STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE

The Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) Advocacy Institute (also known as the Science Advocacy Institute or SAi) is an incubator that provides access to research, infrastructure, mentorship, community, training, and funding to, put simply, make it easier for new scholars and social entrepreneurs to study, experiment, explore and ultimately build the next generation of programs and tools in public science engagement, science communication, and informal science learning.

Goal 1: Provide top notch support to SAi staff, residents, fellows, interns and alumni.
Metric: Number of internal programming/workshop/tools available for residents to enhance their professional and program development.
E.g., grant writing, DEI training, evaluation, data analysis, library
Metric: Availability of internal seed funding for residents to support their projects.
Metric: Number of core staff to support residents in developing their projects.
Metric: Number of grants awarded to residents that are housed at SAi.

Goal 2: Expand and promote excellence in scholarship and social entrepreneurship
Metric: Number of articles submitted and published by residents
Metric: Number of programs/tools being used by external organizations.
Metric: Event/course/workshop attendance rate and overall feedback.
Metric: Number of individuals that the resident and fellow projects engage each year.
Metric: Follow-on funding for projects launched by fellows.

Goal 3: Invest in organizational capacity and infrastructure (technology, finance, communication, fundraising, sponsorships, partnerships, consulting etc).
Metric: Number of grants submitted and awarded for core programs.
Metric: Number of individual donors.
Metric: Number of paying advising clients.
Metric: Expansion of the endowment and yearly payout
Metric: Expansion of available unrestricted funding.
Metric: Level of integration of apps to coordinate all SAi operations.

Goal 4: Broaden SAi’s exposure and voice nationally and internationally.
Metric: Number of resident invitations to present at conferences/workshops etc.
Metrics: Number of followers and views online via social media/youtube etc. .

Convening Power: Our ability to convene people continues to grow with each new staff member (research fellows, program specialists, principal investigators) we bring in. This is an important ability in that it gives us access to new ideas which we share widely with the public.

Advocacy: We routinely publish letters, reports, and perspectives in high impact journals (e.g., Science, Nature). Such publications allow to increase the exposure of our ideas around the world.

Development: We continue to develop new tools that can be used by educators across the pipeline. Our team is composed of people with expertise in podcasting, web development, and editing.

Advising: Using our collective experience in science (scientists, science communicators, etc), we serve as a resource for organizations and initiatives looking for feedback on their specific initiatives.

Our organization's approach is opposite to what most traditional incubators do. We use the fellows program as an opportunity to identify founders who can join the institute for a longer term (1-2 yrs) where they serve as resident founders. The program serves as a pipeline so to speak and most are selected to join SAi from each fellow cohort. As residents, they can apply for internal/external grants, take courses, attend seminars, collaborate with other residents, and get support from our staff to further grow their initiatives.

We get an average of 30-40 applicants each year for our fellows and summer internship programs. We currently have over 25 active members at the institute.