Presented By: Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences
NERS Colloquium: Psychological Safety to Innovation
CAPT Royce W. James, Ph.D., US Coast Guard Academy
Psychological Safety to Innovation; The Intersectionality of Healthy to Innovative Spaces and a “People-Centered” Focus to Drive Outcomes and Discovery in an Emerging Plasma Science, Fusion, and Fusion-Adjacent Energy Workforce
Abstract:
Systemic obstacles to STEM climates, e.g., gatekeeping, othering, grant and award criteria, Principal Investigator/Research Group accountability, and closed-source data management, are prime leverage points to reimagine and implement equitable restorative measures in current and burgeoning workspaces. Psychological safety and moral courage bring experts together with the community, including members of marginalized groups, to create a healthy foundation. A community feedback system facilitates the identification of workplace climate issues so they are promptly and effectively addressed. Cultural Competence leverages the established safety and courage base to chart a path to an inclusive culture and harness the power of diverse perspectives. Under this framework, sponsored events can address many forms of oppression and empower thriving workspaces. Collaborating technical and cultural subject matter experts in supported community-based workshops and trainings, provide a scaffolding for continued growth in individual spaces. Accurate use of the “Healthy to Innovative Framework” in learning and work spaces can transform climates and cultures to maximize innovation in a “People-Centered” focus that drives outcomes and discovery for an emerging fusion and fusion-adjacent energy workforce.
CAPT Royce W. James, Ph.D.
Prior to joining the Coast Guard, Dr. James served with AmeriCorps*National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) as a Team Leader, then graduated from US Coast Guard Boot Camp class Y-149 in 1996. CAPT James attended New Mexico State University under the Coast Guard’s College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative (CSPI) program. While at NMSU, he held Internships at the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Facility and at the National Science Foundation (NSF), and served as a regional Rape Crisis Advocate for Doña Aña county, NM.
CAPT James worked as a Project Engineer at the Command and Control Engineering Center (C2CEN) and from there was selected for the Academy Instructor Masters program. Dr. James earned a Master’s of Science Degree from Columbia University, and began teaching at the academy in 2004. CAPT James completed a his Doctorate in Plasma Physics at Columbia’s Plasma Physics Lab through Steven’s Institute of Technology in December 2008. Since then he has been the PI of the Coast Guard Academy Plasma Lab (CGAPL), Department Equity Officer, Science Lecture Coordinator, Internship Coordinator, Co-founder/Director for CGA’s Science Partnership for Innovation in Learning (Project SPIL), Genesis & Spectrum Council (CGA’s Black and Gay Student Unions) and the Science Department Diversity & Inclusion Officer.
CAPT James, a 2019 Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) winner for Professional Achievement in Government, is a founding member of the Black Lives of Unitarian Universalist’s Organizing Collective, is the co-founder of the New London Freedom School, is a co-founder and Chair of the American Physical Societiy Division of Plasma Physics’s (APS DPP) Diversity Equity and Inclusion Organizing Collective Committee (DEI-OCC), co founder of the Coast Guard Spectrum Affinity Group, founding Science Technology and Mathematics Magnet School Board Member, and Member of the Nuclear Energy Advisory Council for the state of CT.
Recently, CAPT James served as the Air Force Institute of Technology’s innagural Chief Diversity Officer and Visiting Professor in the Engineering Physics Department with research primarily in fusion energy, laboratory and space based magnetized plasmas, plasma interactions with electromagnetic radiation (with emphasis on high energy lasers), CubeSat payload and spacecraft development, and plasma water treatment. CAPT James returned to the Coast Guard Acdemy faculy last summer as a full professor, remains the PI of CGAPL, and is the Collaboration for Space & Energy lead. Dr. James’ family, three daughters, son, and wife, the Reverend Jessica James, Unitarian Universalist Minister, currently live in New Haven, CT with their two dogs Ebi and Levi.
Abstract:
Systemic obstacles to STEM climates, e.g., gatekeeping, othering, grant and award criteria, Principal Investigator/Research Group accountability, and closed-source data management, are prime leverage points to reimagine and implement equitable restorative measures in current and burgeoning workspaces. Psychological safety and moral courage bring experts together with the community, including members of marginalized groups, to create a healthy foundation. A community feedback system facilitates the identification of workplace climate issues so they are promptly and effectively addressed. Cultural Competence leverages the established safety and courage base to chart a path to an inclusive culture and harness the power of diverse perspectives. Under this framework, sponsored events can address many forms of oppression and empower thriving workspaces. Collaborating technical and cultural subject matter experts in supported community-based workshops and trainings, provide a scaffolding for continued growth in individual spaces. Accurate use of the “Healthy to Innovative Framework” in learning and work spaces can transform climates and cultures to maximize innovation in a “People-Centered” focus that drives outcomes and discovery for an emerging fusion and fusion-adjacent energy workforce.
CAPT Royce W. James, Ph.D.
Prior to joining the Coast Guard, Dr. James served with AmeriCorps*National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) as a Team Leader, then graduated from US Coast Guard Boot Camp class Y-149 in 1996. CAPT James attended New Mexico State University under the Coast Guard’s College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative (CSPI) program. While at NMSU, he held Internships at the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Facility and at the National Science Foundation (NSF), and served as a regional Rape Crisis Advocate for Doña Aña county, NM.
CAPT James worked as a Project Engineer at the Command and Control Engineering Center (C2CEN) and from there was selected for the Academy Instructor Masters program. Dr. James earned a Master’s of Science Degree from Columbia University, and began teaching at the academy in 2004. CAPT James completed a his Doctorate in Plasma Physics at Columbia’s Plasma Physics Lab through Steven’s Institute of Technology in December 2008. Since then he has been the PI of the Coast Guard Academy Plasma Lab (CGAPL), Department Equity Officer, Science Lecture Coordinator, Internship Coordinator, Co-founder/Director for CGA’s Science Partnership for Innovation in Learning (Project SPIL), Genesis & Spectrum Council (CGA’s Black and Gay Student Unions) and the Science Department Diversity & Inclusion Officer.
CAPT James, a 2019 Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) winner for Professional Achievement in Government, is a founding member of the Black Lives of Unitarian Universalist’s Organizing Collective, is the co-founder of the New London Freedom School, is a co-founder and Chair of the American Physical Societiy Division of Plasma Physics’s (APS DPP) Diversity Equity and Inclusion Organizing Collective Committee (DEI-OCC), co founder of the Coast Guard Spectrum Affinity Group, founding Science Technology and Mathematics Magnet School Board Member, and Member of the Nuclear Energy Advisory Council for the state of CT.
Recently, CAPT James served as the Air Force Institute of Technology’s innagural Chief Diversity Officer and Visiting Professor in the Engineering Physics Department with research primarily in fusion energy, laboratory and space based magnetized plasmas, plasma interactions with electromagnetic radiation (with emphasis on high energy lasers), CubeSat payload and spacecraft development, and plasma water treatment. CAPT James returned to the Coast Guard Acdemy faculy last summer as a full professor, remains the PI of CGAPL, and is the Collaboration for Space & Energy lead. Dr. James’ family, three daughters, son, and wife, the Reverend Jessica James, Unitarian Universalist Minister, currently live in New Haven, CT with their two dogs Ebi and Levi.
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