Spelman College’s Center of Excellence for Minority Women in STEM (COE-MWS) hosted its inaugural Black Women in STEM Summit, where they showcased a prototype of the Black Women in STEM Data Hub – a trove of comprehensive data about Black Women in STEM.
Throughout the summit, attendees participated in panel discussions, breakout sessions and networking opportunities to foster collaboration among Black women in STEM. The event began with a compelling keynote address from Dr. Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe, founder and president of the Women’s Institute for Science, Equity, and Race. Dr. Sharpe emphasized the important elements of a 21st century data hub. Dozens of industry leaders, faculty researchers and scholars harnessed their collective expertise to contribute to the evolution of the Black Women in STEM Data Hub.
Funded by Google’s charitable arm Google.org, and steered by the Center of Excellence, the virtual data hub will serve as a vital resource for promoting systemic change and equity in STEM fields and will help promote the contributions of Black women in STEM.
“At Spelman, we believe in the transformative power of STEM. We recognize that the challenges we face require bold thinking and collaborative effort,” said Spelman Provost Dr. Pamela Scott-Johnson, C’82. “We’re an institution focused on training and developing Black women, and this helps us add in that next layer of depth to our work.”
While it is not yet available to the public, the COE Steering Committee unveiled a beta version of the interactive data dashboard to participants from all over the region during the summit. In the future, Spelman plans to expand the capabilities of the comprehensive data hub to potentially include artificial intelligence that will assist with searching and populating relevant statistics about Black women in STEM from Spelman’s archives as well as other external sources. Spelman also plans to partner with other institutions to develop similar hubs for data on Latina and Indigenous women in STEM.
“This inaugural Black Women in STEM Summit reflects the power of collaboration and the impact of community. The work that we do to fulfill COE’s mission to equip, empower and elevate women of color, particularly Black women, is a collaborative effort,” said Dr. Tasha Inniss, vice provost for research at Spelman and the executive director of the Center. “From the leadership of the COE Steering Committee co-chairs Dr. Leyte Winfield and Dr. Tinaz Pavri to the students we serve, we always endeavor to be an exemplar for the nation. Bringing together scholars and thought leaders to brainstorm the evolution of the Black Women in STEM virtual data hub brings us one step closer to the vision.”