STEM Muse

STEM Muse connects and supports students in STEM higher education and industry via networking and mentorship to patch the leaky pipeline. As PhD students at UT Austin and women in STEM, we realized that students are often isolated in their degree programs and unaware of career options outside of medicine and academia, experiencing little exposure to industry careers and few opportunities to engage meaningfully with prospective employers. To address these challenges, Sophie founded a UT organization, and within that org, with Damla, a mentorship program to provide sustained, individualized guidance for undergrad and grad students in STEM fields at UT and opportunities for them to explore industry careers. The program blossomed to serve over 1000 participants (students of any gender, with a focus on women) in 2023. Inspired by success stories including mentees landing jobs & internships, STEM Muse was launched to extend our impact & scale beyond UT. The program allowed me to spen...