"How do we ensure accessibility (and) inclusivity in all its forms?" NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan posed this question during the White House Summit on STEMM Equity and Excellence, brought in collaboration by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Partners across academia, industry, foundations and government made strong commitments to creating new pathways for people who have faced significant barriers to participating in the STEMM ecosystem, including people of color, Indigenous communities, rural communities, women, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ people and more. Director Panchanathan pledged NSF's continued commitment to advancing STEM talent across all demographics across the nation. "It's the right thing to do. It's the smart thing to do." Some NSF programs forging new pathways for the advancement of STEM talent include:
- NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program (S-STEM)
- Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (ExLENT)
- National Science Foundation Research Traineeship Program (NRT)
- Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students (INTERN)
Learn more about the commitments and actions being taken across sectors to provide learners, teachers, workers and communities with greater opportunities to participate in the STEM workforce.
