MTSU professor Iriarte-Gross attends ‘White House Champions of Change’ event for girls and women in STEM

MTSU chemistry Professor Judith Iriarte-Gross represented Tennessee recently at the “White House Champions of Change” in Washington, D.C.

Iriarte-Gross was invited to attend the Dec. 9 event at the White House. The event saluted efforts to recruit and retain girls and women in STEM, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“It was an honor to be invited to the event,” Iriarte-Gross said. “They (White House officials) were glad that Tennessee and the South would be represented at Champions for Change.” 

Iriarte-Gross was invited for her role as director of the GRITS Collaborative. GRITS, or Girls Raised in Tennessee Science, is a statewide organization and part of the National Girls Collaborative Project. 

In addition to GRITS and NGCP initiatives, Iriarte-Gross serves as director of the MTSU WISTEM (Women in STEM) Center. She also leads the MTSU Expanding Your Horizons (in math and science) efforts.

“We are making a difference for girls in STEM in Tennessee,” Iriarte-Gross said.

Twelve local leaders from across the U.S. were honored at the event, which is part of a weekly series recognizing “champions” — “ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things in their communities to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world,” the www.whitehouse.gov/champions website says. “The best ideas come from the American people. Everyone has a story to tell, everyone has a part to play.”

“Along with the honorees, leadership team members from the Connecticut and GRITS Girls Collaborative Projects and a number of NGCP board members participated in small group discussions and listened as each ‘Champion’ participated in panel discussions which personalized the successes and barriers to broadening participation in the sciences,” Karen Peterson, principal investigator with the NGCP, wrote in the organization’s December E-newsletter.

“These men and women, who include teachers, industry leaders, students and nonprofit leaders, have each taken great strides to reduce the barriers that drive many girls and women to turn away from high-paying, highly rewarding careers as the nation’s top innovators,” an Office of Communications at The White House news release said. 

“These ‘Champions of Change’ are community heroes, helping to build the ranks of women in the nation’s STEM workforce and ensuring that America’s science and engineering enterprise is fueled by the diverse talents of all its citizens,” said Dr. John Holden, assistant to the President for Science and Technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

“This bold work of these champions epitomizes the president’s vision of an ‘all hands on deck’ effort by government, academia, nonprofits and industry to maintain America’s leadership in STEM fields for decades to come,” Holden added.