STEM Rural Outreach Program
Recently, a friend and mentor (Victor Brown of the BBA) approached me with an idea: to create a program designed to increase awareness and involvement for women and minorities in STEM disciplines within rural areas. There are currently a number of programs targeting local urban areas in our state, such as Birmingham and Montgomery, but there are few, if any, that I know of that target specifically suburban or rural areas outside of the cities in our state. From my own experience, I have seen that there are a number of women who enter as STEM majors at the undergraduate level (at Montevallo, I believe we may have even outnumbered our male peers), but a number never finish, and few go on to pursue their Master's or a PhD. I believe one of the major obstacles that women face in upper level STEM disciplines is the ability to find that work/life balance as we age. To obtain a Masters or PhD in science would mean that our option to be a stay at home mom is pretty much out the window and chances are more often than not that women may feel discouraged in continuing their education and believe that they would have to choose between a career in science or a family. However, I would like to be an example of how that is not true. I am a wife to a wonderfully supportive husband, I am a mom to a beautiful little boy (whom I had while in graduate school finishing up my dissertation), and currently am a Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Birmingham-Southern College, and the Director of Research for my startup company (Blondin Bioscience). I would love to be this example for future women in science, that (although it’s no walk in the park) you can follow your dream career in science, have a family and be an active and attentive member of that family.
With this program, we will go to local primary and secondary schools within the rural areas surrounding Birmingham, such as Shelby County, and establish a network of mentors and projects in which minorities and women can find assistance and guidance when considering their futures in science, much like the Big Brothers Big Sisters program except related specifically to science. We will also strive to increase the rural community involvement of science related camps, organizations, and businesses in order to reach more students that may be interested in STEM related fields.
If you are an school, business, or organization that would like to be a part of this program, a colleague who would like to help, or a student who would like to know how to get started, please contact me:
With this program, we will go to local primary and secondary schools within the rural areas surrounding Birmingham, such as Shelby County, and establish a network of mentors and projects in which minorities and women can find assistance and guidance when considering their futures in science, much like the Big Brothers Big Sisters program except related specifically to science. We will also strive to increase the rural community involvement of science related camps, organizations, and businesses in order to reach more students that may be interested in STEM related fields.
If you are an school, business, or organization that would like to be a part of this program, a colleague who would like to help, or a student who would like to know how to get started, please contact me: