New research forum to highlight work of STEM students with disabilities

Posted: 
Updated 1/10/2014: The date of the forum has changed to March 31, 2014. The new abstract submission deadline is February 15, 2014.

A new research forum highlighting the work of engineering and other STEM students with disabilities is coming to The Ohio State University on March 31, 2014. The Office of Student Life Disability Services and MOMENTUM, a student organization dedicated to increasing awareness of students with disabilities in STEM fields, are collaborating with Battelle Memorial Institute to establish the Building MOMENTUM in STEM Research Forum.  

Stephanie Volbrecht, disability services counselor at Ohio State, and Victor Johnson, program coordinator of Ohio’s STEM Ability Alliance, said the forum will bring recognition to the work of students with diversabilities as an underrepresented group in STEM majors and careers nationwide. Johnson said diversabilties is a term used because students develop diverse abilities in order to manage school, work and all other parts of their life affected by their disability.

“The inclusion of students with disabilities in STEM fields, along with other minorities and women, ensures access to the greatest wealth of talent and ideas for the innovations that serve all humanity,” Johnson said.

Battelle and Disability Services hopes the Building Momentum in STEM Research Forum will become an annual event. 

“MOMENTUM and the Building MOMENTUM in STEM research forum are designed to empower engineering students with diversabilities as academic and intellectual equals,” said founding member and incumbent president, Andee Peabody, a computer science and engineering major. “Support of these initiatives demonstrates that Ohio State wants to set the standard for the look and feel of a diversified, integrated, interdisciplinary institution.” 

Data from the National Science Foundation shows that while students with disabilities are almost as likely as students without disabilities to earn a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field, they are less likely to obtain a graduate degree in STEM and almost two times less likely to begin a career in STEM. Out of the 776 Ohio State students who received a doctorate in a STEM field in 2011, just 30 had a disability.

“The Office of Student Life Disability Services works hard to see that students reach their highest potential in the university environment,” Volbrecht said.

The forum also celebrates the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Office of Student Life Disability Services at Ohio State. 

Abstracts for the forum are due by February 15. Undergraduate and graduate students interested in submitting proposals must have a disability, but do not need to be registered with the Office of Disability Services. For more information or to submit an abstract, contact Victor Johnson at victor.johnson@osumc.edu or Stephanie Volbrecht at volbrecht.2@osu.edu


Written by Karlie Frank
 
 
Categories: ResearchStudents