About Us


oSTEM.grad at Yale is the graduate chapter of Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (oSTEM), a national society dedicated to educating and fostering leadership and community for LGBTQ+ individuals in the STEM fields.

Mission

Founded in 2015, oSTEM.grad at Yale seeks to serve the needs of the diverse community of scientists on campus. Through community building events, educational initiatives, and mentorship connections, oSTEM.grad hopes to advocate for and address the needs of LGBTQ+ students, staff, and faculty in the STEM fields at Yale. 

Leadership

Olivia Justynski (she/her)

Olivia is a 6th year PhD student in Valerie Horsley’s lab in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. She studies the role of various cell populations in skin wound healing. Outside of lab, Olivia sings in the Yale Citations a cappella group and listens to too many podcasts.

Julie Cheung (she/they)

Julie is a 5th year PhD student in Nik Joshi’s lab in the Department of Immunobiology. She is studying how tumor cells evade the immune system, and finding new ways to model cancer. In her spare time, she enjoys playing sports and is a player for Yale’s club basketball team. Interestingly, she also takes deep pleasure in puzzling. She can’t stay in one place for too long, which is why she has so many different interests.
 

Celena Gwin (they/she)

Celena is a 5th year PhD student in the Microbiology department. Her work in the Rego Lab focuses on understanding how mycobacteria grow and divide asymmetrically. In their free time, Celena enjoys crochet, horror movies, and reading books for the oSTEM book club!

Erick Salvador Rocha (he/him)

Erick is 3rd year PhD student in the microbiology department. As a member of the Miller-Jensen lab, he is interested in studying how the variability of cell-to-cell communication in macrophages shapes the immune response. Outside of lab Erick enjoys playing board games, visiting local wineries, breweries, and coffee shops. 

Rachel McAllister (she/her)

Rachel is a 2nd year PhD student in the Kallol Gupta Lab in the Department of Cell Biology. She studies membrane protein interactions with lipids using native mass spectrometry. In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking, tennis, and hiking. 

Alumni

Christopher Lim (he/him)

Chris co-founded oSTEM.grad and served as co-President for four years before graduating with his PhD in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry in 2019. In Yong Xiong’s lab, he primarily used structural techniques such as X-ray crystallography to understand how HIV proteins interact with human ones to benefit the virus. He is currently a postdoc in Andreas Martin’s lab at UC Berkeley.

Mac Crite (they/them)

Mac is the co-Founder of oSTEM.grad and a 7th year PhD student in Daniel Dimaio’s lab in the Department of Genetics and Microbiology. They are currently investigating cellular factors necessary for Human Papillomavirus (HPV) entry. Outside of lab, in their abundant free time, Mac enjoys attending far too many concerts, being a pretentious vinyl snob, and actively not reading papers.