Steps Taken to Assess and Improve DEI-Related Engagement at DIII-D

The DIII-D National Fusion Program has created a DEI panel to facilitate engagement, opportunity and recruitment of a diverse range of personnel within the program, as well as to officially endorse programmatic changes that improve opportunities. DIII-D offers a unique challenge in that it is a user facility split between employees and outside collaborators of interconnected roles (e.g. students, technicians, staff, engineers). The panel uses the recent 2020 DPP-CPP report as a guide, which acknowledges that we, the plasma physics community, are not experts on the subject of DEI and therefore should consult outside help to accelerate change. We show that the first steps taken towards finding outside help identified the need for an exploratory site visit. The implementation of a facility-wide survey is then discussed to demonstrate the data gathering of baseline statistics can be used to track the progress of DEI-related initiatives. Existing training options are presented, as well as any gaps in training specific to a multi-institutional facility like DIII-D. Our intention is that this presentation provides inspiration and first steps towards improving DEI within a multi-institutional plasma physics organization, but also leads to insights that inform the DIII-D approach.