In February 2017, the National Science Foundation awarded Randolph-Macon College and regional collaborators a grant to create Pathways to Science, a program for female Hispanic high school students who show promise and interest in STEM disciplines. April Marchetti, the Garnet-Lambert Professor of Chemistry, serves as the Primary Investigator for the program, along with collaborators and RMC Professors Rebecca Michelsen (chemistry), Rachele Dominguez (physics), Tricia Reagan (Spanish), and Laurie Massery (Spanish).

The grant is part of NSF’s INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science) program, one of the NSF’s developing 10 “big ideas.”  Randolph-Macon is one of 37 INCLUDES recipients and one of only two funded liberal arts and science colleges.

As part of the INCLUDES program, Massery and Dominguez, along with three RMC students, traveled to Kansas City to attend the Accelerating Data-Driven Collaboration for Large-Scale Progress conference. The purpose of the conference, held April 3-5, 2017, was to teach participants how to build collaborative models that can be used to promote data-driven decision-making in conjunction with STEM.

Research and Collaborative Modeling
Massery and Dominguez, along with Erin Bryant ’18 (behavioral neuroscience and Spanish major; biology, chemistry and psychology minor), Ali Fay ’19 (Spanish and international studies major), and Maddie Ward ’18 (biology and Spanish major) participated in roundtable discussions with academics and executives in STEM disciplines and attended presentations centered on STEM research and collaborative modeling. They also worked together to build a visual map based on the quantitative results of a survey that was distributed to Pathways to Science collaborators prior to the start of the conference.

“Between listening to speakers, engaging in roundtable conversations, and working on the Pathways to Science project, we embarked on a three-day journey of understanding the importance of the STEM field worldwide,” says Bryant. “We learned in great detail the goal of Randolph-Macon’s project, which encourages high-school Hispanic women to pursue a college education and STEM careers.”

A Focus on Storytelling
“What I found most intriguing about the conference was its focus on using storytelling to build stories around quantitative analyses, thereby connecting people to numerical data through discourse and relatable experiences, rather than—or in addition to—graphs, charts, tables and statistics,” says Massery. “I thought that the storytelling approach to data reporting was perfect for RMC students, especially those combining studies in foreign language and science, as its focus was highly interdisciplinary.”

Bryant says her biggest takeaway from the conference was discovering the importance of storytelling.

“Storytelling involves not only good verbalizing and communication skills, but also active listening,” she says. “Sometimes being a good listener means allowing the speaker to finish before responding. We practiced this at the conference, and it increased trust between the participants, professors and students. This is a lesson that can be applied to almost every situation.”

Pathways to Science Summer Camp 2017
Recruitment has begun for high-school students who will attend a Pathways to Science summer 2017 camp, held July 23-28 at RMC, where they will engage in laboratory and field experiences to explore STEM disciplines, visit regional STEM corporations and nonprofits, and interact with researchers and other professionals from companies throughout the region. Applications for participation are available at www.pathwaystoscience.com.

In addition to Randolph-Macon College, the Pathways to Science project team includes The Science Museum of Virginia; Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden; Maymont; CodeVA; the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Dominion; WestRock; and the Office of the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Students who complete the summer camp will receive a $2,500 scholarship, which will go toward the college of their choice. The camp will again be offered in summer 2018, and students who attend both camps will receive a $5,000 scholarship to the college of their choice.

“The program will give us the chance to interact with the target population and their families early on in the students’ high-school careers,” says Massery. “What I find to be one the most important outcomes of this grant, though, is that recipients will receive funding toward college. I am so delighted to be a part of this grant, not only because I have the chance to participate in a project that will contribute positively to the RMC community and surrounding areas, but also because it helps students make strong connections between science and foreign language.”