Description

The National Science and Technology Medals Foundation (NSTMF) is a non-profit organization working to build inclusive STEM communities. Their programs focus on ensuring that women and diverse undergraduate students persist within STEM by removing barriers to their success and creating safe and inclusive STEM spaces.
The inSTEM program is designed to combat the high attrition rate of women and diverse students in STEM majors through mentorship and coaching. NSTMF’s inSTEM mentorship program serves as an auxiliary support network connecting students in science and technology with experts who can guide and support them through their academic journeys. The program offers four years of support that emphasizes a scholar’s holistic wellness development, the cultivation of supportive communities, and the generation of substantive mentor-mentee relationships between scholars and inSTEM’s expert-mentors.
NSTMF plans to host its inaugural convening event for July of this year. Due to the pandemic, programming between mentors and mentees has been entirely virtual, and this event will be the first-time students and mentors meet in person. The summit will provide an opportunity for NSTMF to bring its 100 scholars and 50 mentors together to expand their professional skill sets. The event will take place over three days and offer professional development workshops, panels, and networking opportunities.
NSTMF seeks funding from the Luce Foundation to support its inSTEM event. Luce funds would specifically go toward featuring a women’s network panel during the summit. Funds would also support  pre-event preparation such as coordinating the panel; event expenses such as room reservation costs, A/V, and video content creation; panel and workshop streaming and accessibility accommodations like ASL interpretation; travel, accommodations and honoraria for speakers; marketing, promotion, and general collateral creation; and the development and distribution of post-event evaluation surveys to gather participant feedback to inform future summits.