The Big Ten Academic Alliance to Advance Women in STEM conference series was designed to build the STEM pathway for women at the Big Ten institutions, with a focus on women of color who face unique barriers and disproportionate underrepresentation. Through a partnership between Rutgers University – New Brunswick and the Big Ten Academic Alliance, the conference series established a new platform for collaboration among leaders representing the large footprint of member universities. The conference series was developed in response to calls for greater inter-institutional dialogue and exchange to address the continuing underrepresentation of women in many fields in science, technology, engineering, and math, especially the low numbers of women of color recruited into and retained in these sectors.
The first conference took place at Douglass Residential College, the women’s college at Rutgers University – New Brunswick, and spotlighted the engagement of women undergraduates. Douglass has a historic strength in expanding the representation of undergraduate women in science, engineering, and technology through its Douglass Women in in Science and Engineering (WiSE) program. Founded in 1986, Douglass WiSE serves thousands of students each year in programs for research, living-learning communities for women in computer science, engineering, and medicine, a STEM-only women’s residence hall, and corporate and alumnae mentoring.
Below is a list of our current and previous conferences:
May 22 & 23, 2023, Big10 Conference Center, Rosemont Illinois
Connect.Share.Learn: Leading through Legal & Social Change
The Big Ten Academic Alliance to Advance Women in STEM presents its annual conference focused on the support of undergraduate students. Learn about the Legal Landscape, Funding Landscape, and What is Working at Other Institutions.
Click here to view the conference website.
November 5, 2021, Virtual
Big Ten Academic Alliance Summit on Advancing Undergraduate Women in STEM: Connect. Share. Learn.: Interventions for Supporting Mental Wellness of Undergraduate Women of Color in STEM: Systems and Practical Approaches. Click here to view the conference website.
January 15, 2021, Virtual
Big Ten Academic Alliance Working Group on Advancing Undergraduate Women in STEM: Tools for Purposeful Action During and Post Pandemic: Investigating, Addressing & Imagining Strategies for Undergraduate Women in STEM. Click here to view the conference website.
June 6, 2019, New Brunswick, NJ
The Big Ten Academic Alliance Summit Series on Advancing Undergraduate Women in STEM Click here to see photos from the conference. Click here to download the summit program booklet.