Background: Participation from women belonging to diverse race-ethnic-social class groups in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields is lacking. Despite efforts to narrow divides, there are no coordinated interdisciplinary research and evidence-based strategies that consider students and women of color, their identities, and potential impact in these fields.
Mission: To actively drive the discourse and experiences of underrepresented girls in STEM by owning, generating, and critiquing the collective body of scholarship on, and offering culturally responsive programs for, girls of color (e.g. African American, Native American, Latina, and Asian American) and STEM education.
Purpose: The Center aims to create an interdisciplinary, racially-ethnically diverse community of scholars, students, policymakers, and practitioners who explore, identify, and ultimately create innovative scholarship about and best practices for under-represented students (p-20) in STEM.
We Value:
- Knowledge and understanding around the issues related to digital media/STEM and under-represented students and women of color through traditional (e.g. conferences, peer-reviewed articles, policy briefs) and non-traditional practices (e.g. virtual worlds, social networks).
- Research agendas around questions of equity for under-represented and understudied students in our digital age.
- Engaging communities of scholars, organizations, policymakers, and practitioners in action-oriented strategies with evidence-based research.
- Culturally responsive evaluations assessing underrepresented students' experiences in STEM programs.