A team of ORAU employees presented at the 2024 White House Summit on STEMM Equity and Excellence on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. The summit was co-hosted by the STEMM Opportunity Alliance (SOA) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
“It was exciting for ORAU to lead the higher education pillar of STEMM Equity and Excellence 2050, which will enable us to leverage our 158-member university consortium to help bolster this effort,” said Liv Blackmon, director of the ORAU STEM Accelerator. “This first-of-its-kind national strategy will create an equitable and inclusive educational ecosystem by 2050, which will empower progress, innovation and prosperity for all.”
The purpose of the summit was to announce a national strategy to help 20 million people from historically excluded and marginalized communities enter, contribute to, and thrive in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medical (STEMM) fields.
Pictured: Mae Mosley, ORAU director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility; Liv Blackmon, director of the ORAU STEM Accelerator; and Casey Thomas, program manager in ORAU’s Research and University Partnerships Office
Blackmon, along with Mae Mosley, ORAU director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, and Casey Thomas, program manager in ORAU’s Research and University Partnerships Office, led a session on the higher education pillar of the national strategy. This pillar focuses on creating opportunities for all in higher education, ensuring higher education programs are designed to support the talent development of all people and create systems and policies that will support the development and retention of STEMM faculty from historically excluded and marginalized populations.
The foundations, pillars and capstone of STEMM Equity and Excellence 2050 focus on accountability and partnership, engagement, inspiration, discovery, innovation, opportunity and strategic communications.
The SOA is a national effort by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), with the support from the Doris Duke Foundation (DDF), dedicated to building a STEMM ecosystem rooted in equity, inclusion, and scientific excellence. This effort brings together organizations and entities from across sectors and scientific communities that are committed to developing and advancing a national strategy for achieving shared goals for equity in STEMM.
ORAU is a member of SOA and will serve as an anchor partner, along with the University Innovation Alliance, on the national strategy’s third pillar.