In 2024-2025, the RTG grant has supported the work of UC Berkeley PhD candidates Claire Mirocha and Robin Huang in partnering with Techbridge Girls and the Oakland-Bay Area chapter of the National Coalition for 100 Black Women. Techbridge Girls's ChangeMakers curriculum introduces girls and gender-expansive youth in grades 6 and above to STEM concepts. It centers around the engineering design process, as well as exploring real-world examples from the careers of BIPOC scientists , researchers and entrepreneurs, and we have helped lead hands-on workshops from making your own pH-appropriate shampoo to building structurally robust furniture, and more. We are implementing these STEM lessons within the context of the NCBW100's Positive Steps program, which also incorporates sessions on financial and political literacy, leadership, and public speaking.
This being only the first academic year of the RTG, we are also looking toward expanded outreach projects in the future, and hope to initiate and lead math clubs or extracurricular math meetups at middle or high schools in the Oakland Unified school district.
Contact Claire Mirocha at claire_mirocha@berkeley.edu if you'd like to join in this project, or have a current education initiative that would complement it.