2023 Summary

If 2022 was a year of stepping stones from COVID-19, then 2023 has been a year of milestones. Building upon the successes left by last year’s Leadership Team, Women in STEM (WiSTEM) proudly expanded its reach nationwide and internationally with the dedication of its Chapters. After all, it was only with the support of its network that WiSTEM achieved remarkable success and growth across various fronts, including–though not limited to–our internal programming, external recognition, and the size of our network itself.

This year, WiSTEM also reaffirmed its commitment to the three primary pillars of Mentorship, Networking, and Outreach. New to 2023-2024 was the requirement for Chapters to hold at least one event under each of those pillars, with a host of novel organization-wide events to substantiate those efforts. Meanwhile, for our long-established programming such as the Mentorship Program, we’ve received record interest with nearly 150 mentees signed up between Waves 1 and 2. In the following impact report, we invite you to read about WiSTEM’s extraordinary year marked by successful events, expanded partnerships, increased media engagement, and significant organizational growth. We are proud of our accomplishments and look forward to sharing them as well as continuing our mission to empower women in STEM.

221

Chapters

5785

Members

33

State

19

Countries

2023-2024 Leadership Team

Without further ado, WiSTEM would like to present its 2023-2024 Global Leadership Team. Though introductions were launched earlier in September through WiSTEM’s social media channels, formal recognition is well-deserved for all the behind-the-scenes work, emails, and meetings that go into running WiSTEM. Carolyn He, a New Jersey native, served as 2023-2024 President and will continue her term through 2024-2025. This year, she strengthened and fine-tuned roles in each of WiSTEM’s four divisions: 

  • Outreach 

    • Led by Directors of Outreach Miranda Castella from El Salvador and Landri Domingue from Louisiana.

    • Composed of five Regional Outreach Directors: Nil Demirag from Florida, Ila Gowda from California, Jamie Kwon from Washington, Katelyn Sentnor from Massachusetts, and Alexis Park from Illinois.

  • Media

    • Composed of Website Manager Kaylee Inglis from New Jersey, Director of Digital Media Coco Xiao from California, and Social Media Manager Palak Mor from Georgia.

  • Partnerships

    • Composed of Director of Communications and Publicity Anna Heck from Indiana and Project Manager Aparna Ganesh from Maryland.

  • Programming

    • Composed of Director of Development Emily Khossravi from California and Director of Internal Affairs Shreya Satheesh from Pennsylvania. 

Our Network:

The 2023-2024 Leadership Team worked overtime this year to accommodate an increasing number of Chapters both domestically and internationally. Whether organizing events that appealed to member interests in both hard and soft skills or following up with Chapter Updates from all 222 Chapters (as of time of writing), our team worked efficiently to serve our growing network. In particular, our Outreach Team demonstrated remarkable flexibility in adapting to changing circumstances: a shift from onboarding to check-ins with existing chapters. Still, despite instituting an Onboarding Freeze from January to March to manage our rapid expansion, we nearly doubled our Chapter count by 150%.

Annual Programming:

Summer STEM&Buds Conference

Before transitioning into our full-blown scholastic programming, WiSTEM held a joint STEM x Civics Conference with the STEM&Buds organization. The event programming can be found here. Several of WiSTEM’s National Advisory Council members took part in this event, and incoming President Carolyn He chaired her first WiSTEM event by organizing a panel discussion with NAC members, including Nikhita Kota of Rice University, Akzhan Zhundibayeva of Ewha University, and Amanda Obidike of 500 Women Scientists. Please head to our NAC page to learn more about these NAC members and more. If you are interested in joining our NAC team, please feel free to use the Contact Us form to inquire!


FUNDAPROMAT Math Webinar

In September, WiSTEM hosted a joint math webinar with the Panama-based nonprofit, FUNDAPROMAT. After a series of planning calls held throughout the summer, the final webinar was a success–garnering 59 participants from 14 countries worldwide. WiSTEM’s guest speaker was Caroline Farkas, the creator of the educational math show Doodles and Digits which now has its own channel on PBS. The event was co-chaired by President Carolyn He, Director of Internal Affairs Shreya Satheesh, and FUNDAPROMAT’s director. 


Introduction of Coffee Chats

Starting in August, WiSTEM released new opportunities for organization-wide engagement, including the introduction of our flagship Coffee Chats, of which we held three throughout the year. Designed to be more casual events, WiSTEM’s Coffee Chats were a great platform for members to connect and socialize, while learning from guest speakers such as WiSTEM alumnae. 

Due to the success of WiSTEM’s inaugural Coffee Chats, our Leadership Team attempted to organize domestic in-person Coffee Chats, with a Leadership Team member helming in-person meet-ups in 10 major cities nationwide. Though we had gotten close to executing this in-person vision, scheduling, travel, and general logistic restrictions ultimately compelled us to hold one unified Coffee Chat over Zoom, joining our international Chapters. 

