BPINNOVATE: Intersectionality in Building STEM Entrepreneurship Capacity: Rurality, Indigeneity, and Technology

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The Central New Mexico region is home to large populations of Native Americans and Hispanics traditionally underrepresented in STEM. The state also contains an abundance of STEM-focused education and research, including a transition to clean energy that will provide new jobs and three national laboratories in the region. However, no alliance directly connects New Mexico STEM majors to innovation through training in technology transfer and entrepreneurship relevant to their heritage. The proposed activities offer great potential to positively impact societally relevant outcomes, including the broader participation of women and underrepresented minorities from Native American, Hispanic and low-income populations in STEM innovation and entrepreneurship. Broadening participation by increasing the representation of underserved groups in technology innovation and entrepreneurship is critical for maintaining global competitiveness and for promoting economic development, especially in communities historically plagued by endemic poverty and rural marginality.The conceived technology career pathway proposed in this project has significant potential to spawn an increase in the success of underrepresented populations in STEM, creating a new career pipeline at the intersection of higher education and research commercialization. This project will also enable the proposed research team to create a Shared Vision and the necessary knowledge-base to address the broadening participation challenges in STEM, especially for Native Americans and rural Hispanics.This program will advance knowledge and understanding in the field of STEM education that focuses on technology innovation and entrepreneurship by adding a novel aspect to the existing large body of work seeking to broaden representation in STEM academic programs and careers. This program will focus on the development of a profile of the rural digital identity that operates within New Mexico’s underserved populations. An investigation of the role that indigeneity plays in relation to other identity categories has become increasingly urgent. The role of identity at this very complex moment in world history requires the use of intersectionality as a means of provoking a deeper understanding of the way people belong to communities and serve as change-agents within those communities. This profile will be instrumental in providing much needed context for educational and economic development programs aimed at connecting underserved communities to global markets using technological innovation as the mechanism for new models of economic prosperity.This project is jointly funded by Science of Science: Discovery, Communication, and Impact, and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.