{"id":1461,"date":"2021-08-06T12:50:50","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T16:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/?p=1461"},"modified":"2022-10-02T08:31:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T12:31:50","slug":"farewell-interview-dif-francesco-lavini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/farewell-interview-dif-francesco-lavini\/","title":{"rendered":"2021 Farewell Interview: DIF Francesco Lavini"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Alara Tuncer<\/p>\n

Francesco Lavini is now concluding his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Physics from NYU Tandon School of Engineering, along with it, his journey as a CIE Diversity and Inclusion Fellow has also come to an end. Although Lavini joined CIE to understand the specifics of transitioning from academia to startups, CIE\u2019s mission to support women and underrepresented minorities in the realm of entrepreneurship has deeply affected him and his journey as a graduate student.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alongside his scientific endeavors as a Ph.D. candidate, Lavini has always \u201cbeen interested in expanding [his] breadth of knowledge beyond [his] academic engagement and research,\u201d when I asked Lavini about why he decided to join CIE, he said he \u201cwas [initially] interested in getting a sense of how startups come out of Academia.\u201d Already doing a fair amount of data analysis as a Ph.D. candidate, he added that he was also \u201cinterested in getting [his] hands on a different type of data analysis,\u201d research \u201coutside of physics\u201d that is \u201cpractical and related to [a] general demographic.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lavini goes onto explaining that indeed, the \u201cexposure to the startup space in New York\u201d is unique, but frankly, what is even more unique is startups deriving from academia. Lavini adds that being in CIE was \u201ca very special place to observe the angle of the startup industry,\u201d this is because CIE alongside NYU Entrepreneurship Institute has the unparalleled position of training and supporting business ventures that derive from academia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lavini also praises NYU\u2019s effort to support startups saying \u201cNYU is doing a great job of pushing entrepreneurship activities coming out of academia.\u201d Additionally, Lavini also adds that NYU Entrepreneurship Institute is also exerting a great effort to contribute to inclusion and diversity, supporting startups with \u201cone of the highest ratios of female founders\u201d compared to other entrepreneurship institutes. \u201cEven the existence of CIE is another proof\u201d that NYU is supporting this mission.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As Lavini explains, \u201cthe idea of CIE was to build a longitudinal study\u201d to better understand the \u201ctrends related to the participation of underrepresented groups.\u201d Initially, fellows like Lavini had two roles within the institute: \u201cto build organic surveys to probe the demographic background\u201d for the entrepreneurial initiative of NYU and to analyze the survey data, with the overall mission of \u201cincreasing the participation of underrepresented groups.\u201d Although as a research fellow, Lavini created surveys and analyzed data for over a year, one of his major contributions in CIE was getting \u201cfellows more involved into the general program and grand purposes\u201d by initiating \u201ca new type of training.\u201d \u201cThere is so much beyond analyzing age versus ethnicity\u201d adds Lavini. This way, with a greater understanding of CIE\u2019s mission, fellows knew \u201cwhat type of questions they needed to write for the surveys\u201d to obtain descriptive data and they knew \u201cwhat are the key things to analyze to extract insight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Commending CIE\u2019s mission, Lavini emphasizes how he has gained \u201cexposure to the themes of diversity and inclusion.\u201d Lavini says \u201cthis has become something that I really care about,\u201d moving forward \u201cthis is something that I\u2019m looking for in an employer.\u201d CIE has made its fellows more cognizant of what businesses and industries are \u201cdoing for diversity, inclusion, and justice.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t join CIE with this purpose, but it is one of the most important questions I keep asking myself in every single engagement now,\u201d says Lavini, adding that diversity and inclusion are \u201cthe topic of the moment\u201d that need to be addressed. Even within the realm of CIE, \u201cthere are so many questions that can be asked and so much correlation that can be produced as a result.\u201d Experienced in creating surveys and analyzing data, he emphasizes that \u201cthere are a lot of things that need to be adjusted and assessed\u201d and a lot of parameters are important to consider gaining an understanding of the real meaning of the data. He adds \u201cthe way one program is structured [or] the format of the program can affect the fostering of the participation of underrepresented groups,\u201d and we need initiates like CIE to identify trends so that we can create change to support underrepresented groups.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finally, Lavini concludes by saying that the one thing he wishes he accomplished was \u201cfinalizing the longitudinal analysis and the [resultant] paper that comes out of it.\u201d Post-PhD Lavini will be moving to Milan, Italy to start working as a consultant. As CIE, we wish Lavini the best in his future endeavors!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Above: Francesco Lavini with his mentor Prof. Elisa Riedo<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Alara Tuncer Francesco Lavini is now concluding his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Physics from NYU Tandon School of Engineering, along with it, his journey as a CIE Diversity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1461"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1604,"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461\/revisions\/1604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}