BEING HUMAN IN STEM
  • About the Initiative
    • Inspiration & Mission
    • Timeline
    • Documentary
  • Amherst HSTEM Course
    • About
    • Spring 2020 Course
    • Spring 2019 Course >
      • Consolidating STEM Student Resources
      • Examining Mental Health in STEM
      • Outreach to Local Elementary Schools
    • Summer 2018 Condensed Course
    • Spring 2018 Course >
      • Expanding HSTEM Initiatives: Developing a Condensed Model for HSTEM Course
      • Developing Workshops to Foster Conversations about & Assess the State of Inclusion in STEM at Amherst College and Beyond
      • Supporting Engagement of Elementary School-Aged Children in STEM
      • About Us
    • Fall 2017 Course >
      • Expanding/Deepening HSTEM Interventions at Amherst College
      • Documenting/Archiving HSTEM Story and Artifacts
      • Engaging Stakeholders Beyond Amherst College
      • Supporting Engagement of Elementary School Aged Children in STEM
      • About Us
    • Spring 2017 Course
    • Fall 2016 Course
    • Spring 2016 Course >
      • The Interview Project
      • The Amherst Context
      • Sample Workshop Ideas
      • About Us: the Pioneers >
        • Ashley Bohan
        • Emma Ryan
        • Ruth Manzanares
        • Sheila Jaswal
        • Chelsea Nkansah-Siriboe
        • Sanyu Takirambudde
        • Louise Atadja
        • Gaby Mayer
        • Olivia Truax
        • Doyin Ariyibi
  • HOW TO HSTEM
    • Resources & Activities
    • Inclusive Curricular Resources
    • Readings >
      • Effective Practices
      • Background Reading on Inclusive STEM practices
      • Background Readings on Diversity in STEM
  • Beyond Amherst
    • Other HSTEM Courses >
      • About
    • In the News
  • Updates
  • Contact

Project Inspiration

Project Mission

The idea for this project grew out of discussions between Dr. Sheila Jaswal (Associate Professor of Chemistry at Amherst College) and her students in November 2015 during a time of momentous change on campus. The school had just spent four days participating in an intensive sit-in at Frost Library, discussing the pain and marginalization universally felt by students of color on campus. This sit-in movement, titled the Amherst Uprising, was attended by faculty and students alike. After hearing from STEM students involved in the uprising, Dr. Jaswal asked for students to share their experiences through a Google Form. She was interested in how students were experiencing Amherst's STEM classes, office hours, labs and approach to curriculum and students. Their responses were more revealing than she could have ever anticipated. Excerpted below, the voices of these students have served as the inspiration for our course.
"I have always felt a sort of "impostor syndrome" being a woman of color in STEM...It can feel disillusioning and disheartening to feel like you are up against the best and the brightest, groomed by professional parents, amazing high schools, and resources like tutors and feeling like you have nothing to show for why you are in the sphere of STEM besides your passion and interest."

Publications

Jaswal S. (2019) Being Human in STEM:Moving from Student Protest to Institutional Progress. Diversity & Democracy, 22 (1), 
21-24. Featured on the cover and in editor's note.

Bunnell, S., Lyster, M., Greenland, K., Mayer, G., Gardner, K., Leise, T., Kristensen, T., Ryan, E. D., Ampiah-Bonney, R., & Jaswal, S. S. (2021). From protest to progress through partnership with students: Being Human in STEM (HSTEM). International Journal for Students As Partners, 5(1), 26-56.
The “Being Human in STEM” initiative aims to empower students, staff and faculty to reshape their classrooms, laboratories and departments to create an inclusive and equitable STEM community that enables humans of all identities to thrive and flourish.

Anchored by the annual HSTEM course offering, the HSTEM initiative at Amherst has evolved to include hosting faculty and staff gatherings to share inclusive STEM wins, hack sessions to share ideas and resources for managing the summer internship & med school recommendation letter marathons effectively while limiting bias, working with campus partners to co-sponsor events highlighting Humans in STEM and/or bridging STEM and the Humanities, and serving as a hub connecting students, staff and faculty committed to equity in our STEM community.

Our website provides an array of resources to facilitate "Being Human in STEM" projects, ranging from an inclusive curricular practice handbook and short workshops to semester-long courses, at colleges and universities across the country.

The HSTEM network has grown to include a dozen other institutions offering "Being Human in STEM". We held our fourth annual regional HSTEM summit (traditionally Amherst, Yale and Brown) virtually in April, 2020. We were awarded an NSF i-USE grant to hold the first national Being Human in STEM conference, which has been postponed to June, 2021.

View the Nov. 19, 2020 Five years of Being Human in STEM at Amherst & Beyond Celebration during Amherst's Bicentennial Celebration.

Visit the timeline of the initiative in the early years.
© COPYRIGHT 2017. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • About the Initiative
    • Inspiration & Mission
    • Timeline
    • Documentary
  • Amherst HSTEM Course
    • About
    • Spring 2020 Course
    • Spring 2019 Course >
      • Consolidating STEM Student Resources
      • Examining Mental Health in STEM
      • Outreach to Local Elementary Schools
    • Summer 2018 Condensed Course
    • Spring 2018 Course >
      • Expanding HSTEM Initiatives: Developing a Condensed Model for HSTEM Course
      • Developing Workshops to Foster Conversations about & Assess the State of Inclusion in STEM at Amherst College and Beyond
      • Supporting Engagement of Elementary School-Aged Children in STEM
      • About Us
    • Fall 2017 Course >
      • Expanding/Deepening HSTEM Interventions at Amherst College
      • Documenting/Archiving HSTEM Story and Artifacts
      • Engaging Stakeholders Beyond Amherst College
      • Supporting Engagement of Elementary School Aged Children in STEM
      • About Us
    • Spring 2017 Course
    • Fall 2016 Course
    • Spring 2016 Course >
      • The Interview Project
      • The Amherst Context
      • Sample Workshop Ideas
      • About Us: the Pioneers >
        • Ashley Bohan
        • Emma Ryan
        • Ruth Manzanares
        • Sheila Jaswal
        • Chelsea Nkansah-Siriboe
        • Sanyu Takirambudde
        • Louise Atadja
        • Gaby Mayer
        • Olivia Truax
        • Doyin Ariyibi
  • HOW TO HSTEM
    • Resources & Activities
    • Inclusive Curricular Resources
    • Readings >
      • Effective Practices
      • Background Reading on Inclusive STEM practices
      • Background Readings on Diversity in STEM
  • Beyond Amherst
    • Other HSTEM Courses >
      • About
    • In the News
  • Updates
  • Contact