The Starbird lab firmly believes that all people, regardless of background, should have the ability to participate in science and that people of all backgrounds should feel encouraged, supported, and welcomed into the science community, as we truly need scientists from all backgrounds to do the best science. As such, a major goal of the Starbird lab is to create a learning and research environment that reduces barriers to make science truly accessible for all. Our lab visionary, Dr. Starbird, often speaks about how she was a non-traditional student in many ways (see links to articles) and how this created a lot of barriers along her journey to becoming a scientist. As such, she is working to build a lab where individual challenges can be addressed collectively to ensure that each person in the lab is able to bring the best version of themselves to their learning and research. This means, for example, that no student should come to lab hungry, unhoused, or lacking basic tools they need for success, such as glasses for vision or a computer for data analysis.