Biophysical Society Bulletin | February 2021

Member Corner

Daryl Eggers Committee on Inclusion and Diversity

Daryl Eggers

Is this your first volunteer position for BPS? If not, what other positions have you held? Prior to my nomination to the Committee on Inclusion and Diversity (CID), I served as an officer for the Biopolymers in Vivo Subgroup (BIV); three years as Member-at-Large and

them BPS membership and registration waivers to attend the 65th Annual Meeting. It was a delight to talk to the award re- cipients and to see their excitement via Zoom. I hope BPS will be able to continue this activity when we return to in-person meetings. Do you have advice for others who might be thinking about volunteering? For most faculty, it’s all about time and bandwidth. In my case, I decided to drop my participation at other scientific meetings in order to focus on the one community that I found most relevant to my research interests. As I now start to ponder life after retirement from academia, I view the BPS as a means of staying connected to science and to the friends I have made along the way. I think emeritus faculty and retirees represent an untapped pool of willing volunteers who have the time and experience to make important contributions to the Society. When not volunteering for BPS, what do you work on? Is this a trick question? As all faculty know, academia is crazy with never-ending deadlines and responsibilities. I am cur- rently trying to finish up a few research projects related to the role of water in binding thermodynamics. If all goes well, my last publications will be the most important, the most contro- versial, and the most cited works of my career. In my “spare” time, you can find me walking my yellow labrador, Dempsey, in downtown San Jose.

four years as Secretary. Why do you volunteer?

Good question. I suppose the main reasons I volunteer some of my precious time with BPS are (1) the enormous satisfac- tion I feel from enabling — or celebrating — the research of others, especially those who may have encountered discrim- ination or have limited resources; (2) BPS Committee work reminds me that I am a member of a much larger scientific community, one with no campus, state, or country bound- aries; and (3) attendance at BPS meetings affords me the opportunity to “rub elbows” with the real movers and shakers in my field of research. I am a professor at a PUI, so I am not surrounded by faculty, postdocs, and PhD candidates that might otherwise prod my research on a daily basis. What has been a highlight from your volunteer experience? One of my most recent experiences was also one of my most memorable. This past November I represented BPS and the CID at ABRCMS, the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. With the help of BPS staff member Joon Kwak , I was able to contact seven students and offer

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