The University of Washington GenOM Project, led by director Lisa Peterson, was honored with a Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement Award from the Seattle Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management at its second annual conference in Seattle, Dec. 8.
The award was created to honor and celebrate organizations and businesses within Western Washington in recognition of their cooperative and innovative strategies and initiatives to promote, advance and celebrate the concepts and spirit of diversity in the workplace and in the community.
Under Peterson’s direction, the GenOM Project provides educational and research opportunities, as well as academic support, for underrepresented minority students interested in genomics and life sciences research at the UW. The program is funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and in part by the Genentech Foundation.
The GenOM Project partners with several community and campus organizations, including the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity and the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP). The program is in its 10th year of funding and is housed within the UW College of Engineering.
Peterson, who received her master’s degree in technical communication from UW in 2006, has worked at the UW since 1985, and is currently a nominee for one of UW’s 2012 Distinguished Staff Awards. She was previously the director of BRIDGES4, a comprehensive support program for underrepresented students in the health, life and social sciences from 1999-2002.