STEM ResearcHER Newsletter: Spooky October 2025

I hope everyone is having a wonderful October so far^^

Author

STEM ResearcHER Team
October 16, 2025

Bridging the gender and accessibility gap in STEM

STEM ResearcHER is a 501c3 nonprofit organization working to bridge the gender and accessibility gap in STEM research fields through speaker workshops, mentorship programs, and other community events.

HUGE UPDATE INCOMING?!

STEMStravaganza in CALIFORNIA is currently being planned so be on a look out!

STEMStravaganza in Chicago for next year is confirmed so make sure to follow us to register in time!

Upcoming Webinar Soon in Early November! Stay Tuned for Updates

AI Bootcamp Coming Up Late November! Make sure to join our Slack!

Ongoing Updates:

Want to Join STEM ResearcHER?

You can gain volunteering hours, community, and follow your passion. No experience needed, join the team as a…

  • Finance: Cold-email companies and contacts for monetary support for STEM ResearcHER events. Send invoices and work with finances

  • Ambassador: outreach STEM ResearcHER Instagram posts, events, emails, etc. within your school and other communities

  • Marketing: create Instagram posts + reels, along with TikToks and Facebook posts

  • Education: Develop curriculum, run online (and potentially on-site!) bootcamps, and mentor students

Do YOU have a STEM story you want to share?

Get in touch with the Director of PR to get your story in our newsletter!

STEM Opportunities:

Middle School:

  • Bay Area Science Festival

  • Broadcom Coding

  • 3M Young Scientist Challenge

High School:

  • Congressional App Challenge

  • Horizon Academic Research

How to be Involved:

  1. Keep up with Deadlines: For internships, competitions, and joining organizations, research and prepare materials ahead of time to be a great applicant.

  2. Start Building Experience: Even volunteering in different fields or working in them counts! Make sure to be able to connect your activities to who you are as a person.

  3. The internet is your friend: There are so many resources available on the internet, if you don’t have the resources to make things, then there’s always a way to learn digitally!

✨✨Pocket Pick Of the Month✨✨:

Struggling to concentrate or stay on task?

Introducing Forest! A time management app that allows you to stop scrolling by growing a tree while you are in a study session! You can even plant REAL trees through their partnership with Trees for the Future.

Study Playlist of the Month for YOUU🎧🎧✨ EXCEPT ITS HAS EVIL SCIENTIST VIBES

Orr…. we can just be really good scientists instead :D

Introducing… Scientific Adventures for Girls

Scientific Adventures for Girls, otherwise known as SAfG is an Oakland-based non-profit that gives free, hands-on STEM programs to TK-6th grade students. They focus specifically on girls of color from low-income communities as they work towards closing the gender gap in STEM.

27-week after-school, hands-on STEM education for TK-6th-grade girls and girl identifying youth held at 22 elementary schools in the San Francisco East Bay Area.

Leadership program in which high school girls serve as assistant teachers and mentors for our TK-6 afterschool programs to help build communication skills, leadership skills, and provide an opportunity to further engage in STEM.

Are you a organization or do you know an organization interested in being featured in our Organization Spotlight? Let us know we would love to connect!

Did you know there are people who study mutations in viruses? I would want that type of analyst in a zombie apocalypse scenario! From figuring out a pandemic or designing vaccines to figure out virus evolution, virologists are the ones in charge of making sure we DON’T have a zombie outbreak.

Who is Dr. Ana Grande-Perez?

Dr. Anna Grande-Perez is an incredible woman in STEM who specializes in virology and quasispecies theory. Her work helped explain how viruses like SARS-CoV-2 develop new variants and is affiliated with Instituto de Hortofruticultura Subtropical y Mediterránea “La Mayora” (IHSM-UMA-CSIC) in Spain.

Advice on Future Steps:

Academic Pathways:

  • Take Biology, Chemistry, and Stats/Calculus (AP if available)

  • Look into internships in Biology/Chemistry-focused

  • Consider dual enrollment in a community college

Recommended Skills to Build Up:

  • Python Coding

  • Pipetting

  • Culturing

  • Microscopes

  • Watch CrashCourse videos on Cells, DNA, and viruses

How to Get Involved:

School Level:

  • Join or start STEM Clubs with a focus on viruses & run a booth to educate about how viruses mutate and evolve

Community Level:

  • Volunteer at a local health org.

  • Join outreach bio programs

  • Attend science lectures

State Level:

  • Attend championships or science fairs

  • Internships

  • Submit articles or infographics

What You Can Do Right Now:

  1. Try a free bioinformatics simulation (ex. DNA Subway)

  2. Email a local college virology lab to ask about shadowing

  3. Design trading cards to give out at the club fair or event on different virus mutations

Additional Advice:

  1. No Resources? If there aren’t the right kind of resources available to you to engage at the level you want, look into community spaces and see how you can connect the resources you DO have to create the resource you are looking for.

  2. Stay well-rested! Make sure you are sleeping 8 hours a day so you don’t look like a zombie or worse- feel like one. 

  3. Check in on FAFSA for HS Seniors + College App Deadlines!

Reach out to us!