On July 15th, 2021, ESAL had a panel of STEM educational experts, including the executive director of the SciTech Institute, a leader of CodeSciLab, a global nonprofit director of STEM education, and a Philadelphia STEM educator that fight for STEM education access throughout the U.S. Each panelist brought forth a unique perspective on how local funding, policies, and environmental factors impact students’ educational experiences.

The SciTech Institute is using its powers to enable students astute in STEM to take up leadership roles and impact communities within the state of Arizona. Since its launch, the institute's Chief Science Officer program has extended its reach to ten states and four countries outside the U.S. Learn more about the inspiration for creating SciTech and what is in store for the future.

On May 20,2021, there was a discussion between professionals centered around the intersection of equity and local civic engagement. Perspectives and personal anecdotes were shed light on to discuss how they have tackled the issue of equity in communities.

ESAL interviewed Louis Abramson, an astrophysicist and current Carnegie Fellow in Astronomy at the Carnegie Observatories. He helps tackle problems related to homelessness and food relief in Los Angeles, as an elected member of the Central Hollywood Neighborhood Council.

ESAL had the opportunity to speak with Queens Deputy Borough President Rhonda Binda, a native of Queens, who has been spearheading the endeavor to ensure the borough becomes a model smart city and remains prosperous.

Earlier this year, ESAL’s Steering Committee met to discuss how well we are addressing matters of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) in our work as well as in our organization.

Mónica Feliú Mójer hablo con ESAL sobre Aquí Nos Cuidamos, una colección gratuita de contenidos educativos, comunitarios y multimedia sobre Covid 19, cienca y salud pública creada por Ciencia Puerto Rico. El grupo de científicos produce recursos culturalmente relevantes para equipar a los puertorriqueños, y sobre todo en las comunidades marginadas, a responder ahora a la pandemia y a los desafíos en el futuro.

ESAL spoke with director Mónica Feliú Mójer about Aquí Nos Cuidamos (“Here We Take Care of Each Other”), a free collection of educational, community-centered and multimedia content related to COVID-19. Launched as a program of the nonprofit CienciaPR, the culturally relevant resources equip Puerto Ricans to respond to the pandemic and future challenges.

Promptly after his workplace closed in March 2020 as a consequence of COVID-19, neurobiologist Michael Wells took action. Read about how one tweet turned into a volunteer effort comprised of over 9,000 scientists.