IS-MPMIConnect, the society’s exciting new virtual discussion space, hosted two events in February. The symposium held on February 17 focused on Mental Health and Dealing with Failure and was moderated by DeQuantarius (DJ) Speed (University of Chicago). The panelists included Dr. Gbonjubola Abiri (CEO of Redi-Med Consulting Services, Lagos, Nigeria), Dr. Jean Greenberg (University of Chicago), and Goodluck Benjamin (INRAE, France). Approximately 40 participants listened to presentations by the panelists on various topics related to dealing with stress, coping with problems, learning from failure, and coming up with unique solutions to overcome problems.

Dr. Abiri discussed dealing with failure and our tendency to look at every situation as a competition. She emphasized that to succeed, we need to learn from failure and see it as an opportunity to look back and make changes. She noted that “failure is life’s greatest teacher” and encouraged listeners to “fail forward.”

Virtual whiteboard used by Jean Greenberg to provide insights into time organization and acknowledge assets and setbacks that can affect our lives.

Goodluck Benjamin shared many personal anecdotes about his journey growing up in Nigeria. His inspirational lesson focused on accepting a certain amount of responsibility for your situation and coming up with a plan to deal with situations in the future to get where you want to be. “When you fail in a situation, it does not mean you are a failure,” he said, and encouraged everyone to tell themselves that they can deal with, and learn from, any situation.

Dr. Greenberg shared her experiences of dealing with failure by becoming a problem solver. She emphasized the importance of surrounding yourself with “a community that supports not only your science, but other aspects of your life.” Her whiteboard-based talk gave great examples of how to organize your time effectively to include self-reflection and non–work-related activities.

The IS-MPMIConnect event held on February 24 featured Conversations with Dr. Morgan Halane, a cofounder of #BlackBotanistsWeek. Dr. Halane shared his life’s journey—from originally studying English literature in the United Kingdom, to being inspired by molecular plant–microbe interactions as an undergraduate student in Missouri, and finally studying as a postdoc in South Korea and California. He went on to discuss the connections that he made in organizing the Black Botanists group, which became so successful they are planning another social media initiative this year and a symposium at the Botany Conference in 2022. The Black Botanist group will be coordinating with other BlackInX groups (e.g., BlackInBirding, BlackInMicrobiology) in the future, and they are looking to expand undergraduate student involvement. We encourage you to listen to the Holden Forests & Gardens Scientist Lecture that Morgan presented in November, 2020, in which he outlined what people who are not black can do to support black scientists.

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