Defiant Jazz (aka Dr. Kwasa)
@jkwasa.bsky.social
BME and Neuro postdoc researcher @ Carnegie Mellon University. Chief Tech Officer. Inclusive and equitable neurotech design. 2024 U.S. Fulbright Scholar. The favorite auntie 😏
Living somewhere between Pittsburgh, Nairobi, and Chicago
Living somewhere between Pittsburgh, Nairobi, and Chicago
Reposted by Defiant Jazz (aka Dr. Kwasa)
ICYMI My new picture book, SPARK, received a great review in Kirkus Reviews 🎉
Coming to bookstores on 10/21/25 via Candlewick Press 🎤
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...
#STEM #sciencematters #picturebooks #kidsbooks #hiddenfigures #Blackscientist #Blackprofessor
Coming to bookstores on 10/21/25 via Candlewick Press 🎤
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...
#STEM #sciencematters #picturebooks #kidsbooks #hiddenfigures #Blackscientist #Blackprofessor
SPARK | Kirkus Reviews
A warm salute to an undersung Black scientist.
www.kirkusreviews.com
September 9, 2025 at 5:27 PM
ICYMI My new picture book, SPARK, received a great review in Kirkus Reviews 🎉
Coming to bookstores on 10/21/25 via Candlewick Press 🎤
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...
#STEM #sciencematters #picturebooks #kidsbooks #hiddenfigures #Blackscientist #Blackprofessor
Coming to bookstores on 10/21/25 via Candlewick Press 🎤
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...
#STEM #sciencematters #picturebooks #kidsbooks #hiddenfigures #Blackscientist #Blackprofessor
Reposted by Defiant Jazz (aka Dr. Kwasa)
SWAT Team Robot Successfully Dismantles Black Man
theonion.com/swat-te...
theonion.com/swat-te...
June 16, 2025 at 3:00 PM
SWAT Team Robot Successfully Dismantles Black Man
theonion.com/swat-te...
theonion.com/swat-te...
I’m begging neuroscientists to please decide if “Population Neuroscience” will henceforth refer to groups of people or groups of neurons 😭😭
June 16, 2025 at 4:55 PM
I’m begging neuroscientists to please decide if “Population Neuroscience” will henceforth refer to groups of people or groups of neurons 😭😭
🤎🤲🏾✨
June 14, 2025 at 11:37 PM
🤎🤲🏾✨
My best friend was there 🥹👏🏾👏🏾
June 14, 2025 at 11:32 PM
My best friend was there 🥹👏🏾👏🏾
Why does Delta airlines label me Mrs? Not that they need to know my marital status at all, bc it’s Dr!
June 14, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Why does Delta airlines label me Mrs? Not that they need to know my marital status at all, bc it’s Dr!
What happens if you wear an overnight lip balm in the daytime? Do all nighttime products need SPF to make them safe in the sun?
June 14, 2025 at 11:30 PM
What happens if you wear an overnight lip balm in the daytime? Do all nighttime products need SPF to make them safe in the sun?
Reposted by Defiant Jazz (aka Dr. Kwasa)
Pittsburgh showing up to say No Kings!
June 14, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Pittsburgh showing up to say No Kings!
Whatever ancient secret South Africans have in their music, I hope it never dies. Any genre they touch turns to gold.
I’m just blessed to be on the same planet to hear it 🙏🏾😩
I’m just blessed to be on the same planet to hear it 🙏🏾😩
June 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Whatever ancient secret South Africans have in their music, I hope it never dies. Any genre they touch turns to gold.
I’m just blessed to be on the same planet to hear it 🙏🏾😩
I’m just blessed to be on the same planet to hear it 🙏🏾😩
Reposted by Defiant Jazz (aka Dr. Kwasa)
Check me out! Won last year's Young Explorer Award from AAAS/Science and I get to present my work in Switzerland next week 😎 youngexploreraward.nomisfoundation.ch
NOMIS & Science Young Explorer Award – 2024 NOMIS & Science Young Explorer Award
youngexploreraward.nomisfoundation.ch
May 28, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Check me out! Won last year's Young Explorer Award from AAAS/Science and I get to present my work in Switzerland next week 😎 youngexploreraward.nomisfoundation.ch
Sooo everyone else in my F99/K00 fellowship got their termination notices but I didn’t. My work *and* my mechanism are both DEI
What gives?
What gives?
May 28, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Sooo everyone else in my F99/K00 fellowship got their termination notices but I didn’t. My work *and* my mechanism are both DEI
What gives?
What gives?
Reposted by Defiant Jazz (aka Dr. Kwasa)
In a blow to many foreign medical researchers who rely on U.S. funding, the NIH has announced that by the end of September, it will halt what are known as “foreign subawards,” in which U.S. researchers share their grant money with overseas collaborators. scim.ag/42UpRyQ
‘This is insane:’ New NIH policy on funding foreign scientists stirs outrage
Agency will make researchers outside United States seek grants of their own rather than “subawards” from U.S. scientists
scim.ag
May 2, 2025 at 10:55 PM
In a blow to many foreign medical researchers who rely on U.S. funding, the NIH has announced that by the end of September, it will halt what are known as “foreign subawards,” in which U.S. researchers share their grant money with overseas collaborators. scim.ag/42UpRyQ
HOW DO YOU DE-FUND PBS, NPR, NSF, NIH, FDA, CDC, AND PUBLIC EDUCATION??? LIKE WHAT ELSE IS THERE??????????? PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND THE POST OFFICE????
May 3, 2025 at 3:48 AM
HOW DO YOU DE-FUND PBS, NPR, NSF, NIH, FDA, CDC, AND PUBLIC EDUCATION??? LIKE WHAT ELSE IS THERE??????????? PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND THE POST OFFICE????
