Our Focus Areas and Projects

EMPOWERING YOUTH

MODEL MARS Our flagship youth project. A global simulation of future societies on Mars. Teams undertake collaborative problem solving through narrative challenges and ongoing community and commons building. New mindsets, skills, and models - STI and beyond - are then connected back to meeting sustaniable goals on Earth.

  • * Minecraft challenges for girls and youth on the built environment and community planning in partnership with the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Hackathon.

    * Integration of Futures Thinking into youth civic engagement and planning.

    * Developing project on “Extended Reality for Tactical Urbanism by Youth”.

  • *Development of youth strategy for the Biomimicry Institute.

    * Piloted the Youth Design Challenge for older elementary school age.

    *Youth Design Challenge Judging.

PUBLIC INTEREST AND GOODS

Ethics, Public Interest, Community and Civics (EPIC) Science. Connecting disparate but complementary disciplines wihtin an ecosystem to develop a theoretical framework, collective action and collaboration modalities, and content or programming with the goal of better engaging young people in EPIC science, tech and innovation at the middle and high school level.

DEEPENING ACTION ON GENDER EQUALITY

 

  • * Organizing partner of a UN expert group meeting and the Space for Women network.

    * Speaker at UNISPACE+50 and organizer of featured panel for World Space Week.

    * Participant in UNOOSA Mentor program.

    * Presenter on gendered innovations and Model Mars at UNOOSA expert meeting.

  • AI and Gender Equality: 
    * Primary contributor to two UNESCO reports on AI and Gender which influenced a global AI Ethics Framework.
    * Strategy development on gender and AI for a consulting and law firm.Equals: Member of the UN Broadband Commission Equals Digital Skills Coalition and contribution to “I’d Blush if I Could” Report. 

    Future Forecasting on Gender and STEM: UN cross-agency exploration of future foresight on issues of gender equality and STEM.

  • * If/Then Advisor for Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) women’s representation project.

    *NY Academy of Science: Global STEM Summit panelist and provided advice on Athena project.

    *ASTC / ECSITE Gender Panels: Presentations at annual meetings of American and European Science and Technology Center Associations.

    *Global Girls Collaborative Project: Quarterly newsletter on resources and topics on girls in STEM for informal STEM learning providers around the world.

  • *Examined Gendered Innovations within the space sector and AI field

Some of Our Work in Action!