March marks Women’s History Month, an annual observance that highlights the achievements and contributions of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Throughout the month, organizations across Illinois are hosting events and providing resources to encourage girls to pursue careers in these areas.
The Illinois State Museum will host a free Women’s History Month celebration on March 29, 2026. The Chicago Women in STEM Initiative is organizing the “International Women’s Day Symposium.” Resources from the National Women’s History Alliance and the National Women’s History Museum are also available for those seeking ways to honor women’s contributions in STEM.
National AI Literacy Day falls on March 27. Learning Blade offers an “Intro to AI” course designed to introduce students to artificial intelligence concepts and their real-world applications. The Discovery Partners Institute will host a workshop on AI basics for high school students that same day. According to organizers: “In this workshop, participants will learn the basic concepts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) – including what it is, how it works, and how it is applied in various fields, discover its impact on society, ethical implications, and how to critically evaluate AI usage. Applicants must be a current high school student.”
April brings the third annual CareerSpark STEAM Expo, a hands-on event aimed at sparking interest in Science, Engineering, Technology, Arts, and Mathematics among eighth-grade students.
Recent news in STEAM includes research by the Illinois Institute of Technology into using drones as mobile base stations to manage growing network bandwidth demands. As described: “As more devices are designed to connect to the internet…network service providers must figure out how to handle the bandwidth of an exponentially growing number of devices. One possible solution is to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) as base stations that can be easily deployed…to flexibly and dynamically change the network bandwidth nearby.”
The University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering has highlighted new approaches for storing hydrogen as an energy resource. Fermilab’s Dark Energy Survey collaboration has released results combining six years of data from multiple probes studying universe expansion: “The Dark Energy Survey (DES) collaboration is releasing results that…combine all six years of data from weak lensing and galaxy clustering probes…they also present their first results found by combining all four probes — baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), type-Ia supernovae, galaxy clusters, and weak gravitational lensing — as proposed at the inception of DES 25 years ago.”
Several upcoming events aim to support educators’ professional development in STEM subjects. These include symposiums by IDEA focused on social-emotional learning; workshops on mapping technology at SIUE; coding integration sessions with Code.org; monthly networking meetings for computer science teachers; education workshops about Illinois history; drone programming sessions; introductory AI training for special education teachers; fire safety experiences linking STEM with firefighting; computing application days hosted by Discovery Partners Institute; STEM fairs for Central Illinois educators; and more.
The newsletter also features stories about efforts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where professors John Clark and Hugh Swiatek are developing tools for blind or low-vision students studying architecture. Swiatek said: “Part of the reason why we don’t get more blind and low-vision students is because the curriculum and software are inaccessible…There are some career paths where you can’t be blind. I don’t think that’s true of architecture…Architecture is oculo-centric. We try to talk about other sensory conditions, but we privilege the visual in architecture education. In making architecture education accessible to someone who is blind or low vision, we’re thinking about how to rebalance that.”
Programs such as STEAM Chicago’s Exploring program have provided middle school students with workforce-oriented learning opportunities since 2015 through hands-on activities in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. Organizations like STEAM & Dream Liberation Labs offer culturally affirming programs during school hours and after school for grades 2–12.
According to IDRA’s online technical assistance package: “Educators across the country know the urgency of increasing STEM participation and performance by race and gender…This need is reflected by a dismal STEM pipeline that traces back to states’ uneven investment in high-quality STEM programs that effectively prepare girls and students of color with high-quality math and science.”
Additional resources listed include digital classroom materials from national museums and guides from educational alliances supporting public engagement with science.
The newsletter concludes with a disclaimer noting that external links provided serve educational purposes only without implying endorsement or responsibility by state agencies.
