A newly formed organization provides students with the opportunity to explore ecological sciences and diversity. Though it was only a faculty member’s dream, it has become a reality at NC State.

Strategies for Ecology, Education, Diversity and Sustainibility (SEEDS) is a new program at NC State that strives to promote diversity in ecology-related majors. SEEDS is a program of the Ecological Society of America and wields the slogan, “Diverse People for a Diverse Science.”

Sakshi Handa, a senior in biological and agricultural engineering and the student representative of SEEDS at NC State, described the club’s origin as being largely a product of their advisor’s efforts.

“Our advisor, Dr. Warren Sconiers, really brought SEEDS here,” Handa said. “Throughout his undergraduate and graduate experiences at other universities, he had been a part of SEEDS. The program had been extremely beneficial for him and he wanted to start it here at NC State. So he did. He loved the program and wanted to be a part of it, even now.”

According to Handa, SEEDS has been around for about 20 years, with its beginnings rooted in historically black colleges.

“It’s a national program that has been coming to a lot of universities around the country under the Ecological Society of America,” Handa said. “It’s great. SEEDS is about helping to increase diversity in ecology-related fields. This is a program that aims specifically to get students interested in such majors and help them gain more experience before entering the workforce.”

Handa emphasized the program concentrates intently on reaching people who are taking ecology-related classes, but haven’t yet had opportunities to participate in research or to gain work experience. SEEDS provides a way for students to gain applicable experience in their respective majors.

“Increasing diversity in ecology-related fields and helping students gain real-world experience are the main goals of the program,” Handa said. “It’s important that programs like SEEDS have these objectives because many science fields are severely lacking in diversity. There’s often a shortage of women and racial minorities. That’s how it is, that’s what’s accepted.”

According to Handa, SEEDS aims to support those who feel as though they don’t represent the majority. The program stresses inclusiveness so that students can obtain support as they need it.

“At meetings, you can find people that are like you,” Handa said. “You can find support in your major that way. One of the big things we want to do is connect students to each other – we want to promote networking so that people can meet others who share the same interests.”

In addition to fostering a diverse environment, the SEEDS program is currently planning several field trips for its representatives, which they have said will be “super awesome.”

According to Handa, the group intends to visit places in North Carolina that are related to the environment and the life sciences in general. She said they’ll soon be going to the Center for Environmental Farming Systems in Goldsboro as a day trip, where they will see what’s going on there and observe how it relates to environmental agriculture.

Because the club is just starting up, Handa said it has a lot of freedom regarding what it may become in the future.

“Everyone who comes to us with new ideas is totally welcome to contribute,” Handa said. “We take feedback from our audience so that it’s tailored to what’s happening currently and what people are interested in.”

Darius Williams, a sophomore in biology, said organizations such as SEEDS are important for the minority groups on campus.  

“Speaking as a minority student, it’s important that NC State promotes diversity in the life sciences so that people can learn to work better with others in an environment that is representative of the real world,” Williams said. “Hopefully SEEDS will help give people opportunities along these lines.”

Williams also emphasized the impact of diversity driven organizations on a person’s future.

“Typically when people leave school, they’ll be surrounded by a lot of people that aren’t exactly like them,” Williams said. “In becoming familiar with diversity earlier on, they are able get used to it. In this way, they’ll be more tolerant of other cultures and people.”

Being a program based in diversity, Handa said anyone is welcome to join SEEDS.

“It’s not any kind of exclusive,” Handa said. “We encourage anyone interested in the program’s goals to come to meetings, regardless of what they may be.”