In-person meet-ups are not off the table, however, and as WiSTEM moves through incorporation to become an official 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, we are excited to see where future funding can take us. 

Get to Know Us!

In the spirit of building more connectivity into WiSTEM’s network, we held two “Get to Know Us” sessions in the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year. We were joined by Ambassadors both new and old, and spent a surprising amount of time bonding over our preferred dinner guests as we answered 36 questions to fall in love. If interested in watching wholesome discussions with WiSTEM Ambassadors and their favorite childhood memories, please see the meeting recording in the Ambassador’s Drive.

During the Get to Know Us event, we also announced our intentions to get to know our members more, too, with some very special additions to WiSTEM’s social media presence…

New Social Media Programming


Website Traction

From August to November, WiSTEM reinstated several initiatives and opportunities for members on our social media pages, including Meet a Member Monday, Holiday Programming, Merch Contest, and the Ambassador of the Month Features. To view the amazing young women highlighted by our organization, visit WiSTEM’s Instagram and LinkedIn pages. In June, we also released a compilation of WiSTEM senior decision reactions, with many of our members matriculating to prestigious institutions such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Princeton. 


These social media features were managed by our Director of Publicity and Communication, the lovely Anna Heck, as well as our dedicated Media Team of Coco Xiao, Palak Mor, and Kaylee Inglis. It has been lovely to get to know the faces behind each of our Chapters as well as the inspiring work WiSTEM is accomplishing in schools across the globe! With this increased engagement and the dedication of its media team, WiSTEM has grown its social media presence by more than 145% since last year, with 4,671 followers as of the time of writing. 

With nearly a quarter million website visits in the 2024 year alone, WiSTEM’s website has received several updates worthy of this momentous traction. As WiSTEM approaches a new phase of formal nonprofit proceedings, our website has come to more accurately reflect our vibrant, but unified community. A few new features our Website Manager has added include (1) Cubby Column, which is WiSTEM’s very-first STEM blog! Thus far, we’ve penned several articles on coding, including our inaugural Octave article, a Paper Consumption Model feature. (2) We’ve also added the Ambassador of the Month and Season features, which provide an additional spotlight, as mentioned in the above social media programming, to highlight our incredible members. Similarly, we’ve also instituted a monthly Meet a Member Monday feature on the website. Finally, we've also added (3) Chapter Starter Kit and (4) Partnership Kit aimed to provide support for new Ambassadors and prospective partners, respectively. As WiSTEM moves into official 501(c)3 status, we will be revising and restructuring our partnership tiers, and thus the Partnership Kit, as necessary. 

WiSTEM Events:

Fall Themed Drive

WiSTEM’s new event requirements for 2023-2024 meant that we also shared new event ideas for Chapters! In particular, our networking/fundraising event requirement included raising monetary contributions for WiSTEM to continue its growth of chapter resources and provide eventual financial support for chapters. Possible events we proposed included hosting bake sales, fundraising drives, or clothing swaps, and our Leadership Team got together to brainstorm seasonal drive ideas for each semester. We ultimately settled on book and food drives,  during which we collected an average of 82 books per Chapter! 


Engineering Panel

Another year, another career panel! This time, we’ve decided to focus on engineering pathways and majors–or at least, just a fraction of the many, many disciplines that play into engineering! Our guest speakers were:

  • Diana Lebed, our partner at Amazon CBRE

  • Aditi Kulkarni, a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania studying aerospace engineering

  • Ekta Singh, another graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania studying biomedical engineering

  • Terrisa Duenas, a UC Berkeley graduate and founder of ESTE Leverage

  • Emilia Szczepaniak, an MIT undergraduate studying electrical engineering


In our discussion, facilitated by Director of Internal Affairs Shreya Satheesh and President Carolyn He, we covered several significant topics ranging from conducting research as an engineering major to giving back to the community. The meeting recordings–yes plural, because our conversation was so riveting we had to have TWO 40-minute meetings–can be found as always in the Ambassador’s Drive. 


Merch Release

It’s official–we have merch…ish? After our merch design competition and the hard work of our Media Team, we officially have merch designs our members can use to order off of Custom Ink for their Chapters! So far, our Chapters have sold upwards of 50 hoodies, and if you still want to grab some merch for your Chapter, the designs are linked here.


Resume-Building Workshop

Another year, another workshop! After sending a survey to all 222 of our Chapters, the results revealed that our members wanted a resume-building workshop, so a resume-building workshop we delivered! We worked with outside sources and those who hired interns to compile a panel of speakers, including Emma, who informed the viewers about the key skills and activities to include on a resume. The workshop highlighted word choice, templates, and cover letter building as well. The workshop ended with members sharing their resume and speakers providing edits or suggestions on ways to improve them.


