Manufacturers have expressed concerns about talent shortages, citing the perceptions held by students/parents of the industry as a major contributing factor. At the same time, policymakers/educational leaders continue to call for STEM education programming to maintain competitiveness in such industries. Accordingly, manufacturers have launched…

This study investigates the effect of a female STEM professional mentoring program on perceptions among K-12 female participants. Led by STEM professionals, the program aims to enhance understanding of STEM careers. The findings reveal significant changes in the K-12 females' attitude and career aspirations towards STEM following their involvement…

Successful retention of STEM majors that then successfully transition into the U.S. STEM workforce is a major challenge for institutions of higher education. The present work represents a quality improvement study of a custom-designed professional development course for undergraduate students characterized by an innovative integration of workforce…

The STEM Public Outreach Team (SPOT) at the University of Washington Bothell (UWB) provides training and community building opportunities for diverse STEM students that impact their persistence in STEM majors and careers. The University of Washington Center for Evaluation and Research for STEM Equity (CERSE) evaluated the experiences of SPOT…

There is a noticeable deficit in the research examining how a motivational intervention such as a robotics curriculum might provide a possible route to positively impacting elementary students' interest, attitude, and self-efficacy in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and their persistence and interest in pursuing a STEM…

This quasi-experimental study examined the impact of participation in college-run STEM career days on American high school students' STEM career aspirations. Data were collected from a nationwide retrospective cohort survey of 15,847 U.S. college students who provided information about their experiences during high school. Accounting for…

Diverse backgrounds, viewpoints and experiences in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are vital for innovation and creativity in STEM; and yet, racially minoritized groups, such as African Americans and Hispanics, remain underrepresented in the STEM K-12 and career pipeline. Studies show that exposure and access to STEM experiences…

Most educational studies highlight the gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Female students' interest and success in STEM are behind their male peers, especially in chemistry and physics classes. Females are less likely to pursue a STEM field in college. In addition, few women want to be scientists and engineers.…

Purpose: Amidst continued calls for the democratization of access to higher education for historically underrepresented populations alongside the first global health crisis in a century lies the opportunity to address persistent societal needs: increasing access for underrepresented minority students to educational pathways that lead to careers in…