This is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded HBCU-UP Broadening Participation Research Project that aims to broaden the participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM. Researchers at NC Central University and Cynosure Consulting seek to use STEM, particularly data science, as a vehicle to address social injustices.

Situating STEM as a vehicle for highlighting social inequities and promoting social justice, is a novel approach to STEM instruction and one that has a broad appeal for many underrepresented groups in STEM - this is likely to help improve persistence and retention of underrepresented groups in STEM. Data science, an inter-disciplinary STEM field with wide-ranging applications, offers the ideal starting point for highlighting to students how STEM provides a meaningful avenue for pursuing social justice.

Through this project, we will make available a list of curated datasets on a variety of social justice topics with associated research questions. Sample code is also provided to ease the student's journey into data exploration on the social justice topic of their choice.