Ciara Sivels had her heart set on becoming a pastry chef and attending culinary school after graduation, until her high school chemistry teacher encouraged her to pursue chemical engineering after realizing how good she was at the subject.
鈥淚 was like, 鈥楴o, I don鈥檛 even know what that is. I鈥檓 going to culinary school. I have no interest in that,鈥欌�� Sivels said. Still, her chemistry teacher asked her to try the Advanced Placement chemistry class.
Sivels found that she liked chemistry and the idea of 鈥渁toms and elements and putting them together and making something new.鈥� She connected it back to cooking and baking, because there鈥檚 a similar process of 鈥渢aking all these different ingredients and coming up with something delicious.鈥�
After high school, Sivels attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where a mentor steered her toward nuclear engineering. She got her Bachelor鈥檚 Degree in nuclear science and engineering at MIT, earned her Master鈥檚 Degree in nuclear engineering at the University of Michigan, and then became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering at Michigan.
鈥淭hose little nuggets of wisdom that people had or [teachers and mentors] taking the time to listen and hear what I鈥檓 interested in changed my trajectory,鈥� Sivels said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how I ended up where I am today.鈥�
Sivels was one of the panelists at the Feb. 21 webinar about how to encourage diversity in science, technology, engineering, and math industries. The webinar also featured former NASA astronaut and electrical engineer Joan Higginbotham, who was the third Black woman to go into space.
STEM occupations are projected to grow by almost 11 percent by 2031, . And while there鈥檚 a high share of women in science-related healthcare jobs, they continue to be underrepresented in engineering, computer science, and physical science jobs.
Higginbotham, who mentors some high school and college students, said they鈥檒l ask her questions about 鈥渉ow to handle being the only woman of color in the room鈥� or 鈥渉ow to handle people thinking they鈥檙e only in the room because of a diversity initiative.鈥�
鈥淚t breaks my heart, because 30 years later, after I dealt with that kind of nonsense, the students today are still dealing with that nonsense,鈥� she said.
To encourage more students of color, especially girls, to go into STEM careers, Sivels and Higginbotham said it鈥檚 important to expose students to those careers as early as possible and to make those subjects fun and relevant to their everyday lives.
For students who are interested in STEM careers, Higginbotham鈥檚 advice is to 鈥渟tudy hard and believe in themselves.鈥�
Setbacks will happen, but 鈥渄on鈥檛 let that hold you back,鈥� Higginbotham said.
Sivels鈥檚 advice is for students 鈥渢o learn to have confidence鈥� by working on their hard skills, or job-specific knowledge, and to 鈥渟it in that confidence.鈥�
It鈥檚 also important that students have a good support system. A 2022 Girls Who Code and Logitech survey found that parents and teachers are influential in determining whether girls will pursue a career in STEM. In Sivels鈥� and Higginbotham鈥檚 journeys, their support systems have been instrumental in their success.
Changing a student鈥檚 life 鈥榡ust by one little comment or suggestion鈥�
Their advice to educators is to continue to listen, guide, and advocate for their students.
鈥淭here is a level of effort that goes into really understanding your students, but you just really never know the life that you can change just by one little comment or suggestion,鈥� Sivels said.
For Higginbotham, her STEM teachers鈥� passion for the subjects 鈥渓eft an impression鈥� on her, so her advice is for teachers to be 鈥渁uthentic鈥� and know that students are paying attention to what they鈥檙e doing.
鈥淚t may take 20 years for them to realize it, but it will make an impression,鈥� she said.
