About the IDEA Committee

LIGO Lab is committed to expanding open and inclusive participation in all elements of our work and research. The Lab’s work in this area is led by the IDEA Committee, a volunteer group of staff and postdocs representing all LIGO Lab's work locations. 

The LIGO IDEA Committee’s Charter provides a roadmap for the committee and highlights some of the key areas the committee will focus on. The mission statement of the IDEA Committee is to “promote equity and increase diversity through innovative hiring. IDEA Committee will also strive to increase retention by helping the LIGO Directorate to build an inclusive organizational culture and practices, thus enabling LIGO to attract and foster a more diverse and robust workforce”. 

The IDEA Committee advises the Laboratory Directorate and the LIGO Staffing Committee of actions that can be taken to move the Laboratory towards the goal of inclusivity, accessibility, diversity and equity, by providing opportunities for traditionally underrepresented communities to interact with LIGO and to provide a healthy, supporting work environment for our talented team. 

LIGO pursues several strategies to maintain a robust and productive workforce.  The IDEA committee provides coordination among Caltech HR, the LIGO Lab business group and technical staff efforts to achieve best practices in recruiting excellent, diverse, and motivated talent; in retaining those staff by creating an inclusive, welcoming, and intellectually stimulating environment; and in providing training, support, and freedom for creativity.