Fostering More Women in STEM. Let’s Get Involved! 

Nvolve Newsletter Issue 4

Tracking Growth Through Individual Development Plans:
Ana Baide’s Way to Give Back

By Nadya Al-Arief

As part of Nvolve’s commitment to the growth of our scholars, creating new and more efficient ways to identify, track, and meet STEM-related goals has been a critical component of our program. One Nvolve scholar, Ana Baide, has taken this project head-on by developing I.D.P. Discover, a cloud-based individual development plan app specifically designed for undergraduate students. I.D.P. Discover is an online tool that makes the process of identifying and tracking both academic and professional STEM goals much easier. Ana is a senior at University of Maryland, College Park majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Mathematics. She was born and raised in Honduras and moved to the U.S. three years ago. She began working on I.D.P. Discover over the summer. While Nvolve’s prior I.D.P. system took the form of Excel templates, Ana developed a way to capture this information more efficiently after a series of mock-up models, wireframes, and prototypes. The app was launched in October 2022 with the Birch cohort being the first group of Nvolve scholars to test the new system.

Ana hopes that the app will allow scholars to better assess their progress and in turn empower them to thrive by achieving their goals. “It is important to understand how individual development plans work, and I think that the app will make the process easier for our scholars, which I found most rewarding,” Ana says. She encourages other scholars and women in STEM who are pursuing similar endeavors to utilize their surrounding resources, explaining that “we’ve come to a point in society where all information is condensed onto our phone or laptop, and anything … you can imagine is accessible on the internet.” She also emphasizes that lack of experience shouldn’t be a hindrance to turning ideas into reality. “Not knowing or not having the experience in something should never be a barrier to start since you can always look for resources and connect to people so easily nowadays,” comments Ana.

Her contribution to Nvolve serves as a tool to further support our scholars in attaining their goals and exemplifies the impact of experiential learning. Perhaps the message of Ana’s work is best captured in her own testimony: “It’s a matter of not having fear of what you don’t know but just trying … to find the answers as you go. You don’t have to know everything at the beginning.”

Welcome to Nvolve! Our Newest and Largest Class of Scholars

By Sherri Boyd

Nvolve is excited to welcome seventeen new scholars, making Fall’22 the largest class since its inception in 2020. These impressive college-aged women are pursuing degrees in an array of STEM fields, including computer science, engineering, biology, and health sciences. They are attending school at community colleges, such as Montgomery College and Northern Virginia Community College, and 4-year universities, such as Virginia Tech, Howard University, George Mason University, and University of Maryland. Almost 90% of the new scholars are first-generation STEM college students.

The new scholars have been busy! They formed two cohorts and are attending weekly huddles together to build pre-professional skills related to monthly themes, such as goal setting, prioritization, and time management. Each scholar has also been meeting one-on-one with her new STEM professional mentor, plus working on a team project as part of the Nvolve Science & Technology Program.

When asked about their future aspirations, it is common to hear the scholars speak about how they want to have a positive impact on society. Lloyd Bekele, a sophomore at Montgomery College, would like to apply her degree in computer science “to make technological advancements to better the world.” Her fellow cohort member, Laura Vargas, is also a Montgomery College sophomore and is interested in pursuing a degree in electrical engineering so that she is “able to use technology to help others.”

These scholars applied to the Nvolve program for a variety of reasons. Heya Albiel, a bioengineering major at University of Maryland, College Park, wants “to participate in … innovative research projects and build a network … in the STEM field.” Michaela Strizencova, a sophomore at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), was drawn to Nvolve because she wants to “start exploring and gaining practical skills in research,” while also having “the opportunity to grow other professional skills, such as leadership and team collaboration.” Another sophomore at NOVA, Phung Tran, is applying to universities for a bachelor’s degree in nursing. She hopes that Nvolve will help her to “work with the professionals in the STEM community, learn about current research directions, and work with other scholars as a team.”

We are thrilled that these amazing scholars are now part of the Nvolve program and hope to support their STEM journey in every way.

Making Matches: Pairing Mentors and Scholars at Nvolve

By Sherri Boyd

One-on-one mentoring is an essential component of the Nvolve pre-professional development program, and pairing scholars with the right mentors is the cornerstone to its success. With an eye on continuous improvement, we gathered feedback from both scholars and mentors and implemented a new pairing process for the Fall’22 semester. Each of the new Nvolve scholars was paired with a STEM professional mentor using a process which allowed her to contemplate and weigh her goals for a beneficial mentoring relationship. In addition, 100% of the mentors who completed the onboarding process were paired with a mentee.

One thing that did not change was our focus on the needs and preferences of the scholar. The theme of the first month of instructional huddles was Cultivating a Mentoring Relationship. Scholars were coached on how to establish goals for mentoring, determine criteria for selecting a mentor, and take ownership of their role in the partnership. They were encouraged to thoughtfully consider what they needed and wanted from a mentoring relationship. Based on these insights, Nvolve then carefully provided mentor recommendations for each scholar.

First, each mentor created a written profile by answering questions, such as “Why do I mentor?” and “What do I associate with success?” These profiles, along with introduction videos, LinkedIn profiles, and results of a personality assessment instrument, became the tools that each scholar used to learn about her recommended mentors. Next, the scholar was asked to quantify how closely each mentor aligned with her mentoring goals in several areas, including professional aspirations and communication style. Finally, relying heavily on this input, scholars were paired with mentors. These new mentor-mentee pairs began meeting one-on-one in September and are currently focused on setting objectives while getting to know each other. We were inspired to see how much work and effort both scholars and mentors committed to this process, and we hope to nurture and support these relationships in any way we can.

The Generosity of Giving Tuesday

By Faye O’Brien

Giving Tuesday started in 2012 as a movement to counteract the consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday by bringing the focus to giving back and building communities. The tradition of charitable giving on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving was introduced by the New York City 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation and has now grown into a global generosity movement. Its mission today is to foster a society that is “more gracious” and inspires people to work together and help each other. The mission of Giving Tuesday aligns perfectly with ours. At Nvolve we give back by supporting college women on their STEM academic journeys and build communities by coming together as STEM advocates.

Last year, our successful Giving Tuesday campaign raised over $6700 and covered semester stipends for 10 scholars. With the growth of our program, our needs are greater this year so our 2022 target is $10,000. In addition, Nvolve’s Board of Directors and Advisory Board will be matching donations raised between now and November 30 up to $10,000. We need your help to the lead the way by turning a spotlight on Nvolve’s mission and our impact in the STEM community.

Additional information about this campaign can be found here. In early November volunteers will be reaching out to you with specific details on how you can support Nvolve. We are looking forward to topping off an outstanding year with a successful Giving Tuesday campaign.