About Us

Vision

OCDC (Organization for Cultural Diversity in Chemistry) is a university recognized organization that was established in the spring of 2014 at Texas A&M University.The organization consists of grad students, undergrad students, and postdocs of all races and nationalities and it values diversity of thought, background, ethnicity, and perspective and seeks to create and maintain a healthy department climate. OCDC is currently sponsored by the Texas A&M University Diversity fund.

Lecture Series

Each semester, OCDC invites outstanding academic and industrial speakers from all around the world to share their inspiration and challenges during their careers in chemistry. Our long-term goal is to encourage and broaden the participation of under-represented groups in science and to celebrate the increasing diversity and global landscape of the science community. Additonially, we seek to provide opportunities for the members of our department to tie knots with academia and industry to establish collaborations, enhance networking and to learn more about future career prospects. Our first honorable guest lecturer was Prof. Alejandro Briseno from the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering at U. of Massachusetts Amherst.

Outreach Activities

Members of OCDC have been extensively involved in volunteer work to encourage youth to seek a future in the sciences. We have approached local elementary and middle schools to demonstrate simple experiments to show the fascinating nature of chemistry. We also plan to share our personal experiences with high school and college students to help them provide more insight towards their own career in science.