EAGER: The Artemis Project: Evaluation and Expansion

Brown University, Providence RI

Investigators

Abstract

Artemis is a five-week summer program in which its participants (rising ninth-grade girls) are exposed to the breadth of Computer Science. The girls learn by undertaking a range of educational and confidence-building activities. Further, the girls hear lectures from women scientists and other potential role models from academia and industry. Artemis is also a networking opportunity: the girls who participate befriend other girls their age who have an interest in the sciences. A key goal of the program is that each Artemis student should be able to picture herself as a scientist by the end of the summer. An equally important goal of Artemis is to develop the skills of the program's coordinators. Female Brown undergraduates serve as coordinators each year. While their primary responsibilities are to design a curriculum and teach Computer Science, the coordinators are also empowered to make many of the decisions that are critical to running the program. They advertise Artemis, review applications and select participants, budget the enterprise and eventually hire their own successors. Through their participation in Artemis, the coordinators develop strong leadership and entrepreneurial skills, and ultimately serve Brown's local community in their capacity as social entrepreneurs. This award supports Artemis---its past activities and two additions. First, as Artemis is in its 15th year, this project is assessing the impact of the program. The project is undertaking a longitudinal study of Artemis, using expert evaluators, to determine if Artemis girls and coordinators go on to pursue careers in the sciences at a higher rate than non-Artemis girls and coordinators. This evaluation is crucial to the long-term sustainability of Artemis, because it will enable us to discover the dimensions along which the program is successful, which will guarantee continued institutional commitment and facilitate future fundraising efforts. Second, the award is funding tentative steps to expand Artemis beyond Brown, beginning with Boston University. The Boston University Artemis program will be administered by the Learning Resource Network (LERNet), a center dedicated to promoting science, mathematics, and engineering among the pre-college population by offering a wide range of programs that engage K-12 students in STEM activities, expose them to current scientific research, and stimulate their interest in STEM disciplines.