Funding from the Henry Luce Foundation will support Simmons’ efforts to advance student success, retention, and confidence in STEMM-related fields as well as a Clare Boothe Luce Professorship.
Simmons University has been awarded more than $725,000 in grant funding from the prestigious Henry Luce Foundation to support its students pursuing STEMM careers and a female faculty member in the Chemistry and Physics Department.
Two separate grants will fund scholarships for students pursuing accelerated dual-degree engineering and STEMM-related bachelor’s degrees and support a Clare Boothe Luce Professorship for female faculty member Dr. Shreya Bhattacharyya, who is also an Associate Teaching Professor in chemistry at Simmons.
“As a women-centered institution, Simmons is uniquely positioned to help students thrive and lead in a wide variety of STEMM careers,” said Dr. Bhattacharyya. “I am deeply honored to receive the Clare Boothe Luce Professorship, which is dedicated to supporting women faculty in science and engineering who are passionate about research, teaching and advancing opportunities for women in STEMM.”
The grants will also enable Simmons to launch two new STEMM enrichment programs, boosting students’ confidence, retention and success in STEMM education and preparation and addressing common barriers preventing long-term success in these fields.
Promoting Women in STEMM Fields
The Clare Boothe Luce Program is renowned for its commitment to advancing women in STEMM. Simmons offers Boston’s only women-centered undergraduate program, and 70 percent of the University’s STEMM students reside in Massachusetts — making them a vital part of the Commonwealth’s STEMM economy and workforce.
“Despite some progress, women are still significantly underrepresented in many STEMM fields — comprising only about a third of the total STEM workforce in the U.S., and even less in leadership positions,” said Dr. Paul Geisler, Dean of Simmons University’s School of Sciences and Health Professions. “The STEMM gender gap, which often forms early in a child’s education, can have lifelong consequences for students and our economy. We are honored to receive these two grants, which will support our efforts to promote women’s retention, success and belonging in these majors so that students can succeed here at Simmons, in graduate and professional schools and achieve rewarding careers in Massachusetts’ booming STEM-related economy.”
Because of the grant funding, Simmons will continue to build students’ skills, confidence and identities in STEMM majors and create more inclusive and supportive learning environments that feature mentoring, networking, and peer collaboration — particularly for female students, students of color, and first-generation students. In addition, it will allow Simmons to address specific core competencies necessary for students to succeed in these fields.
Boosting Confidence and Proficiency in Mathematics
One of the significant barriers preventing students from pursuing STEMM careers is first-year college readiness — especially in math. With this funding, Simmons will map the math skills required for various career paths, assess high school student preparation, and develop strategies that boost student confidence and proficiency. In addition, Simmons faculty will collaborate with Boston Public School faculty and administrators to design blueprints for future professional development modules that will incorporate best-practice pedagogy in math, enhancing teaching skills and demonstrating how math is integrated into other STEMM fields, such as chemistry, physics, and biology. Going forward, the faculty intends to share the blueprinted modules with Boston Public Schools for potential use in their own classrooms.
“Math continues to be a challenge for many Massachusetts students, particularly among young women, first-generation students, and other underserved populations,” added Dean Geisler. “Often, math-related anxiety, more than ability, is a barrier to interest, confidence, and success in a STEMM field. This gender gap appears well before college and can negatively impact a student’s confidence and ability to pursue higher-level STEMM coursework, research, and, ultimately, employment. Simmons’ unique women-centered focus enables us to address these gaps and prepare students to thrive in their chosen STEMM professions.”
The Henry Luce Foundation grant enhances Simmons' multi-year efforts to advance women in STEMM. This includes previous support from NASA (for STEMM retention) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) (for inclusion in sciences), along with our SURPASs summer internship program. These combined grants offered vital programming and served as the pillars of our comprehensive intention to empower women in STEMM. Although the HHMI and NASA grants were recently prematurely cancelled, the Simmons faculty are actively working to sustain their core programs to meet our goals without the resources those grants provided.