The #FemStemSymposium
The #FemSTEMSymposium was co-created by Dr. Heidi R. Lewis and Dr. Andrea Bruder to illustrate how the interdisciplinary study of power and inequity necessitates pedagogical and scholarly collaboration among intellectuals in myriad fields within and outside of the academy, not just those that may be more obviously connected than others. The symposium includes free and open lectures and convergence classes co-taught by Colorado College professors across disciplines intended to help audiences better examine the crises of our times, particularly those relevant to the relationships between feminism, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
2022-2023
This year’s event, MATTER AND MEANING: Transdisciplinary Collaboration as Feminist Practice, was organized by Dr. Rushaan Kumar, Assistant Professor of Feminist & Gender Studies, and Dr. Natalie Gosnell, Assistant Professor of Physics. “MATTER AND MEANING,” a nod to Meeting the Universe Halfway by Dr. Karen Barad, entailed Dr. Gosnell and Visiting Artist Janani Balasubramanian delivering a shared talk based on their 5+ year collaboration across art, astrophysics, and the spaces between and beyond. They discussed the intentions, mechanics, and benefits of sustaining a long-term and rigorous practice of co-creation across disciplines and spoke to how their work activates many of the strategies advocated by scholars in feminist science and technology studies. Gosnell and Balasubramanian also presented a talk on their project The Gift, an immersive installation at the Colorado College Fine Arts Center.
View the event here!
2021-2022
This year, the symposium featured Natural Killer cell enthusiast Dr. Bérénice Mbiribindi Nvunabandi, Principal Scientific Researcher in Translational Oncology at Genentech and member of the #BlackInImmuno Board of Directors. After earning her Ph.D. in Infection, Inflammation, and Immunity from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, Dr. Nvunabandi also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Stanford University School of Medicine’s Transplant Immunology Lab.
Special thanks to Dr. Olivia Hatton, Associate Professor of Molecular Biology at Colorado COllege, for organizing this year’s events.
2020-2021
2019-2020
This year, the symposium featured a talk by Cynthia Chapple, Founder and Managing Director of Black Girls Do STEM (BGDS), which was created to provide middle school-aged Black girls with opportunities to learn, create, and build confidence in their abilities to become STEM professionals while they are still curious and excited to learn new things. Ms. Chapple was also a former student in Dr. Heidi R. Lewis' after school program, The Tarajia Project, for Black girls at Lafayette Jefferson High School in Lafayette, IN. In addition to giving her talk and leading a convergence class with Dr. Heidi R. Lewis' Feminist Theory students and Professor Kadari Taylor-Watson’s Black Feminist Theory students, Ms. Chapple conducted a workshop entitled “Biotechnology: DNA Extraction” for Black girls at Horizon Middle School in District 49, which included Dr. Lewis' daughter. Special thanks to Assistant Principal Elizabeth Dalzell-Wagers for her support with co-organizing the workshop.