Students in the UF LGBTQ+ community can learn to combat potential discrimination in science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers tonight at 7 p.m. as part of Pride Awareness Month.
UF’s chapter of Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, Inc., will host a panel of professionals for Pride Awareness Month tonight in Little Hall, Room 223, for students to share their experiences as being LGBTQ+ in a STEM career.
oSTEM is a nonprofit society created for LGBTQ+ STEM students to network, connect with mentors and collaborate on projects.
Katelyn Smith, the organization’s president and a UF fifth-year digital arts and sciences student, said it should dispel fears about being LGBTQ+ in the workplace.
The panel will feature Wolfgang Sigmund, a UF professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, as well as representatives from the Dow Chemical Company and Accenture, a technology and outsourcing service.
Smith joined oSTEM when the chapter was founded in Spring 2013.
“This is a niche that hadn’t been filled before,” Smith, 23, said.
Smith, who identifies as a pansexual woman, made connections through oSTEM that led to an interview with Accenture.
oSTEM also offers a national conference every fall for LGBTQ+ STEM students to attend panels and workshops to develop skills for future careers, Smith said.
Rebecca Raymond, oSTEM historian and social chair, said she didn’t realize the large presence LGBTQ+ students had in the STEM field. In a career panel, the UF digital arts and science junior found that the Dow Chemical Company has a division specifically for LGBTQ+ engineering careers.
“It’s a unique situation to be an LGBT student and a STEM student,” Raymond, 20, said.
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 3/19/2015 under the headline “LGBTQ+ students on campus fight discrimination in STEM”]
