CienciaPR Programs by cienciapr

PUTTING SCIENCE IN SERVICE OF PUERTO RICO

Who We Are

A non-profit organization that galvanizes a global community of >16K scientists, students, educators and allies who understand that science can empower individuals with the knowledge, capacity, and agency to improve their lives and society.

Our Vision

A society where individuals are empowered by science to think critically, solve problems, and be agents of change in their communities.

Our Mission

To democratize science and transform science education and career training by engaging and empowering a diverse global community of scientists, students, educators and allies

Our Unique Assets

CULTURAL RELEVANCE COMMITTED EXPERTS IMPACT

We leverage our rich and diverse community to fuel solutions that democratize science, and transform science education and career training

By making science more engaging and culturally relevant, our goal is to enable people to become critical thinkers and problem solvers

Focus on evidencebased interventions to ensure we are transforming how people relate to and learn from science

Our Programs

Initiatives

Science Communication STEM Education

Community engagement, books, media collaborations

Professional Development , Leadership, Outreach

PRSPAN Seeds of Success

Yale Ciencia Academy

A udience Fo cus

General Public K - 12 STEM Experts

Ciencia Al Servicio

Fostering STEM Leaders

Our programs provide STEM experts with professional development, and science outreach and communication training, and with platforms to put those skills into practice.

Yale Ciencia Academy

www.cienciapr.org/yca

NIH-funded program that provides career development for doctoral students in biomedical and behavioral sciences. Fellows participate in virtual conversations with successful scientists; define academic and professional goals; and receive training in communication and leadership skills.

248 students

71 academic institutions

U.S. states & Puerto Rico

Yale Ciencia Academy

1 9 0 outreach projects

30,000+ people impacted

As part of the program, YCA Fellows complete guided outreach and public engagement projects, through which they practice science communication and leadership skills and impact their communities.

Projects have included articles, podcasts, op - eds, lesson plans and school visits, public lectures, career workshops and panels, and the Puerto Rico Science Policy Action Network, a science policy and advocacy initiative

In 2020, several students used their outreach projects to respond and contribute to

COVID - 19 science communication or education

Puerto Rico Science Policy Action Network

Transforming Science Education

We create culturally relevant STEM education resources and experiences to increase interest in STEM among Puerto Rican youth.

Se e ds of Suc c e s s : STEM Girl Ambassadors

Provides middle school girls throughout Puerto Rico the opportunity to experience the excitement of STEM through workshops, connect with Latina STEM mentors, and be guided to complete a STEM Ambassador project.

• 565 girls (5 cohorts)

• 294 Latina STEM Mentors

• >60K people through Ambassador projects

• Improved science identity + STEM attitudes

• 95% declare intention to continue in STEM

New Digital Resources for Girls in STEM!

Largest digital collection of Latinas in STEM Webinar series with inspiring role models

Ciencia al Servicio de Puerto Rico

To address the need for better science education, in early 2018 we created Ciencia al Servicio de Puerto Rico.

STEM Education Continuity

STEM lessons developed through our programs have been distributed to schools affected by earthquakes and digitalized for the pandemic.

We continued providing online scientist school visits throughout the pandemic and these were converted into a TV show on WIPR!

Científicos al Servicio

Our in-person and now also virtual school visits have become a movement! We match schools with Puerto Rican scientists who share the thrill of discovery and their excitement for science.

In 2022-2023 we hosted 32 online and in-person school visits, reaching more than 14,100 students from 72 municipalities, and even international students!

Ensuring Science for All

Through our website, public engagement initiatives and media collaborations, we give voice to scientific role models, make science relevant to Puerto Rican culture and realities, and provide communities the information they need to stay healthy and solve local problems.

Celebrating #CienciaBoricua

In 2011, we published ¡Ciencia Boricua! the first anthology of essays by Puerto Rican scientists for a Puerto Rican public.

Since 2006, we have published 750 scientist- written articles, through national and international media outlets.

Since December 2020, we have done >80 interviews as part of a collaboration with Radio Isla’s primetime talk show “Qué es la que hay” with a weekly segment to highlight Puerto Rican scientists and science news.

Responding to COVID-19

Since March 2020, we have published >100 COVID-19 related newspapers articles and op-eds, written by >60 science and public health experts. We also facilitated >70 local and international media interviews.

We have leveraged our culturally-relevant communications expertise and STEM experts network to develop evidence-based COVID19 prevention campaigns. We are planning on expanding this model to other topics.

Engaging with local communities

Since 2020, we have engaged marginalized communities in Puerto Rico, through Aquí Nos Cuidamos, our COVID-19 prevention and mental health multimedia campaign. To date, Aquí Nos Cuidamos has impacted more than 200,000 people in Puerto Rico alone.

In 2022, we launched CienciaCoLab, to support local leaders leverage science to create and implement sustainable projects addressing their communities’ priorities and challenges. A new book highlights the stories of community leaders and how they use science to address the needs of their people.

A Platform for Impact

CienciaPR.org is the most popular science website in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rican audiences visit our website 40% and 157% more than the most popular “Science” & “Jobs and Education” websites in the world (Google Analytics)

Reach Per Month Followers Mar. 2024 30K Virtual Impact >4.1K 40K >17K 30K 22K

35K >4.4K

22K 4.5K

CienciaPR.org

Bringing it A l l Together

Scientists

• Receive training in science communication & education

• Get a chance to give back to their community through school visits

Educators

• Get project-based learning training & tools

• Collaborate with scientists to design new lessons and bring them to their schools or community centers

• Work together to explore, propose, and implement science- based solutions for challenges they see in their communities

Communities Students

• Benefit from and support students’ STEM outreach

• Leverage science to meet their own needs and priorities

CienciaPR’s Award-Winning Record

In 2015, CienciaPR was recognized by the White House as a Bright Spot in Hispanic education.

In 2018, CienciaPR was recognized as one of five “Science Defenders” by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

In 2021, CienciaPR’s community engagement project Aquí Nos Cuidamos was named Breakthrough of the Year by Falling Walls.

Our Team

Giovanna

Guerrero Medina

Ben

Runyon

Ariadna

Rubio Lebrón

Americorps Fellow

Alondra

Caraballo Franco

Executive Director Operations Coordinator Americorps Fellow

Greetchen Díaz

Muñoz

Director, Science Education

Liz Hernández Matías

Sr. Program Manager Science Education

Elvin

Estrada García

Sr. Program Coordinator

Ciencia al Servicio

Nathaly

Villareal Rivera

Program Coordinator Seeds of Success

Dayanna Seguí Moró

Mónica

Feliú Mójer

Xavier Ortiz Torres

Andrea

López Merced

Angélica

Valdés Valderrama

Ramdwin González Otero

Director, Public Engagement with Science

Program Coordinator Public Engagement

Rita Allen Civic Science Fellow Designer In-Residence Program Coordinator For Girls in STEM

Rita Allen Civic Science Fellow

Our Interns: Larissa Cordero Campos, Isaac Correa Pagán, Jabes Hernández Matías, Daiza Orench Rivera, Natalia Ramos Rivera

Our Board of Directors

In 2017, we announced a new Board of Directors composed of leading scientists, educators, innovators and members of the community. This stellar group complements our existing expertise, and is helping us secure new sources of funding, and increase the visibility, recognition and impact of CienciaPR .