Rebekah Stein
PhD ’21
Perspectives from diverse communities are severely underrepresented within science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, particularly geosciences (which are currently excluded from typical high school curricula). At University of Michigan, efforts show that the main limitation is recruitment, highlighting the importance of increasing exposure of underrepresented groups to geosciences before their undergraduate career. With the help of my advisor/PI Selena Y. Smith, I am installing a summer internship program in the University of Michigan’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences for at Ypsilanti High School, as direct research experience has been shown to increases student retention in STEM fields. In conjunction with this internship program, I will be working with Ypsilanti Community High School Earth Science teachers to design and implement in-class demonstrative activities.
Library Mentor: Alex Rivera and Monica Porter