FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Ashley Garcia
ARC Network
Marketing and Communications Manager
garcia@equityinstem.org
WEPAN Announces Virtual Visiting Scholars Dedicated to Researching STEM Equity
The Seventh Cohort of Researchers to Fuel Investigations for ARC Network
WASHINGTON DC, September 10, 2024 – The leading champion in North America to propel the inclusion of women in the field of engineering, the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) announces Autumn Asher BlackDeer, PhD, Kilan Ashad-Bishop, PhD, Karen Colbert, Arielle Miller, PhD, PE, and Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, PhD as Virtual Visiting Scholars (VVS) for the ADVANCE Resource and Coordination (ARC) Network.
Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE Program, Awards HRD-2121468 and HRD-1740860, the ARC Network seeks to achieve gender equity for faculty in higher education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. As the STEM equity brain trust, the ARC Network recognizes the achievements made so far while producing new perspectives, methods and interventions with an intersectional, intentional and inclusive lens. WEPAN serves as the backbone organization of the ARC Network.
The VVS program provides a unique opportunity for select scholars across disciplines to pursue research meta-analysis, synthesis, and big data curation on topics crucial to STEM faculty equity. Scholars analyze existing research and data, synthesizing different, sometimes competing, perspectives, frameworks, metrics, and outcomes to offer new insights and applications to the broader community. Past VVS have explored various topics, including funding trends, mentoring, citation practices, and networking.
ARC Network Project Director Virginia Rhodes commented on the scope of the VVS program. “Research is integral to understanding the past and the future of STEM faculty equity. Our scholars immerse themselves in exploring not only what we currently know about STEM equity in academia, but how to push the limits of that knowledge and discover new ways to contribute to the conversation. The program has a strong history of dedicated individuals working to advance gender equity for faculty, and we’re excited to welcome our seventh cohort to join that tradition.”
Dr. Autumn Asher BlackDeer is a queer anti-colonial scholar-activist from the Southern Cheyenne Nation and serves as an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver. Her scholarship illuminates the impact of structural violence on American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Dr. BlackDeer centers Indigenous voices throughout her research by using quantitative approaches and big data as tools for responsible storytelling. Dr. BlackDeer is a racial equity scholar with an emphasis on Indigenous tribal sovereignty and is deeply committed to furthering anti-colonial abolitionist work.
Dr. Kilan Ashad-Bishop is a biomedical scientist and Assistant Professor at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. Dr. Ashad-Bishop focuses her transdisciplinary research and service portfolio on the influence of social and environmental factors on cancer disparities. In 2019, she co-
founded STEMNoire, a global research and wellness community for Black women in STEM education and the workforce that provides resources for holistic wellness, collaborative networking, and personal and professional development.
Karen Colbert is the General Education Department Chair and Lead Math Faculty at Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College, a data scientist, and a PhD Candidate in Computational Science & Engineering at Michigan Technological University. As a passionate advocate for STEM equity within Tribal college communities, Colbert has been instrumental in bridging the STEM equity gap by improving quantitative and computational literacy among both students and faculty at TCUs.
Dr. Arielle Miller is a researcher at Howard University in the Community-Centered, Openness, Research, and Equity (CORE) Futures Lab conducting research on intersectional gendered equity in STEM academia. For the past 20 years, she has worked in the nuclear industry. In 2020, she co-founded the MGAM Scholarship Foundation, a non-profit and scholarship for young Black and African American cis and trans women entering college.
Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an associate professor of physics and astronomy and core faculty in women’s and gender studies at the University of New Hampshire. Her research in theoretical physics focuses on cosmology, neutron stars, and dark matter. She is also a researcher of Black feminist science, technology, and society studies.
To learn more about our past and current scholars and to read their work, visit: equityinstem.org/virtual-visiting-scholars
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About the ARC Network: Funded by the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program, Award HRD-1740860, the ARC Network seeks to achieve gender equity for faculty in higher education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. As the STEM equity brain trust, the ARC Network recognizes the achievements made so far while producing new perspectives, methods and interventions with an intersectional, intentional and inclusive lens. Learn more about the ARC Network at www.equityinstem.org and on social media using #EquityInSTEM.
About ACCESS+: The Amplifying the Alliance to Catalyze Change for Equity in STEM Success (ACCESS+) Initiative, funded by National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE Partnership grant #2017953, aspires to leverage STEM professional societies to accelerate systemic STEM culture-change to advance gender diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
About WEPAN: WEPAN is a non-profit educational organization founded in 1990. Recognized as the leading champion in North America for leveraging research and best practices to propel the inclusion of women in the field of engineering, WEPAN advocates to fully embrace diversity, equity and inclusion to meet the demands of today’s innovation and performance-driven business culture. Dedicated to advancing cultures of inclusion and diversity in engineering higher education and workplaces, WEPAN connects people, research, and practice to increase participation, retention and success of women and other under-represented groups in engineering from college to executive leadership. To learn more, visit www.wepan.org.
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