American Association of University Women

Tech Trek

Tech Trek is a science and math camp designed to develop interest, excitement, and self-confidence in young women who will enter eighth grade the following fall. It features hands-on activities in math, science, and related fields. All housing, instructional, and recreational facilities are located on the university campus where camps are held.

Tech Savvy

Tech Savvy is a daylong STEM career conference designed to develop the interest of sixth through ninth grade girls in these fields while giving parents information on STEM, college applications, and financial aid. It is particularly difficult for girls of this age to sustain interest in these subjects. The camp is run by AAUW member and chemical and biomedical engineer Tamara Brown.

Spotlight on STEM Newsletter

Spotlight on STEM is a quarterly e-newsletter for AAUW members and supporters nationwide working to encourage girls to study STEM. It details AAUW branch activities, AAUW national policy efforts, and events, which often feature AAUW staff experts on panels or at research presentations.

Fellowships, Grants, and Awards

AAUW has a long and distinguished history of advancing educational and professional opportunities for women in the United States and around the globe. Among the world’s largest sources of funding for graduate women, AAUW has provided more than $85 million in fellowships and grants to more than 11,000 outstanding women and nonprofit organizations since 1888. AAUW’s fellowships, grants, and awards include programs that target funding for projects and advanced study related to the traditionally male-dominated STEM fields.

Campus Action Project Grants

The 2009–10 and 2010–11 Campus Action Projects provided a platform to address some of the barriers girls and women face entering and staying in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. Teams from around the country were selected to implement projects based on recommendations from AAUW’s 2010 research report Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics sheds light on the reasons behind women’s underrepresentation in STEM. Drawing on a large and diverse body of peer-reviewed research, the report presents recent evidence on the social and environmental factors contributing to the disparity between the numbers of men and women in these fields.

In 2010, the report’s recommendations were used by the Working Group on Gender, Science, and Technology — co-sponsored by UNESCO and the U.N. Division for the Advancement of Women — to create guidelines on improving the worldwide status of women through participation in science and technology fields. The recommendations were also presented at the 55th Commission on the Status of Women in 2011.