Four 1816 members flew to Pittsburgh and presented on “How to Advocate for Greater Diversity in STEM” as a part of the 5th annual Out in STEM (oSTEM) national conference. This event brought together more than 400 members, supporters and sponsors of the LGBTQ+ STEM community from across the nation, including one of our own Team 1816 alumni! We also had the opportunity to meet keynote speaker Linda P. Hudson, chairman-CEO of The Cardea Group, and retired president-CEO of BAE Systems, Inc., a longtime supporter of FIRST Robotics. Although 1816 was the only FIRST team (and high school students) at the conference, many oSTEM attendees introduced themselves to us as former members of FIRST teams.
The oSTEM conference included keynote sessions led by Maureen Erokwu, founder-CEO of Vosmap and advisor, Lesbians Who Tech, who shared her passion for photo-technology; Todd Conklin, senior advisor, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Dawn Meyerriecks, director, CIA Directorate of Science and Technology. Sessions were devoted to mentoring young women in STEM and how to network like a seasoned professional. Our combined presentation-workshop, which attracted 45 active participants, outlined the steps to advocate for change. Using examples of our Team’s work on STEM advocacy with elected officials, attendees created their own roadmaps on how they will work to advocacy for issues of importance to them.
While in Pittsburgh, we were warmly welcomed by three alumni from The Green Machine, who toured us through STEM facilities at both the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. We were also greeted by FIRST Team 3504 – Girls of Steel and graciously given the opportunity to visit the CMU Robotics Institute. Last weekend, complete with waffles and fort building, will certainly be a memorable one for our four team members who visited Pittsburgh.
Since being invited to Team 27 RUSH’s National Advocacy Conference three years ago, The Green Machine has come a long way in working with elected officials to promote STEM education and advocating for expanded after-school mentored STEM activities.