Muslim Women in STEM: A PAR Project Team in SiSTEM

Presenter: Shafa Alam, Public Health Science, Global Public Health Scholars

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For my practicum project, I participated in a Participatory Action Research project here at UMD that focused on using decolonizing methodologies to prevent marginalization and explore how Muslim women maneuver/define STEM. Through this research project, we have found that overlapping western and decolonizing methodologies are challenging due to pre-existing western research methods. We have also found that underrepresented individuals pursue higher education while maintaining personal values aligned with their identity. This is important to raise awareness for underrepresented groups whilst encouraging the use of decolonizing research methods for authenticity and reduction of marginalization. Investigating educational fields and motivations will aid in interventions related to education accessibility, job accessibility, and addressing underrepresented groups.