Alliance to Catalyze Change for Equity in STEM Success

We are increasingly aware of the benefits that come from a more diverse STEM workforce. Yet efforts to increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) scientists have so far met with limited success. Professional scientific societies have often sought to support the success and retention of individuals from URM backgrounds within their respective scientific disciplines through the efforts of diversity-focused committees to foster inclusion and facilitate their professional development. Until recently, different scientific societies pursued these efforts independently of one another.

The Alliance to Catalyze Change for Equity in STEM Success (ACCESS) brings together diversity-focused committees from five different scientific societies into a meta-organization designed to share strategies to advocate for STEM access for all.

ACCESS accomplishes this through:
- Regular meetings to share data and best practices in scientific society STEM diversity-building programs
- Dissemination of findings through peer-reviewed publications, white papers, conference presentations, and an online database
  of existing scientific society STEM diversity-building programs
- Broadening ACCESS to encompass additional societies, including those with existing diversity and inclusion programs
  and those with plans to develop such programs