Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


UC Davis to Set Up 15,000 STEM Mentoring Pairs

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 04/16/19
The University of California, Davis is hoping to connect 15,000 11-year-old girls in the state to STEM education in a new pilot.

The University of California, Davis is hoping to connect 15,000 11-year-old girls in the state to STEM education in a new pilot. With an infusion of $1.1 million from the Walt Disney Company, the university's "Snap the Gap" program will recruit girls through nonprofit, after-school groups and other girl-serving organizations, industry partners and community organizations and then pair them with mentors in their local areas.

Mentors will spend 20 hours with girls over the course of numerous sessions to guide them through a structured innovation, prototyping and inventing cycle and expose them to careers in STEM by introducing them to female role models. When the one-year pilot is done, the university will evaluate its effectiveness for next steps.

According to the university, 56 percent of its science, technology, engineering and math students are female, compared to 35 percent in higher education nationwide and less than 25 percent in the workforce.

"UC Davis is strongly committed to improving this equation through hands-on STEM learning and mentoring from an early age," said Beth Broome, senior advisor to the provost, who leads the program for UC Davis, in a statement. "Research shows that individuals with mentors have improved academic, social and economic prospects -- and this becomes increasingly important as young women look to mentors and role models to help gain their confidence and increase opportunities in STEM fields."

The initiative grew out of the university's participation in Million Women Mentors-CA, of which Broome is a founding committee member. MWM-CA has pledged to increase the percentage of middle and high school girls who pursue STEM careers and boost the share of women staying in STEM careers through workforce mentoring.

Snap the Gap is also supported by littleBits, a company that produces consumer and education products tied to STEM.

Mentor applications are available through the Snap the Gap website.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • person typing on a touch screen schedule plan calendar

    DOJ Extends Deadline for ADA Title II Compliance

    Institutions working to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act Title II regulations for digital accessibility have received a temporary reprieve: The United States Department of Justice has published an interim final rule to push back the compliance deadline by one year.

  • VSLive! session

    VSLive! San Diego 2026 Puts AI at the Core of the Campus IT Stack

    For higher education IT teams working through AI pilots, ERP integrations, student-facing apps, analytics projects, and mounting security concerns, Visual Studio Live! San Diego 2026 offers a look at the development practices that are shaping the campus technology landscape.

  • woman

    AI Giants Back Nonprofit Focused on Workforce Transition

    The AI industry's biggest names are investing in more than just models and infrastructure — they're focusing on workforce readiness. OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft and Amazon are backing Raise US, a new nonprofit that aims to raise $1 billion to help American workers prepare for an AI-driven economy.

  • holographic interface of a file manager, folder structure with documents and data

    Why Universities Need to Align Data Storage with Data Value

    Institutions need to move away from a reactive habit of expanding storage and towards a more deliberate data management model based on understanding and control.