Conference: 2023 AfroBiotech Conference

The 2023 AfroBiotech Conference will be held October 22-24, 2023. The conference highlights the achievements of African Americans in biotechnology, inspires a new generation of diverse biotechnology professionals and identifies, communicates, and explores current advancements in various aspects of Biotechnology. This forum organizes African-American scientific talent from across the U.S. at a single event and aims to enable the biotech industry to hire diverse professionals, inspire organizers of other scientific conferences to invite diverse speakers and inspire the next generation of diverse students and scholars to join this community. The conference provides forums for scientific presentations, posters, networking, extended discussions, presentations and is inclusive of early-career researchers, postdoctoral associates and graduate students. Biotechnology continues to be a rapidly developing field, and it is critical to ensure that innovations are equitable and that they serve all people. An effective way to stop ongoing marginalization of historically underserved communities is to empower an inclusive workforce in which diverse personal experiences and perspectives inform technology development and applications. Tools continue to improve efficiency and accuracy; new companies are using biotechnology to solve challenges in therapeutics, health and agriculture; and government funding of biotechnology and bio-based industries all make it an important time for members of the community to engage and collaborate, moving the technology forward as quickly, safely and effectively as possible. The AfroBiotech conference will creates a forum for African American biological engineers to become organized to focus on this growing opportunity and at the same time address advances and prospects in scientific areas pertinent to biological engineering. The conference has a diverse agenda that is inclusive of early-career and postdoctoral researchers as well as graduate students. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.