Creating Cultures and Structures of Opportunity in STEMM Ecosystems

Dear Colleagues,

Remedying and repairing historically enduring disparities for minoritized students in science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM) fields will require higher education institutions to move toward systemic approaches that aim to fix institutions and institutional cultures that do not serve students. There are compelling new developments in emergent research on organizational and systemic approaches that can advance equitable STEMM outcomes. This Special Issue invites, therefore, research on those approaches that can generate more effective strategies to transform STEMM education to become more inclusive for all students. The aim is to provide key lessons on how to transform the science education enterprise in order for all students to be successful in science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM) fields. While recognizing the importance of diagnosing what is wrong in the enterprise, the Special Issue is more focused on highlighting what works to transform organizations and systems, enabling them to become more effective at serving all students.

We recognize that, in emphasizing a systemic approach, there are many layers and methods involved in constructing and implementing efforts to advance STEMM opportunities. Accordingly, we invite authors who employ multiple disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, including those from different social science and the STEMM fields themselves, as well as collaborators across these fields, to submit manuscripts to this Special Issue. Manuscripts that examine systemic factors at different levels – whether at the broader societal level, the university or college level, or down to the department, program, or individual level – are welcome. Moreover, manuscripts that take a systemic approach by examining how the relationships across two or more of these levels shape STEMM opportunities will be of great interest. We also invite authors to explore the roles of different stakeholders in shaping a more inclusive STEMM enterprise, including faculty, administrators, staff, students, industry professionals, non-profits, public agencies, and governmental and private-sector funders. We are particularly interested in manuscripts that address the potential to advance systemic STEMM transformations in understudied institution types—such minority-serving institutions and community colleges. Manuscripts situated in global, international, and comparative perspectives are also welcome. We encourage authors to consider the multiple and intersecting social identities of those engaged in efforts to condition the potential to expand STEMM opportunities for all students. Fundamentally, we believe that lessons can be learned from many different approaches and we are most interested in manuscripts that generate novel insights and solutions to address the pressing needs to serve and prepare current and future demographic populations to thrive in STEMM fields.

Papers may be submitted from now until 10 February 2026 as papers will be published on an ongoing basis. Please contact any of the editors with questions or ideas for submission.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Anne-Marie Nunez
Dr. Erin Doran
Prof. Dr. Felisha Herrera Villarreal
Dr. Azuri L. Gonzalez
Dr. Edwin J. Perez
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine
• interdisciplinary
• systemic approach
• organizational change
• transformation
• higher education
• minority-serving institutions and community colleges