Angela Stewart Receives NSF Award to Expand Perspectives and Voices of AI Creators

Angela Stewart, Assistant Professor in DINS, has been awarded the NSF Racial Equity in STEM grant to research how to position Black girls as AI creators in out-of-school learning environments. In this work, she will be combining facilitator professional development with the introduction of novel technologies and curricula, in order to support Black girls' imagination of new AI technologies. This work is done with community partners at Assemble and Manchester Youth Development Center. These programs combine art and technology education to support Black girls' self expression. Stewart will also be working alongside colleagues Tara Nkrumah at Arizona State University and Ericka Roland at University of Texas Arlington, who specialize in culturally-responsive professional development and Black feminist approaches to education, respectively. The project, funded for more than $1 million over 5 years, will commence in October 2023. The funding is through the Racial Equity in STEM Education (EDU Racial Equity) activity. EDU Racial Equity supports research and projects that investigate "how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce," according to the NSF grant announcement.