Diversity & Inclusion Advocates
Get to Know Your NRAO Diversity Advocates
Lyndele von Schill (Charlottesville, VA)Lyndele von Schill is an active volunteer with ROSMY and the Virginia Diversity Network; she was also the former president of PFLAG Blue Ridge, and a founding member of Charlottesville Pride Community Network, and continues to work with both organizations as a volunteer. Her role at NRAO affords her opportunities to encounter and work with people from around the world such as frequent communication with others in Chile, New Mexico, Taiwan, Canada, and Green Bank West, Virginia. What is most notable to Lyndele is that each contact “teaches me something that makes my life, and my work, a bit more interesting”. Lyndele regards NRAO’s efforts to promote diversity as a reflection of her beliefs that “diversity in the workplace is not sought because it looks good on reports”. “Instead, diversity – in all its manifestations – is actively sought because we, as an organization and as individuals, directly benefit from the expertise and viewpoints of a diverse community”. |
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Mike Holstine (Green Bank, WV)Business Manager Mike Holstine presides over the operations of the Green Bank, West Virginia observatory. A long-term member of NRAO dating back to 1992, he believes in the “ideal concept that beauty, growth and progress all can result from the merger of the unlike, but couch that ideal with the fact that these can also be halted if diversity is not properly handled”. Acknowledging that “diversity for diversity’s sake is not a sustainable proposition and is not the mission of NRAO Mike upholds “the utilization of diversity to broaden our perspective can be fruitful in fulfilling our mission”. “We should understand our differences while recognizing our similarities for the good of the organization”. As a diversity advocate, he regards his role is to “include the knowledge of the existing conditions at NRAO during the process of planning the actions of the group, so that the maximum value is attained in the process” (contact). |
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Tony Remijan (Charlottesville, VA)Dr. Anthony J. Remijan is an Associate Scientist at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, VA and is Manager of Observatory Science Operations (OSO). The OSO Manager is responsible for the day-to-day activities of OSO, develops and manages both OSO shared and distributed services and is responsible for managing the dedicated and delegated staff in these areas. Previous to this appointment, he was the ALMA Commissioning and Science Verification (CSV) liaison for the North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC). He received his B.S. in Astronomy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1996, his M.S. in Astronomy from Iowa State University in 1998, and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2003. Anthony was a postdoctoral research associate at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from 2004-2006 and an ALMA postdoctoral research associate at NRAO from 2006-2008. His ambition for education, public outreach and diversity are demonstrated by the wide variety of public lectures he has given and programs that he has pioneered to promote the sciences of astrochemistry and astrobiology. "I am not here to make everyone into an astronomer. Instead, I want my students to get excited about science, technology and engineering. The students that I mentor, either in the classroom or in REU programs, will be the next world leaders and it is my job to train them to be science literate and to see the benefit in pure research that takes place at institutions like NRAO" (contact). |
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Aaron Evans (Charlottesville, VA)Astronomy Associate Professor Dr. Aaron Evans, who holds a joint appointment at the University of Virginia and NRAO, works with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), a project currently under construction in the Atacama desert of Chile. Aaron also collaborates with Howard University, a Historically Black University in Washington, D.C., to expand the astronomy program. He is pleased and excited about the Howard venture noting “the hope is to get students involved in research during the academic year or through summer internships”. In addition to using ALMA to study star formation in distant galaxies, Evans also hopes to continue to work to assist more African Americans enter the field of Astronomy (contact). |
Miller Goss (Socorro, NM)I am a strong advocate of diversity. During the years that I was the VLA/VLBA Director (1988 to 2002), I was a supporter of a comprehensive effort to broaden the employee representation within NRAO New Mexico. In 2011, I believe that NRAO must continue these efforts (contact). |
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Peggy Perley (Socorro, NM)Peggy Perley joined NRAO in 1979. In the years since her employment, she has held the positions of VLA Array Operator, VLA Data Analyst, VLBA Operations Supervisor, VLBA Data Quality Analyst, NMOPs Array Operations Division Head and deputy AD for NM Operations. She also serves on the NM Recreation Committee and acts as liaison for management on the NM Safety Committee. Peggy believes that in a diverse workforce, each employee contributes to the success of the Observatory goals by tapping into the unique perspectives obtained from the various experiences, skills and talents of its employees. It is important for an organization to foster diversity in order to achieve a dynamic, innovative working environment (contact). |