand the organization and developed strategies to improve the organization's engagement with members and the general public, as well as its fundraising efforts.
June 2020
BWEEMS was founded
July 2020
Joined BWEEMS as a member
October 2021
Chaired the Professional Development Committee
January 2022
Chaired the Advancement & Development Committee
July 2022
Completed BWEEMS Rebrand & new webiste
January 2021
Selected a member of the Board of Directors
ESA
Ecological Society of America
September 2018
Ran for and was elected Vice-Chair of the ESA Student Section
August 2019
Became Chair of the ESA Student Section & a Student Representative on the Diversity and Education Committee
November 2020
ESA Governing Board endorsed the task force’s recommendations.
August 2020
Selected by ESA Governing Board to serve on the DEIJ Task Force
October 2018
Selected as a Student Representative for ESA's Publication Committee & Meetings Committee
August 2018
Attended my first ESA meeting through the ESA SEEDS program
Impact & Contribution
I spent three years working with the Ecological Society of America (ESA) to increase the involvement of underrepresented minorities (URM) in the society as well as the number of URM in leadership positions within ESA. Throughout my time at ESA, I served as the Vice-Chair and Chair of the ESA Student Section, a student representative on multiple ESA committees (e.g. publication, meetings, and diversity & education), and was eventually appointed by the ESA Governing Board to serve a member of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ) taskforce. As a result of my work at ESA, the Student Section has had its most diverse leadership teams in its 20-year history, for the last four years consequently, with an URM being elected Chair of the section for 3 of the 4 years. As a member of the DEIJ taskforce, I advocated for increased funding and resources for Black, Indigenous, and people of Color (BIPOC) and implementing metrics to track the racial demographics of ESA journals, from authors to the editorial boards. In 2020, ESA Governing Board unanimously endorsed the taskforce’s recommendations, including diversifying editorial boards of ESA journals, developing a BIPOC scholarship fund and leadership program (now called the ESA Excellence in Ecology Scholars program), and an annual budget for DEIJ initiatives.
Duke Univeristy
Duke & Durham Today and Tomorrow Strategic Taskforce
Impact & Contribution
In 2020, I was appointed by Duke University's Board of Trustees to serve on the Duke and Durham Today and Tomorrow task force. The task force was charged with providing strategic insight to Duke’s efforts to broaden collaboration and partnership with the Durham community. I served on the Meaningful Engagement sub-committee. Throughout my time on the task force, we reviewed the history of Duke’s relationship with the city of Durham (NC), took stock of current engagement initiatives, and assisted with the development of strategic priorities for the university.
April 2021
Task force submitted Final Report to Duke's Board of Trustees
February 2021
Completed Stakeholder Interviews & Assisted with the development of Philosophy Statement
October 2020
Served on the the Meaningful Engagement Committee of the task force
September 2020
Selected by Duke's Board of Trustees to serve onion task force
SWS
Society of Wetland Scientists
May 2017
Attended my first SWS meeting through the SWaMMP program
May 2018
Returned to SWS as a SWaMMP Alumni Mentor
August 2018
Joined together with two other SWaMMP Alumni to found the SWS Student Section
November 2018
Became Secretary and Treasure of the SWS Student Section
Impact & Contribution
I served as the Secretary and Treasure of the SWS Student Section four three years, in addition to assisting with the section's formation. My work as a Board Member was focused on increasing participation of URM students in the aquatic sciences while also increasing retention of students in the society and in the aquatic sciences, throughout their professional career.