HerStory is Our Story: Creating a Legacy Through Engineering and Other STEM Entrepreneurship

在大多数工程学领域，有色人种女性在高等教育中的比例都很低。他们在整个工程劳动力队伍中的比例也往往偏低。美国小企业管理局过去的一份报告显示，获得STEM博士学位的女性不太可能参与创业活动，比如拥有一家企业。该项目的研究人员，包括亚利桑那州立大学科技性别平等中心和创业+创新办公室的支持，将组织为期两天半的有色人种科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)女性创业会议，分享有色人种女性可获得的不同STEM创业机会，并展示有色人种女性企业家在工程和其他STEM领域的成功。会议聚焦于三个主要方面(即创业精神、内部创业精神和隐性偏见)，将包括六次全体会议、四次以研讨会和小组对话为特色的分组会议，以及网络和指导机会。会议将为有色人种女性与会者提供重要信息，打破神话，并强调往往扼杀有色人种女性STEM创业的重要陷阱。会议的三个目标是：(A)让有色人种妇女更多地参与STEM创业经历和小企业；(B)推进创业教育和创业学生的参与；(C)改变高等教育中看待、教授和体验创业，特别是工程创业的方式。将收集和分析定性数据，以确定会议对与会者的影响，并衡量会议是否实现了预期目标。根据定性数据收集结果，将制定和传播战略，以帮助高等教育机构和STEM行业鼓励和支持有色人种妇女，特别是她们的创业努力。

Within most engineering fields of study, women of color are underrepresented in higher education. They also tend to be underrepresented throughout the engineering workforce. A past report from the U.S. Small Business Administration illustrated that female STEM PhD recipients are less likely to participate in entrepreneurial activity, such as owning a business. The project's investigators, comprising the support of the Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology and Office of Entrepreneurship + Innovation at Arizona State University, will organize a 2 1/2-day, Women of Color Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Entrepreneurship Conference to share different STEM entrepreneurial opportunities available to women of color and showcase the successes of women of color entrepreneurs in engineering and other STEM fields. Focused on three major strands (i.e., entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, and implicit bias), the conference will comprise six plenary sessions, four breakout sessions featuring seminars and group dialogues, and networking and mentorship opportunities. The conference will offer women of color attendees important information that shatter myths and highlight important pitfalls that often stifle STEM entrepreneurship among women of color. Three objectives will shape the conference: (a) increasing the participation of women of color in STEM entrepreneurial experiences and small business enterprise; (b) advancing entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial student engagement; and (c) transforming the ways that entrepreneurship, in general, and engineering entrepreneurship, in particular, are viewed, taught and experienced in higher education. Qualitative data will be collected and analyzed to determine the impact of the conference on attendees and gauge if the conference achieved the intended objectives. From the qualitative data collection findings, strategies will be developed and disseminated to help institutions of higher learning and the STEM industry with encouraging and supporting women of color, especially with their entrepreneurial endeavors.