Movie Screenings

This year, WiSTEM has offered networking opportunities outside its traditional virtual-event holding capabilities. Namely, we’ve partnered with a range of films in bringing screening opportunities to Chapters as a fun, but educational event! Early in 2024, WiSTEM worked with Willa Films to provide Chapters with premier access screenings of ANOTHER BODY, a SXSW Special Jury Award and multi-award winning documentary. Later in the year, WiSTEM collaborated with Netflix’s new film starring Jennifer Lopez, ATLAS, to organize a virtual screening and an exclusive post-screening Q&A with Jennifer Lopez herself. This screening served as a fantastic end-of-year Chapter activity, particularly after a hectic AP season!


Mental Health Panel

In April, not coincidentally right before the chaos of a stressful final exam season, we hosted a Mental Health Panel that offered insights on mental well-being and the pre-med track alike. We were joined by WiSTEM’s alumna, Gina Bishara, who is currently pursuing her doctorate at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Department of Immunology as well as Mary Jean Vignone, Ph.D., who runs her own summit on helping women in STEM achieve corporate success. The conversation, moderated by President Carolyn He and Director of Digital Media Coco Xiao, flowed as smoothly as we could hope for, while attendees learned about balancing mental health, academics, and careers among the most high-demand careers of our future. Our panel was designed to be interactive, informative, and a bit crafty–attendees also got to learn how to create fidget toys using pony beads and pipe cleaners at home. We hope that as WiSTEM moves into 501(c)3 incorporation this summer and gains the ability to manage funds, we will be able to directly provide these materials to members in the future. 


Mass Onboarding Meetings

New to 2024 was the use of Mass Onboarding Meetings to facilitate a smoother turnover. New Ambassadors of already-existing Chapters were given the option to attend either 1 of 2 Mass Onboarding Meetings or hold an individual Onboarding meeting. A majority of new Ambassadors chose to participate in a Mass Onboarding Meeting–nearly 76%! The Mass Onboarding Meetings were a great way for new Ambassadors to get to know one another before tackling the new school year with their individual Chapters. If you are a new Chapter Ambassador and interested in brushing up on your WiSTEM knowledge before fall, feel free to revisit the meeting recording found in the Recorded Meetings folder of our Ambassador’s Drive. 


Partner Programming

WiSTEM is proud to present its two primary partnerships of 2023-2024: Amazon CBRE and FIRST Technology Challenge. Each of these organizations brought something new to WiSTEM’s table, and we are very grateful to have collaborated with each to bring new opportunities to our Chapters. 


With Amazon CBRE, select Chapters were able to organize site visits with a local CBRE office. Amazon CBRE also participated in WiSTEM’s Engineering Career Panel and shared a host of useful resources for post-university internship opportunities as graduates transition into the workforce. 


Meanwhile, FIRST has provided a number of mentors for WiSTEM’s Mentorship Program, while contributing robotics-based activities to round out WiSTEM’s brand new Ambassador Curriculum. This comprehensive, 100-page Curriculum covers engaging Chapter activities ranging from chemistry to computer sciences and can be located here. 

Media and Recognition

As a fitting end to an incredible year, WiSTEM is being recognized for its work! Though we would continue to encourage young women to pursue STEM regardless of the accolades, we’re also grateful that our amazing organization–and the members that make it up–is being given the recognition it greatly deserves! Earlier this year, Women in STEM was awarded the 2024 EDGE in Tech Award for Next-Generation Engagement by the CITRIS Institute of the University of California. We are extraordinarily grateful for this opportunity to highlight our collective efforts in fostering gender inclusivity within the STEM fields and are excited to see where this recognition may take us in the future. To watch President Carolyn He’s acceptance speech on behalf of WiSTEM, please visit WiSTEM’s LinkedIn page or visit the CITRIS Institute’s official YouTube channel to watch the awards ceremony in full. This spring, WiSTEM was a featured interview segment on Scripps “NewsLine”, a national broadcasting station with 71 million+ monthly viewers, about how WiSTEM is cultivating the next generation of women in the STEM fields. To watch the featured interview summary, check out our pinned reel on WiSTEM’s Instagram page. This reel was a huge success with over 3,400 views, 130 interactions, reaching 30% of non-followers meeting our goal of gaining more traction.

Closing…

We’re extraordinarily grateful for all the support and love Women in STEM has been given this year, but this is only the beginning. WiSTEM will, without a doubt, continue to scale and expand at extraordinary rates, even evidenced by the record-breaking number of applications we’ve received for our 2024-25 Leadership Team. As WiSTEM grows towards a stage where we’ll be leveraging finances to amplify our work, we vow to approach each new opportunity in stride. Whether that includes in-person events, fundraising, or internal scholarships (an external list can be located under the Opportunities folder in the Ambassadors drive!), we’re excited for all that 2024-2025 has to bring–and even more so because we are lucky enough to move forward together.