Atlanta, GA (Dec. 18) - In its continuing effort to provide educational opportunities to a diverse group of students, STEAM Sports Foundation announced that it will create a scholarship for those who aspire to engineering careers in motorsports who have a disability. To date, the foundation has focused on diversity via minority females but is expanding its scholarship program to recognize a growingly diverse universe.
“When we began our quest for identifying a need to expand diversity within the motorsports engineering field, we began where we evidenced a void – minority females,” said the foundation’s Executive Director Bob Dickinson. “Along the way, we have come to understand and recognize that there are other marginalized groups seeking similar opportunities. Often the lack of these opportunities is simply a result of a corporation not knowing or understanding how or where to reach out to these groups. We hope to become a solution there.”
To date, STEAM Sports Foundation has provided fourteen $5,000 scholarships to female minorities who seek STEAM-related careers in automotive or motorsports engineering. In addition, it conducts two Immersion Tour weekends a year in North Carolina and Michigan for those recipients to get a behind-the-scenes look at a major automotive manufacturer’s research and technical development centers for both its consumer vehicles and its motorsports operation. The foundation is also committed to conducting more unique webinars in motorsports diversity, developing research, and providing campus workshops for diverse audiences interested in the motorsports/automotive industry.
Cheryl Thompson, Executive Director, Center of Automotive Diversity, Inclusion, and Advancement (CADIA)
“Inclusivity in motorsports and engineering is an imperative, and addressing the needs of individuals with disabilities is a crucial step forward. Programs like STEAM Sports Foundation’s scholarships are vital in creating pathways for marginalized groups to not only enter but thrive in fields where they have been historically underrepresented.”
Alan Hejl, Founder of Spark Access
"Disability inclusion in STEAM is vital for the future of engineering and design with over 27% of people in the US identifying with disabilities. Programs like STEAM Sports Foundation are vital to plant the seeds for a more accessible future in automotive and motorsports, where no perspective is more insightful than disabled innovators and engineers who get an opportunity to grow their skills in this field."
Spark Access promotes diversity inclusion with the transportation and mobility industry.
The foundation will follow the guidelines set forth by the American Disability Act as it defines disability: a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a person's ability to perform major life activities. Dickinson indicated that disabilities would focus primarily on the twenty-one categories of the 2016 RWPD Act. He acknowledged that the foundation eventually hopes to open more opportunities in categories that could include those formerly in the military and those seeking second chances via incarceration.
“Our intention from the beginning,” said Dickinson, “has been to encourage and expand opportunities for marginalized groups into an industry that is vital to the world’s transportation industry. Data has shown that input and ideas from diverse talent provides additional perspectives that result in improved bottom lines and worker satisfaction.”
STEAM Sports Foundation’s scholarship application has been updated to include those with disabilities. It can be found on the foundation’s www.steamsportsfoundation.org website. Applicants with disabilities are required to provide verification of the disability from an American Medical Association licensed physician.
About STEAM Sports Foundation
Recognizing workforce and economic development as integral parts of corporate growth, STEAM Sports Foundation collaborates with companies, educators, and sports groups to develop initiatives around science, technology, engineering, arts, and math that impact the world of sports & entertainment.
The foundation’s primary focus is on scholarships and career summits to help create tomorrow’s vibrant workforce. Its minority female scholarship program in automotive/motorsports engineering provides diversity to a transportation industry that is ever-changing via innovation and technology with individuals who traditionally did not consider these career paths simply because they saw few who looked like them in the industry.
For Information:
Bob Dickinson
770-815-0125
Comments