每年年底, the Union of Concerned Scientists celebrates a few individuals (and occasionally groups) who have done something outstanding to defend science, 并/或以某种方式利用617888九五至尊娱乐帮助人们，让世界变得更美好. 今年的四位617888九五至尊娱乐捍卫者完全符合这些标准. 我们很高兴向大家介绍.
凡妮莎García波兰科:为食物正义而战
When 凡妮莎García波兰科’s family emigrated from the Dominican Republic to the United States, 她的世界里一切都变了——除了, 她说, 感谢她吃的食物. “这对我来说是唯一有意义的事情. 食物成了我的试金石，是我了解社会的透镜。. 这个早期的基础让我获得了社区食品和农业系统的硕士学位, 以及她作为全国青年农民联盟政策运动联合主任的角色, 一个致力于改变我们的农业系统使土地受益的非营利组织, 环境, 和工人. García Polanco也发起了这个活动 # 食物IsNeverJust食物, 一个培训年轻人的工具包, 移民, 难民, 有色人种如何参与当地以食物为中心的运动, 并在社交媒体上使用这个标签保持每周的对话 # 食物正义Fridays.
作为一名从事美国食品政策研究的多米尼加移民, García Polanco is especially aware of the power dynamics at play in our food system—and how our perceptions of farmers and food producers differ from reality. “大多数食品和农业工人看起来都像我,她说。, 在整个食品供应链中, 从田地到食品加工再到商店, 在恶劣的劳动条件下517888九五至尊娱乐.“通过青年农民联盟和她自己的517888九五至尊娱乐, 她试图改变这些观念和动态, 为年轻农民和有色人种农民争取土地权利. “在这个国家，我们已经形成了一种普遍而有限的关于谁能成为农民的观念,她说。, “(如果我们不改变它)每项政策都将是针对那个人的, 而不是那些真正养活我们社区的人.”
García Polanco指出了让年轻人耕种农田的紧迫性, 随着当今农民的稳步退休，这十年将为土地留下更多的空间 农业综合企业整合她说，这导致食品价格上涨. “我们正在把如何养活自己的控制权拱手让给企业, 对企业集团, 和亿万富翁,她说。. 与此同时, 她为年轻人而战, 和/或有色人种能够打破这个循环，重新找回他们与土地的联系. “从事农业可以让我与我的多米尼加血统保持联系, 给我爸爸, 谁还是农民,她说。. “有色人种一直被剥削:作为农场工人，作为奴隶. We need to change that relationship to one that is dignified and cultivates the next generation in a more symbiotic way towards food production.”
Dr. 杰斯·韦德:推进617888九五至尊娱乐多样性
当博士. 杰斯·韦德以物理学家的身份开始了她的学术生涯, she looked around during her first lecture and noticed she was swimming in a sea of mostly white men. 这一趋势在她的职业生涯中一直是真实的——主讲人, 奖获得者, 她遇到的著名617888九五至尊娱乐家很少是女性或有色人种. 在现实中, women and people of color are some of the most accomplished contributors to scientific discovery and innovation. Wade has made it her mission to get those scientists the recognition and opportunities they deserve.
自2017年以来, 韦德发表了超过1篇文章,750页关于女617888九五至尊娱乐家和有色人种617888九五至尊娱乐家的维基百科. She sees the highly trafficked crowd-sourced platform as a powerful way to uplift the work of individuals who would otherwise be left out of the history books. 在Wade为数学家Dr. 格拉迪斯西, 例如, West’s legacy was confined to a seven-second clip buried on the internet even though she was one of the masterminds behind the mathematical modeling of the shape of the Earth and the satellite geodesy models used in the Global Positioning System (GPS). 现在，韦斯特被誉为 BBC 100位女性的成员 太空和导弹先驱名人堂, a 菲利普亲王勋章 收件人，是 在 《517888九五至尊娱乐》.
在一定程度上要感谢韦德和其他编辑，她接受过上传传记的培训, the percentage of English Wikipedia pages about women scientists has increased from approximately 17 to 19 percent in the past three years, 哪个比75大,000部新传记.
