Critical & Creative Design Thinking Program

I AM STEM Symposium

I AM STEM Symposium: September 9, 2024

Registering to earn continuing education units or professional development credits will also be an option. More information about that option will be posted soon.

Register Now

Virtual: $99 

This is a friendly conversation/co-learning experience for anyone interested.

Who Should Attend:  Faculty, students, industry leaders, organizational leaders and advocates, people who experience disabilities and/or their allies, and anyone interested in thinking about transformational success

The Critical & Creative Design Thinking Program of the University of South Florida, in collaboration with the Fram Chair in Applied Critical Thinking of Rochester Institute of Technology, is thrilled to announce the inaugural Inclusive Accessibility Movement in STEM (I AM STEM): Transformative Thinking for Action Symposium. This series of gatherings will promote and embed a network aimed at designing, improving, and sharing best practices for Transformative thinking in action for STEM inclusion.  

We are excited to offer a very unique symposium format. Attendees will be engaged in collaborative discussions and design sessions after listening to presentations by academic and industry speakers. 

We anticipate this symposium to be the first as many. This year’s theme is Sustainability. In future years, themes will evolve to reflect current global challenges.

More details to come as we announce speakers and more! 

Agenda

Registration Opens	7:30am - 8:00am
Welcome & Overview of the Day	8:00am - 8:30am
Intro: The Mission and Vision of I AM STEM Lead by Drs. Helene Robinson & Karen Ramlackhan A brief overview of Ableism and Accessibility and a deep dive into how Critical & Creative Design Thinking and Universal Design Learning can help us create innovative solutions in STEM.	8:30am - 9:15am
Accessibility Challenges in Early STEM Ecosystems A panel discussion which explores the challenges faced in early STEM ecosystems, including first year in college, internships, onboarding and early career in STEM industries and how to build reciprocal networks.	9:15am - 10:15am
Fireside Chat Discussions:  Exploring Solutions for Accessibility Impacting Human Health Attendees will have the opportunity to listen to a conversation with an Industry Leader and a symposium committee faculty member discussing challenges and solutions in accessibility.	10:30am - 11:30am
Roundtable Discussion: Interactive Dialogue between Industry and Academia  Identify industry needs and explore how early STEM career preparation in academia can address accessibility challenges that STEM professionals will face in internships, onboarding and early career development. Attendees will have the option to explore the importance of empathy data collection in designing solutions for accessibility.	11:30am - 12:30pm
Break for Lunch	12:30pm - 1:00pm
Speed Dating Networking Session	1:00pm - 2:00pm
Brainstorming Session: Putting Ideas into Action Apply the Critical and Creative Design Thinking process (CCDT) or the Applied Critical Thinking process (ACT) to design I AM STEM early ecosystems that will address: Goals from an individual, procedural, and systemic level. Consider stakeholders and what they need to understand and implement the idea. Challenges that may be presented during implementation	2:15pm - 3:15pm
Closing Session Attendees will present and discuss their action plans.	4:15 - 5:00pm

Attendees can join us in-person, at the University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee Campus, or virtually. If you plan to join virtually, we will be hosting facilitated virtual breakout sessions so you can join in on the collaboration and idea generation. Please note: If you plan to join us virtually, from 8:00am to 10:15am, the symposium will be available as a livestream, where you’ll be welcome to ask questions. From 10:30am onward, virtual attendees will collaborate with other virtual attendees is facilitated break out sessions.