Eric Mitten 🧠

Thank you for this opportunity @UMN_GradSchool! And thank you to my advisor @KWickMN, all of us in the @WickmanLab, and Dr. Lucy Vulchanova for your support!

me as an undergrad: bouncing between 5 classes, 12 extracurriculars, and lab while still managing to have a robust social life me as a grad student: what do you MEAN i have to take one class???? when will i go into lab?????

Scientists: "the Gα C-terminus binds to a highly-conserved patch on the concave surface of the Ric8A armadillo-domain..." also scientists defending harmful language about gender, sex, & sexual orientation: "its just to complicated & nuanced for me w/ all these made up words"

A few days ago, the University of Chicago, i.e. the president and provost, emailed the campus with a subject mentioning “public safety” The email starts out by calling for an “examination and reflection of law enforcement in our society” 🧵 👇🏾

I grew up in SC listening to music that demeaned women, glorified violence and normalized criminal behavior. I know it definitely influenced the culture around me. Thankfully, I stopped listening to country music and found hip hop.

Virtual/distanced lab rotations are not optimal, but they do show how the lab responds to stressful situations. And that is invaluable information as the pandemic won’t be the last stressful time in academia. Some thoughts for incoming grad students 💭 👇 @AcademicChatter

We are *thrilled* to introduce the incredible team of organizers bringing you #BlackInNeuroWeek! ✊🏾✊🏽✊🏿✊🏼 Follow them, follow @BlackInNeuro, and get ready for #BlackInNeuroWeek 🧠✨‼️🎉🥳💖🤩

#BlackintheIvory My first day of work someone from the chemistry department physically blocked me from getting my mail in the faculty mailroom. Threatened to call the police because they thought I was a student trying to steal mail. Didn't believe my faculty ID was real.

After my lecture about the racist exploitation of Henrietta Lacks, a white man claiming to be a retired doctor from Johns Hopkins proclaimed I was wrong because “patients in the colored ward got BETTER care because we tested experimental treatments on them.” 😳#BlackintheIvory

For academics (especially White academics, but this goes for everyone) reading #BlackintheIvory and wondering how you can support Black students and academics here is a thread of things to consider a number which have been especially supportive of my own professional development

Ready for the special @BlackAFinSTEM episode? UM, YES. 30 OLOGISTS share their stories: Electric fish snouts, turtle butts, bird songs, bats, Econ, porcupine noses, #BlackintheIvory, how to be a better ally & more. I LOVED MAKING IT. A must-listen: alieward.com/ologies/blacka…

Was told by one of my former best friends that the "only reason I got into #Harvard med was that I was Black" So every time I struggled to memorize a metabolic pathway, every time I didnt get the grade, every time I was talked over in class... I heard her voice #BlackintheIvory

I've recievced many calls and emails from colleagues asking for advice on what to do. Twitter isn't optimal, but I have grants and papers to get done, so this will have to do. In anticipation of this planning meeting... some concrete agenda items. 1/n shutdownstem.com

#BREAKING: Minneapolis Public Schools votes unanimously to terminate its contract with the Minneapolis Police Department, in response to the death of #GeorgeFloyd.

Mad people I know donated without posting a screenshot about it. Mad people I know have marched without recording it. Are y’all seeking actual activism or social media validation

For those unconvinced by emotion, I offer this comprehensive page of current statistics: security.org/resources/poli…

I just spoke directly to Chief Axtell and emphasized I wholeheartedly, strongly oppose SPPD presence in any way in support of MPD, who has escalated & exacerbated this moment of community grief to multiple flagrant points of violence. I have asked them to pull back our officers