SLAC’s CORE Science Institute Residency Program at Stanford University was an amazing experience. I was selected back in April to volunteer and mentor students in addition to providing STEM education. As you all know, I have a personal passion for increasing the pipeline of marginalized students, especially young girls into the field of STEM; to be able to experience and even have my own learning moments with our future leaders is heartwarming.
Here’s a couple of facts to reinforce the importance of what should be on everyone’s agenda:
- There was a total of 16,454 women in leadership roles compared to 47,167 men; only 25.9 percent of all STEM leaders were women.
- Most of the women working in STEM are White 66.02%. Comparatively, there were: 14.58% African American, 0.97% American/Alaskan Native, 9.76% Asian, and 0.28% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander women
- Women only make up 33% of the tech-related workforce
- Only 3% of women in tech identify as black and 1.7% of women in tech identify as latinx
- Black women CEOs are paid 38% less than white male CEOs
On a positive note:
- HBCUs make up 3% of all Higher Education Institutions, yet produce 25% of ALL African American STEM Graduates.
- Businesses with a diverse executive team are 25% more likely to have above average profitability
We are witnessing first hand the pushback on DEI Initiatives; who do you think will be the ones facing consequences of these actions? Towards the beginning Dorian Bohler , Morehouse graduate and Champion within CSI, asked the students “Who do you think makes more money, athletes or scientists?” Athletes was screamed in unison. That was swiftly dismantled and by the end of the week instead we shouted, “The more math you take, the more money you make!”
When it came to the Julyteenth event, established by one of our amazing Program Managers, Shirin Ketabforoush, my emotions were high. Before Poster Presentations, I encouraged the students to be authentic and I was very clear that professionalism should never diminish their identity. Seeing 9 to 12 year olds speak to the aerodynamics behind rocket launching, communicate the physics behind shooting a basketball, and explain the software capabilities using the Arduino Boards was inspiring. But what moved me most was seeing how they adorned their posters with affirmations like “Black Girl Magic”, “Black STEM”, and drawings like the Pan-African Flag and Afros that took up the sky.
Thank you SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Aamina Jahaan , and Chereace Marcellin for this fruitful experience. I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. I also hope I’m remembered when they all become CEOs 😉.