SPSP Community Catalyst Grantees Form Multiracial Scholar Network

After winning an SPSP Community Catalyst Grant in the summer of 2020, Fabiana De Lima, Lauren Feldman, Adriana Germano, Katlyn Lee Milles, Hannah Moshontz, Annalisa Myer, Diana Sanchez, and Leigh Wilton collaborated to form SPSP’s first Multiracial community group, NOMS (Network of Multiracial Scholars).

NOMS was created with two important goals in mind: (1) to foster community building among Multiracial SPSP members and (2) to provide this same group with tailored professional development activities.

SPSP 2021 Annual Convention

Earlier this year, NOMS created new winning opportunities for SPSP’s Multiracial membership. To help offset the costs of SPSP’s 2021 Annual Convention, NOMS awarded four $100 Early Career Registration Awards and one $100 Remote Accessibility Award. Offering these awards was a first step in making the Annual Convention more accessible for SPSP’s Multiracial members.

In addition to providing SPSP funding, NOMS hosted a virtual gathering during the Annual Convention where over 50 Multiracial social and personality psychologists from all over the world gathered online to get to know one another. To encourage the gathering to feel more like an informal dinner party, NOMS awarded $20 to the first 20 students who RSVP’d to pay for their food and snacks during the event. Attendees chatted over Zoom in small breakout rooms on different non-work/non-research social topics, rotating in and out of new rooms every 10 minutes. Once everyone had the chance to meet one another, attendees played online games in small teams. The gathering was a huge success. Nearly all attendees joined the NOMS Slack group to continue getting to know one another. Because this virtual gathering provided SPSP’s Multiracial membership with the unique chance to professionally meet other scholars within their field who also share their experiences, we plan to continue hosting events like these in the future. Stay tuned for our next event!

Looking Ahead to Future Events

Now that several of SPSP’s members have found community in NOMS, we have two events left for 2021 to help members maintain their new professional connections. This September, NOMS plans to host a data blitz for members to showcase their latest research with one another. Later this Fall/Winter, NOMS plans to virtually host an invited speaker to present their research and share professional advice unique to Multiracial scholars. Both events will provide novel professional and social development opportunities to NOMS members as well as solidify SPSP’s growing Multiracial community. Stay tuned for more information about these events as details are finalized!

If you are a Multiracial or Multiethnic member of SPSP and are interested in joining NOMS’ Slack group, please contact Adriana Germano at [email protected].