Supporting Students Underrepresented in STEM in Independent Research and Competitions

The Department’s Civil Rights Data Collection continues to demonstrate that students of color and students with disabilities are disproportionately excluded from learning opportunities in STEM,” said the former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten. To set higher expectations and career goals for our students in a title 1 middle School, I founded an after-school program for STEM Research and Competitions. On the 2nd year of the program our students were among the winners of the NASA Techrise Competition among 750 schools that competed, including private and high schools. They worked with NASA engineers to build a radiation detector that was launched into space by NASA. This gave my students and I a lot of media attention and made the Department of Defense choose me as one of the STEM ambassadors for 2025/26 school year. This lecture would explore the endless opportunities and untapped resources available for students and teachers.