Description

The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) is home to Project Kaleidoscope, one of the nation’s leading advocates for transforming undergraduate STEM teaching and learning and has been a committed HLF partner on several STEM diversity-focused grants. AAC&U is led by Dr. Lynn Pasquerella, well known to HLF in part through her previous service as president of Mount Holyoke College, a Clare Boothe Luce Program Designated Institution.
Innovation and entrepreneurship using STEM-based tools hold significant promise to address many of our nation’s greatest challenges. Yet, a 2019 National Academy of Sciences scoping workshop found that women are underrepresented and face significant challenges in the innovation ecosystem. Although research indicates that diverse perspectives and thought can accelerate innovation, novel scientific contributions by gender and racial minorities are less likely to be taken up in academia and are more likely to be discounted and devalued.
Foundation staff invited AAC&U, in collaboration with the Association of Women in Science/Women in Engineering ProActive Network Accelerator, and blackcomputeHer, an education and STEM workforce development organization, to develop and implement the Convergence Fellowship Program (CFP) which would serve as a principal driver for fostering, promoting, and promulgating the ideas and discoveries of Black and Indigenous women STEM innovators in the nascent area of Public Interest Technology and in social entrepreneurship.
AAC&U would design a national model for applying the interdisciplinary convergence of knowledge and expertise of Black and Indigenous women in STEM, who are grossly underrepresented among women in this space, to address specific challenges that arise from deep societal needs, including those that are unique to the lived experiences of these communities. CFP would support 20 Fellows – 10 per year for two years – and would accomplish two significant objectives: support the scientific discovery and innovation of Black and Indigenous women in STEM with a leading-edge innovation education curriculum; and design a model for a creative space that holistically empowers these women to develop as national thought leaders and role models, strategically positioning them and their technological innovations at the center of the U.S. STEM ecosystem.
The total 2-year program cost would be $860,000, with the bulk of funds providing direct support to Fellows. The board approved the request for $600,000 on the November 2021 docket. We now request the $260,000 balance of the 2-year program cost.