STEM Events & Updates
Juneteenth
The Cookout
Join the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute for a day of celebration featuring free gallery tours, food trucks, live entertainment, a children’s village with hands-on STEM activities, empowerment workshops, and more! We’re better together, so come to the cookout!
Price: Free June 17, 2023 @ 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION IN MEDICINE
“Diversity and Inclusion in Medical Research matters! It’s a Life & Death Issue!”
The Southern STEM Center provides opportunities to engage minoritized communities in STEM/STEAM enrichment, policy, and leadership development. Communities of color have a long and complicated history participating in medical trials. Dr. Stone and Clinical Diversity Solutions, LLC are changing the narrative, increasing the ethical and impactful participation of communities of color in clinical trials and their impact on the creation of effective drugs and treatments within for these communities. Take the medical survey today and help eradicate health disparities in communities of color.
Price: Free
Thomas W. Cole, Jr. Fellowship Award
Innovative Leadership, Education, and Science Research
Dr. Thomas W. Cole, Jr., the founding president of Clark Atlanta University, earned his B.S. degree from Wiley College, Summa Cum Laude and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Chicago. He studied with Dr. P. E. Eaton and they were the first chemists to synthesize Cubane in 1964. The synthesis of Cubane, a highly strained cubic carbon-based molecule, was thought at one time to be impossible, much like the consolidation of Clark College and Atlanta University. However, Dr. Thomas W. Cole, Jr. achieved impossible feats throughout his administrative, academic, and scientific career.
It is with this spirit in mind that we launch the Thomas W. Cole, Jr., Ph.D. Innovative Leadership, Education and Science Research Fellowship Award, which will be awarded to a deserving student attending a Historically Black College or University (HBCU). The recipient must seek to engage in
STEM research and demonstrate outstanding leadership qualities. The award will include a summer research experience with STEM Industry and/or education partners or national research laboratories and access to an appointed STEM mentor to provide academic, social and career guidance.
Price: Free October 12, 2022 @ 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Cocktails & Conversation
About The Long Civil Rights Movement in STEM
The launch of NASA’s James Webb (JW) telescope December 25, 2021 kicked off an exciting time for space-enthusiasts. One hundred more times powerful than the Hubble Telescope, scientists hope JW will fulfill many missions. One is to look back in time, 13.7 billion years ago, to the beginnings of our universe. Another is to seek Earth-like atmospheres, capable of sustaining life.
A group of thought partners – Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, NASA, National Park Service, Birmingham Museum of Art and the Magic City Poetry Festival – saw the historic launch of the James Webb telescope as an opportunity to bring the community together around this astounding achievement and bridge the gap between the scientific and cultural implications of space exploration.
The race to space in the 1960s coincided with the civil rights movement, illuminating and ultimately challenging the laws and norms that held segregation in place. Join the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Thursday October 27 from 5-8pm for Classic STEM: Cocktails and Conversation about the Long Civil Rights Movement in STEM. Ms. Odessa Woolfolk, founding president of BCRI will bring opening remarks and Dr. Calvin Briggs (Southern Center for STEM) will moderate the panel, which will include African Americans who grew up in Birmingham and pursued careers in the sciences during the civil rights movement.
Light hors d’oeuvres and cocktails will be served and all those interested can take part in telescope and virtual reality observations on the Institute’s west patio.
Price: Free October 27, 2022 @ 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Art After 5
Stars Wars
Launch into hyperspace in this Star Wars themed Art After 5! Visit the cantina on Tatooine for a night of music, beverages, and art-making to begin your intergalactic journey.
Enjoy a stellar view from your X-Wing fighter with the exclusive, big screen release of the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope — the most powerful telescope ever launched into space. We’re partnering with the Civil Rights National Monument in Birmingham to feature the phenomenal images that study every phase of the history of our universe. Gather this important intelligence for the rebels in the interstellar fight with the Galactic Empire!
Price: Free October 28, 2022 @ 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Increasing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in STEM
The mission of the Southern Center is to provide support, guidance, and advocacy to administrators, faculty, and staff in K-12 through higher education settings, particularly, those seeking to recruit, retain, and graduate underrepresented and minoritized students pursuing STEM college and career pathways. Capacity building is our essential practice, providing intentional programmatic and leadership support. “Creating New Possibilities in STEM.”
Governor Ivey appoints Dr. Calvin Briggs to Alabama STEM Council
Governor Kay Ivey on Monday announced that she has signed Executive Order NO. 721 establishing the Alabama STEM Council. The council will advise state leadership on ways to improve STEM-related education, career awareness, and workforce development opportunities across the state.
“Alabama has continued to grow into an advanced manufacturing, aerospace engineering and cybertechnology center of excellence and as a result, the demand for qualified labor in these sectors has skyrocketed,” Governor Ivey said. “The Alabama STEM Council will play a vital role in ensuring that our state’s future leaders have the opportunity to learn STEM-based skills that will help them transition into successful career pathways upon graduation.”
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics workers…
On Thursday, October 29, 2020, our executive director, Dr. Calvin Briggs, participated in a discussion focused on “building equity through the structure,” hosted by Complete College America. Dr. Briggs discussed how education structure must be re-imagined in order to better support our students in reaching their college and career goals.
“Complete College America has been a staunch advocate for college completion among our most vulnerable communities.”
The Southern STEM Center STEM Bridge provides middle and high school students with STEM summer enrichment and research experiences.
Bridge to STEM
The Bridge to STEM provides middle and high school students opportunities to explore STEM college and career pathways and equips them with the necessary skills needed to persist and complete a STEM college and career pathways (SEE & Bridge Highlights).