Support Female STEM Graduate Students Attend STEM Conference

In my years in higher education across the globe, my greatest satisfaction has come from mentoring young graduate students and researchers and seeing them bloom and excel in their studies and beyond. The best way to do this is to catch them young and get them interested in careers in teaching, research, and entrepreneurship for development.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, females are highly underrepresented in STEAM fields, which hinders innovation, growth, economic empowerment, and social progress. Hence, the need to increase their participation in research and innovation in Industry and Higher Education and Research Institutions from the current 20% to 35-40% in the next 5 years.

Attending conferences is important for personal and professional development as it provides opportunities to Learn, Network, and Gain Insights into the Latest Trends and Innovations in the STEM field. Most graduate students are sponsored by grants from their institutions or supervisors and since there is a paucity of grants from both sources, many STEM graduate students in Sub-Saharan Africa lack the financial resources to attend scholarly conferences.

What a sad and shameful situation!

This crowd funding project would help bridge the gap by providing opportunities for them to attend conferences, where Training, Mentorship, and Networking opportunities for young female graduate students in STEAM in Cameroon and Zimbabwe, where I have been working with enthusiastic female STEM groups over the last several years. The conference in Cameroon takes place November 27-30th and in Harare Zimbabwe in December.

$100 will provide sponsorhip (registration, lodging and dinner) for 4 students during the conferencein Cameroon and 6 students in Zimbabwe.

Please help support this initiative through personal contributions and/or spreading the message to your network of friends and potential donors.