韦德说, “I never want to ‘other’ anyone else and I also never want to put the responsibility on anyone for advocating for the historically excluded group that they’re from.”
多亏了像韦德这样的人, meaningful progress is being made to correct gender and racial biases that abound in science. The growing recognition and visibility for women and people of color is helping bring more diversity and integrity in scientific advancements across the world.
Dr. 莫妮卡·温塞德:数据和617888九五至尊娱乐的517888九五至尊娱乐化
Dr. Monica unsell是 直到司法数据合作伙伴, the nonprofit she founded whose name suggests an end in sight to the critical work she and her partners carry out. 事实上，她很想歇业. “我的目标是关闭我的非营利组织，”她说. Unseld works to democratize access to science and data for regular people seeking justice—environmental justice, 住房正义, 或者让有权有势的人为他们的暴行负责. She began her career as a professor of biology but pivoted to activism after the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill in 2010. “I felt strongly that this was science in real life, and we had to meet that moment,她说。.
Using the expertise she gained from her training as a scientist with advanced degrees in biology and public health, 她现在与路易斯维尔的社区分享她的诀窍, KY, 及以后. “现在对我的社区真正有用的是我的研究技能”——这, 她说, 不应该只局限于学术界, 或者用来对付人类的武器. 相反，她搭建桥梁. 例如, 在听说了催泪瓦斯暴露和月经周期中断的轶事之后, 她帮助路易斯维尔大学发起了一项关于可能联系的正式研究.
“我试图向人们展示数据是如何融入他们的日常生活的, 让它尽可能的容易和容易,她说。. “人 discover that they already know much more about the situation than they think they know.”
温塞德说，她最自豪的是她所在社区的数据使用正常化, be it a statistic on a protest sign that sends the media to follow up on the story behind it, 或者是对事件官方版本的有证据支持的挑战.g.这是路易斯维尔警察局对布雷欧娜·泰勒(Breonna Taylor)谋杀案的初步描述. “617888九五至尊娱乐家们对宇宙是如何运作的有这种内部知识, 我们甚至不会自由地与自己分享这些信息,温塞德说. “但这种模式从未为我们服务过. 617888九五至尊娱乐需要成为社会所需要的样子.”
凯瑟琳·维加拉:激励女孩学习STEM
Kathy Vergara is working on a doctorate in computer science at Pontificia Universidad Católica, 在圣地亚哥, 智利. 她是一家 独立电子游戏517888九五至尊娱乐室她正在领导一个由女性程序员组成的团队，计划在2023年发布一款专有游戏. 在她的业余时间，她是 @STEMtivista 在TikTok, Instagram, 和推特, 制作617888九五至尊娱乐短视频, 技术, 工程, and math (STEM) to engage young people—girls and young women especially—and encourage them to study these fields. 在TikTok, 她在哪里有成千上万的粉丝, 维加拉用简单的语言解释了包括机器学习在内的概念, 穿戴, 还有人工智能, 并为希望进入STEM领域的学生提供建议. “信息就是力量，”她说. “作为617888九五至尊娱乐家，我们有这种能力. 对我来说，把它回馈给人们很重要.”
维加拉对数字素养尤其感兴趣. “I started to feel like people don't really understand the impact of 技术 in their lives—例如, 密码安全等问题, 或者能够发现虚假信息. 我们有责任帮助人们做出更好的决定，”她说. 她开始制作视频，以接触更广泛的人, 年轻观众, 克服不愿出现在镜头前的情绪. “I’m always telling girls that they have to get out of their comfort zone to achieve their goals and dreams,她说。, 所以我也得这么做."
Of her drive to bring more girls and young women into STEM, Vergara says it’s a personal commitment. “我想要我国家所有的女孩, 在拉丁美洲也是如此, 生活在低收入地区, to see the opportunity to create a career in 技术 and help themselves and their families break out of poverty,她说。. Vergara has firsthand experience with this phenomenon; her father’s study in STEM fields when she was a child helped him find a job that allowed her family to move from the impoverished community she was raised in, 并资助她上大学. “我的人生本来可以大不相同，”她说. “所以，我想让这个世界比我发现它时更好.”