40 Hours for the Forty Acres September 2022

Who We Are

Women in STEM (WiSTEM) is closing the STEM gender gap by creating an inspired and diverse community of confident STEM leaders. Collaboratively with colleges and programs across the UT Austin campus, WiSTEM is creating pathways for women to explore, pursue, and persist within STEM majors and career pathways and supporting them along the way. WiSTEM’s university-wide outreach, recruiting and retention STEM programs for precollege and undergraduate STEM students are designed to increase STEM identity, self-efficacy, and a sense of belonging and lead to increased undergraduate retention/persistence, graduation rates, advancement to graduate school, and persistence in the STEM workforce.

What We're Fundraising For

Learning and a sense of belonging within STEM career pathways happen beyond the classroom. 

WiSTEM is fundraising for STEM Learning Scholarships to support students to attend workshops and conferences where they will expand their STEM learning beyond the classroom, make connections to expand their networks, and gain professional and career skills for their STEM future. WiSTEM will prioritize supporting first-time workshop or conference student attendees from underrepresented and historically excluded groups in STEM with STEM Learning Scholarships that offset registration fees and/or travel expenses.

Your Impact                                     

Your gift of any amount will have an incredible impact on our STEM students' learning and future STEM career success:

• $25 supports a conference workshop or networking event
• $100 supports a virtual conference student registration fee
• $500 supports roundtrip airfare to attend an in-person conference
• $1000 supports one student's full in-person conference experience

Shivani, a mechanical engineering undergraduate, shared her experience attending a STEM conference made possible by a STEM Learning Scholarship:

The conference was amazing and provided many opportunities to network and talk to many prestigious companies. I was able to make a lot of connections and even got some interviews. Overall, this conference helped me further my process of searching for a full-time career. I also learned a lot of useful information from the different speakers. This conference helped me develop professionally and personally and I am grateful for that.

Sarah, an architecture/architectural engineering undergraduate, shared her experience after receiving a STEM Learning Scholarship for a virtual conference registration fee:

The virtual conference hosted keynotes, workshops, and virtual networking events, of which I enjoyed the workshops the most! My favorite was Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace, which helped me identify some communication techniques that utilize tact and professionalism while maintaining respect and empathy. I had always believed I had good communication, but this workshop made me more confident in those skills and added a few more techniques to my arsenal. There were also numerous keynotes about perseverance, tips for career success, and more. While I honestly wanted to attend for some additional architecture exposure, I ended up really enjoying the soft skill growth, and I look forward to applying what I’ve learned to my academics, job search, and eventual career. Thank you again for supporting me with the registration fee scholarship! 

STEM Learning Scholarships Impact        

Ultimately, WiSTEM seeks to endow STEM Learning Scholarships so that STEM students well into the future can enhance their learning through conferences and workshops beyond the classroom. 

"Co-curricular and extracurricular involvement both play important roles in students’ cognitive and affective development, educational effectiveness and satisfaction, as well as a sense of belonging. Moreover, these practices can help equip a diverse population with the academic and professional skills that are necessary in order to succeed in the technological workforce." (Involvement in Out-of-Class Activities Research Study: A Mixed Research Synthesis Examining Outcomes with a Focus on Engineering Students, June 2017)

STEM Learning Scholarships and student participation in conferences and workshops can positively impact persistence in STEM majors and careers and can contribute to closing the STEM gender gap by creating an inspired and diverse community of confident STEM leaders.