The ITEST Learning Resource Center at EDC hosted a convening designed to develop a theoretical framework to guide future research on youth motivation in STEM with a particular emphasis on populations most underrepresented in STEM. Two guiding questions were be the focus of the event: What is currently known about motivation in STEM for underrepresented youth? What can be done to cultivate new research around STEM motivation for underrepresented youth?

This project is a three-year, youth-based program aimed at developing and enhancing students' interest in Science and Engineering (S & E) and Information Technology (IT). The objectives are to: (1) stimulate interest in S & E among students who are currently underrepresented in S & E and IT fields through the spirit of invention; and (2) provide students with skills in IT that will enable them to conduct needs analysis, design, fabrication and evaluation of devices that meet the needs of persons with disabilities or persons who are elderly.

SRI and Girls, Inc. of Alameda County will develop a problem-based program for underserved middle-school girls. "Build IT" will serve 150 girls in three years providing each with 150 contact hours of programming. The program is designed to increase IT fluency, motivate girls to engage in IT related activities, encourage the pursuit of IT careers and increase interest in mathematics. Participants will progress through three stages: Apprentice, Journeygirl, and Specialist.

Photonics Leaders is a year-round science and information technology program for tenth and eleventh grade students from across North Carolina. The program goal is to guide and prepare minority students for success in STEM higher education programs and careers. In three years, nearly 80 underrepresented students of diverse backgrounds have participated in 300 hours of investigations and internships focused on electronics, optics, computer hardware and software at North Carolina State University and the Research Triangle Park.

This project is a collaboration among the Santa Fe Indian School, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and Pueblo Indian schools partnering to provide students, teachers, and tribal mentors with experiences using GPS/GIS, mathematical modeling and computer graphics. The work is based on a model in the Santa Fe Indian School in which curriculum is designed around problems and practices in traditional Pueblo Indian culture and life. Selected students and teachers will participate in a summer program, with coordinated follow-up sessions during the following school year.

The Ocean Institute (OI), in partnership with Scripps Institution of Oceanography (Scripps), Capistrano Valley Boys & Girls Clubs (B&GC) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), is developing "SeaTech," a multi–year, Youth–based ITEST program providing 120 female and minority middle and high school students from underserved populations with 391 contact hours of information technology (IT)–intensive oceanographic research experiences.

The program will serve up to 180 minority high school youth from the South Bronx in a project–based, design–centered program. The goals are to develop the participants' technological fluidity within the context of the local urban environment and to broaden the entry points to IT–related careers for these minority and low-income participants through exposure to IT applications in professional and creative settings (not mutually exclusive). This three–year program consists of a series of after school, semester–length modules and a summer program.

The SUCCEED Apprenticeship Program is an opportunity for students excited about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to gain the experience and expertise they will need to pursue a technology-intensive career path. The overall goal of this program is to provide students with authentic experiences in the techniques and tools of information technology with a particular focus on computational science.

XTech has developed a working prototype of a student production laboratory at the Exploratorium where middle school students have access to the tools, technology, and staff that will enable them to explore, create, and produce innovative and engaging technology-based projects. The Exploratorium partners on XTech with two community-based organizations – Aim High and First Graduate. During the intensive summer months, some XTech programming takes place at these partner organizations as well as at the Exploratorium.

American Museum of Natural History ITEST High School Science Research Program (AMNH) is a Youth-based project that targets 120 urban high school youth (grades 9-11) in IT-based research in genetics and astrophysics, using the resources of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH, public), Rockefeller University (private) and other institutions in the five boroughs of New York City. The recruitment plan targets cohort groups of 40 students per year including females and minorities with the physically challenged students as a special target population.