Finding Your STEM Familia: Lessons from SACNAS
- Kevin Quinteros (Iowa State University)
Abstract
Effective mentoring relationships are a critical aspect of retention and success of underrepresented students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. However, the lack of underrepresented personnel in both academia and the professional sector is a known and an ongoing dilemma in STEM fields. The Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) is an organization that is addressing these issues. SACNAS is the largest multiethnic and multidisciplinary STEM organization in the country. With a network of over 25,000 members in various scientific fields across the country, students of all ethnicities find mentorship, community, and a wide variety of opportunities to advance their careers as scientists. The Iowa State University (ISU) student SACNAS chapter has brought these benefits to campus over the last five years. ISU students in STEM have advanced their careers through regular chapter meetings, workshops, and seminars on campus, frequent communication of opportunities from the national SACNAS office, and attendance at the annual National Conference. A panel of current graduate and undergraduate students will summarize how SACNAS advanced their professional and academic careers, and how its members are changing the future demographics of STEM.