- The hypoxic station allows our lab to actually recapitulate what happens inside of the human body, instead of taking an educated guess and trying to apply a treatment that won't be effective just based on a lack of availability of oxygen.

(gentle music) My name is Deanna Chezzarae Clemmer, I am a senior research support specialist at SUNY Upstate Medical University in the Taylor Lab.

Currently, my field is a mixture between immunology and microbiology.

So immunology is going to essentially be the study of the immune system inside the human body.

And microbiology is going to be biology but just on a much smaller molecular level.

Thing that makes the Taylor Lab unique at Upstate is the fact that we are primarily corely a Black lab.

(gentle music continues) There is not one lab on this campus that looks like ours.

And I think that just alone, us just being corely a Black lab makes us more unique than any of the other labs that are here.

My mentor, Harry, had this vision of creating a space where he can give young Black scientists the tools that they need to thrive in our field.

He has actually been able to provide that, with the fact that all three of his graduate students are not only Black, but they're Black women.

By him being able to create the safe space that he's always wanted, he gives the future a whole new different path, which is extremely invaluable.

- The fastest is the one that wins.

It's just the way- (both chuckling) that's the way it works, right?

But it's gonna be great because it's gonna allow us to prepare pretty well for this meeting that we wanna attend the fall.

- Mm, yeah.

- Right?

- Allowing us to do, like, three experiments a week, get a lot more data out, easier to push forward with the projects.

I was one of the only kids in my family that had any kind of STEM interest, so my mom really nurtured that.

And just trying to find out where that spark was coming from so that she could flame it.

My mom, just being like my number one person in my corner growing up is what made the huge difference.

A lot of the times when kids have an interest in STEM, the reason why they stay in it is because their parents show an interest in their interest.

But I knew from maybe a couple weeks in that I just wanted to study something that was more impactful for me for the Black community.

(dog barking) My home life is actually pretty chill.

Very different than the scientific life that I have here.

(gentle music continues) When I come home from the lab, my very first thing that I love to do is just go on, like, a pretty long walk with my dogs.

Whenever I can't think, I go to my drum kit and I just start playing random stuff, and I'm like, "That's it."

'Cause we all need something that helps us not, just not for a second to just be free and just to fly.

A lot of the times, Jack and I will wind down with, like, a board game, chess, checkers, something like that, maybe do a puzzle together.

One of the things that I'm very proud of in my life is the fact that him and I have such a good relationship where we can constantly push each other, and constantly help each other achieve our goals.

A lot of the times, especially in the microbiology and immunology field, are predominantly white individuals, specifically white males.

You will get a sense of I do not belong here because they do not want me here.

It is simply because they value their ideas, and perhaps maybe how they perceive what science should look like on paper, or in these articles, or on TV.

(gentle music continues) We are not gonna get anywhere by just doing what's always been done.

It is a progressive field.

Everything needs to move with the technology and with the science.

So I think the value of Black women in STEM is just severely undercut.

So one of the biggest challenges with that and kind of mentoring younger Black individuals who are coming into these STEM fields is that it is not your responsibility to change their perception of what this world looks like.

Your job is to do what you love, what you're passionate about, and do it well, and do it to your standards, not anybody else's.

When I look to my future, I feel strong about it.

There's not much that can really stop me from achieving the goals that I want to because I believe in myself, and I have people that believe in me, and I have just a lot of hope to be groundbreaking for a lot of young Black girls that want to do what I do, or want to simply just be in the STEM field.

Even if they're at a young age, I wanna help them find every path, open every door.

I want them to not be afraid to run towards the goal that they want and not be stopped because someone perceives that they shouldn't be there, or that they feel they're not smart enough, or they don't feel like there's enough opportunities for them.

There is nobody stopping you.

There's nobody stopping you from doing what you want to do.