Climate Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

Our overarching mission is to create more women leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) around the globe. It began when AAR co-created leadership workshops for the Boston Chapter of the Association for Women in Science in 2019. At the same time, AAR co-founded the MIT LEAdership and Professional Skills and Strategies (LEAPS) Program in the MIT School of Science. Epistimi Inc was founded as a nonprofit in 2021 to take this course outside MIT and to advance, increase, encourage the leadership of women in STEMM.
Energy is a subset of STEMM and this specific project is expanding on one 2-hour workshop for women in energy taught at the annual Women in Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Symposium. With this project, the entire MIT LEAPS curriculum of 12 workshops can be taught to women in energy in North America and the participants can become a support network.

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How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

Replaces/avoids GHGs (e.g., projects that replace sources of GHGs, such as the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, transport, or other energy uses), Reduces GHGs (e.g., projects that reduce sources of GHGs, such as through efficiency or other changes in consumption)

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Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

Our project was created to empower those traditionally underrepresented in STEMM which includes all women, and particularly women of color. Since women of color often do not have funds to pursue leadership training, our model aims to subsidize their training. Graduate students and postdocs in general cannot afford to pay either and so all of our grants and donations will pay for their training as well. The key aspect of leadership training is that it increases the self-confidence of its participants, no matter what level of self-confidence they started the training with. By choosing women in STEMM who work in the area of greenhouse gas emissions reduction, avoidance or storage, we can empower those women to become leaders and role models for younger versions of themselves. Epistimi‚ leadership training has three main goals:
1. Leading yourself which includes self-awareness, self-regulation, self-confidence, motivation, resilience, moral compass, values, creativity, empathy, biases, vision, decision making, purpose, personality and leadership style
2. Leading others which includes communication, team work, influencing, negotiating, conflict resolution, inclusion, giving credit, mentoring, coaching, network building and navigating the power landscape
3. Advancing your energy project which includes learning to ask for and receive feedback and practicing lessons learned in Goals 1 and 2.

Furthermore, it has been shown that leadership training of women is more effective when it includes a women only component which is what Epistimi provides for its participants. Once empowered, these new energy leaders can empower and teach others to be leaders.

Mission Statement:

Epistimi was founded as a nonprofit to bring the successful MIT LEAPS leadership program (founded in 2019) to STEMM grad students and professionals around the world. The founder, a chemist, has spent many years as a professor and an energy consultant. While many women‚ leadership programs exist, none are specifically designed by female scientists for female scientists. Epistimi works to close the science and engineering leadership gender gap and ensure society benefits fully from its potential female STEMM leaders. Epistimi also trains some of its participants to train others so that the number of trained STEMM women grows exponentially. We run virtual and in-person trainings globally but this project will focus on women in energy in North America. Future projects will focus on other global regions like Asia and the Middle East. We partner with industry, nonprofits and organizations who are interested in sponsoring the training of women in STEMM.

Link: Instagram:

epistimi_stemm

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