Our Vision

With a diverse group of partners, the STEM PUSH Network is working to create systemic change in the post-secondary admissions process by reinventing the relationship between pre-college STEM programs and higher education admissions offices.

STEM PUSH is conducting the first large, cross-program research study of the impact of pre-college STEM program (PCSP) experiences on student enrollment and student persistence in STEM in post-secondary education.

The STEM PUSH Network supports pre-college STEM programs in strengthening how they serve Black, Latina/o/e and Indigenous students and work with admissions offices to pioneer a new way for pre-college programs to carry weight in admissions processes.

Through research and collaboration, STEM PUSH will leverage the power of pre-college STEM programs and the ecosystems in which they operate to increase the number of Black, LatinX and Indigenous students in undergraduate STEM Programs.

CSUEB MESA

Our Work

The STEM PUSH Network is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) Alliance. Leading the charge, the Broadening Equity in STEM Center (BE STEM) at the University of Pittsburgh is building the first national alliance of pre-college STEM programs to increase college enrollment for Black, Latina/o/e, and Indigenous students. BE STEM was awarded $10 million from the NSF as an elite Alliance Award to conduct this work.

The goal of the Alliance is to increase the number of Black, Latina/o/e, and Indigenous students who are admitted to, matriculate and persist in post-secondary STEM.

The STEM PUSH Network seeks an alternative, evidence-based, metric for college admissions review.

PCSPs selected to partner with the STEM PUSH Network will join a networked improvement community (NIC). That NIC will use improvement science to enable the PCSPs to strengthen their programming for racially and ethnically underrepresented groups and generate effective practices for implementation. 

Why Pre-College STEM Programs? Learn More

Careers in Science (CIS)

STEM Learning Ecosystems to Advance STEM Pathways in Regional Communities

Ecosystems foster the collaboration necessary, across sectors, to make STEM pathways possible. 

The STEM Learning Ecosystem Community of Practice (SLECoP) helps to build connections between pre-college STEM programs and local higher education admissions departments and professionals, as well as facilitate conversations with other stakeholders invested in equitable STEM systems within state, regional and local communities.