A professor in Arizona is starting a foundation to create more inclusion in science, and President Joe Biden offered hope during Pride Month in his commencement speech in Washington D.C.

Biology Professor Starts Foundation For More Inclusion in Science

During her time as a student at Arizona State University, Katelyn Cooper found it difficult to find professors and classmates to relate to based on her queer identity.

Now as an assistant professor at her alma mater, Cooper is conducting nationally funded research into how to create more inclusive learning environments for biology students at the college level, NBC News reported.

Cooper’s goals for the research lab are to not only affect change in the classroom but in the job market as well.

“If people can bring different perspectives to the table, then we’re doing a better job of counteracting biases, and that results in much more robust science,” Cooper said. “That’s really what led me to want to sustain this line of research looking at how to create more inclusive environments for LGBTQ+ people.”

She expects to use funding and grants to discover more about how LGBT professors and students are impacted and influenced in the biology field due to the current lack of studies.

Biden Offers Hope During Pride Month Commencement Speech

Photo by GPA Photo Archive, Flickr.

During his Pride Month proclamation, President Joe Biden praised previous and current members of the community while also highlighting the attack that the community has endured in 2022.

ABC News reports that over 300 anti-LGBT bills have been introduced this year.

The Human Rights Campaign has reported that eight out of the 28 states that have proposed anti-LGBT bills have been successful in their efforts to marginalize the community.

Regardless, the Biden administration is the most inclusive and diverse administration thus far.

“I am honored by the service of the first gay cabinet secretary and the first trans person confirmed by the Senate and to have been able to establish the first White House Gender Policy Council,” Biden said according to the official White House website.

Among visibility in the president’s administration, under his term, Biden has been able to reverse former President Donald Trump’s discriminatory laws.

The president has made passports more inclusive for trans Americans, as well as adding “non‑discrimination protections for LGBTQI+ Americans in housing, health care, education, employment, credit and lending services, and the criminal justice system.”