Reposted by Defiant Jazz (aka Dr. Kwasa)
Budget released today:
40% cut to NIH
50% cut to NSF
If enacted, this will destroy academic research in the United States. It will also have a major trickle down effect on the entire academic ecosystem
40% cut to NIH
50% cut to NSF
If enacted, this will destroy academic research in the United States. It will also have a major trickle down effect on the entire academic ecosystem
May 2, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Budget released today:
40% cut to NIH
50% cut to NSF
If enacted, this will destroy academic research in the United States. It will also have a major trickle down effect on the entire academic ecosystem
40% cut to NIH
50% cut to NSF
If enacted, this will destroy academic research in the United States. It will also have a major trickle down effect on the entire academic ecosystem
Reposted by Defiant Jazz (aka Dr. Kwasa)
Time to catch up on the past week’s news about science and medicine in the US. Whew. 1/10
May 1, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Time to catch up on the past week’s news about science and medicine in the US. Whew. 1/10
Reposted by Defiant Jazz (aka Dr. Kwasa)
Just thinking about how there's literally a BROADWAY MUSICAL about why we needed to enact the Food & Drug Act.
War Paint, Starring Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, Ends Broadway Run November 5
The closing will allow two-time Tony winner LuPone to undergo immediate hip replacement surgery.
playbill.com
May 1, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Just thinking about how there's literally a BROADWAY MUSICAL about why we needed to enact the Food & Drug Act.
Reposted by Defiant Jazz (aka Dr. Kwasa)
NIH is ending billions of dollars in foreign subawards, jeopardizing thousands of projects on infectious diseases, cancer and more.
Unless foreign researchers secure funding directly from NIH by October — a tall order for any researcher — clinical trials abroad and other research will shut down.
Unless foreign researchers secure funding directly from NIH by October — a tall order for any researcher — clinical trials abroad and other research will shut down.
Exclusive: NIH to end billions of dollars in foreign research grants
Move by US biomedical agency jeopardizes thousands of projects on infectious diseases, cancer and more.
www.nature.com
May 2, 2025 at 1:05 AM
NIH is ending billions of dollars in foreign subawards, jeopardizing thousands of projects on infectious diseases, cancer and more.
Unless foreign researchers secure funding directly from NIH by October — a tall order for any researcher — clinical trials abroad and other research will shut down.
Unless foreign researchers secure funding directly from NIH by October — a tall order for any researcher — clinical trials abroad and other research will shut down.
WHAT (and i cannot emphasize this enough) THEE FUCK
April 23, 2025 at 3:11 AM
WHAT (and i cannot emphasize this enough) THEE FUCK
I'm personally working on putting my time where my values lie. I'll be attending. mobilize.us/s/TXzddI
Democracy Movement Call · Declaration for American Democracy Coalition
The House has passed the dangerous SAVE Act, but the fight isn’t over. It’s time to move together.
Join us for a national movement call to break down what’s at stake, connect the dots between federal...
mobilize.us
April 18, 2025 at 6:12 PM
I'm personally working on putting my time where my values lie. I'll be attending. mobilize.us/s/TXzddI
Reposted by Defiant Jazz (aka Dr. Kwasa)
Reposted by Defiant Jazz (aka Dr. Kwasa)
SfN reversed their decision, THE WORKSHOP IS ON, it will center around communicating neuroscience to non-English speaking communities, see you at SfN 2025!!!!
Hi everyone, we are petitioning them to reconsider, if you are willing to co-sign our rebuttal because you or your trainees are personally interested in attending such a workshop, please add your name and professional affiliation to the end of the following document! docs.google.com/document/d/1...
April 16, 2025 at 4:48 PM
SfN reversed their decision, THE WORKSHOP IS ON, it will center around communicating neuroscience to non-English speaking communities, see you at SfN 2025!!!!
Reposted by Defiant Jazz (aka Dr. Kwasa)
It Only Tuesday
It Only Tuesday
WASHINGTON, DC—After running a thousand errands, working hours of overtime, and being stuck in seemingly endless gridlock traffic commuting to and from their jobs, millions of Americans were dishearte...
theonion.com
April 15, 2025 at 4:00 PM
It Only Tuesday
Reposted by Defiant Jazz (aka Dr. Kwasa)
In our first “Postdoc perspectives” essay, @fleabrained.bsky.social and @maribel-patino.bsky.social explain how grassroots organizations led by trainees are stepping up to provide career and mentorship guidance for neuroscience students from marginalized backgrounds.
#neuroskyence
bit.ly/4csFx0B
#neuroskyence
bit.ly/4csFx0B
As federal funders desert mentorship programs for marginalized students, trainee-led initiatives fill the gap
Grassroots organizations, led by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, are stepping up to provide neuroscience career training and guidance for students from marginalized backgrounds—and…
bit.ly
April 11, 2025 at 1:26 PM
In our first “Postdoc perspectives” essay, @fleabrained.bsky.social and @maribel-patino.bsky.social explain how grassroots organizations led by trainees are stepping up to provide career and mentorship guidance for neuroscience students from marginalized backgrounds.
#neuroskyence
bit.ly/4csFx0B
#neuroskyence
bit.ly/4csFx0B
Reposted by Defiant Jazz (aka Dr. Kwasa)
Forcing people to pay $130 for a passport in order to vote is just a Jim Crow poll tax by another name.
It is blatantly unconstitutional.
It is blatantly unconstitutional.
April 10, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Forcing people to pay $130 for a passport in order to vote is just a Jim Crow poll tax by another name.
It is blatantly unconstitutional.
It is blatantly unconstitutional.