Jasmine Reid, PhD candidate in anthropology, receives STS Director’s Award for Advancing Social Justice in Science, Technology, and Medicine

Jasmine Reid

STS Director Paul Edwards announces the first recipient of a new annual award that recognizes an STS student, TA or staff member who made a special contribution to social justice for historically disadvantaged groups who are underrepresented in STEM fields.

I hired Jasmine Reid in June 2020 to help me plan, organize, and teach our 2020-21 speaker series on Race in Science, Technology, and Medicine – the STS Program's response to the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. Jasmine and I collected suggestions, snowballed our list of participating Stanford academic units, sought funding from many sources, and wrote a proposal to the Ethics, Society, and Technology Hub. 

Over the course of the year, Jasmine took on ever more of the organizing and teaching. She handled our announcements, our Canvas site, grading, and the questions and special needs of our 200+ students. Every session was a team effort, but Jasmine became the de facto leader. We hosted over 30 scholars altogether, nearly all of them Black, Indigenous, or people of color. We also ran three anti-racism workshops for our students. The entire Stanford community benefited from this remarkable series.

Jasmine inspired me to create the STS Director’s Award for Advancing Social Justice in Science, Technology, and Medicine. This new, annual award recognizes an STS undergraduate or graduate student, teaching assistant, or staff member who made a special contribution to social justice for historically disadvantaged groups who are underrepresented in STEM fields. Awardees have helped others learn about such obstacles and injustices as racism, sexism, and homophobia from both a scientific and a social point of view. They may also have helped to create lasting institutional change in support of equal access to economic, political, and social rights and opportunities. The award carries an honorarium of $500 and will continue each year as long as I am Director. 

Jasmine is a PhD candidate in the Dept. of Anthropology at Stanford, advised by Prof. Duana Fullwiley. Her research marries heritage management, museology, and post-colonial studies to explore the ways in which a small network of museums in Johannesburg, South Africa narrativizes the history and legacy of forcibly removed, multiracial communities under apartheid.

Paul N. Edwards

Director, Program in Science, Technology, and Society
William J. Perry Fellow, Center for International Security and Cooperation
Professor of Information and History (Emeritus), University of Michigan