STEMwise Connections was born out of over 25 years of STEM work with companies, non-profits, colleges and schools by founder, Tricia Berry. Launching quietly in August 2023, the company will support STEM connections throughout the STEM ecosystem. Founded during a time when diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts are under attack in Texas and across the country, the company will continue work to advance DEI in STEM educational and career pathways.

Why STEMwise Connections?

  • STEM: STEM is at the core – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics….and all the education, skills, careers, and networks that go with STEM from art to communications to entrepreneurship to medicine and more. STEM is everywhere!
  • WISE: Wise decisions, wise strategies, wise goals, wise DEI efforts. Being wise creates greater impact. Being wise (like the owl in our logo) means being strategic and working efficiently, using connections and collaborations to maximize progress.
  • CONNECTIONS: STEM is about connectedness between disciplines, industries, people and products to create the solutions to our world’s greatest challenges and products and processes that make our world a better place. Connecting to resources, effective practices, existing systems and solutions, and each other speeds up our progress and helps us maximize impact without unnecessarily duplicating efforts or wasting time.

Why the Owl for the logo?

STEMwise Connections Logo - Brown owl with words STEMwise Connections sitting on top of green leaf with connector lines throughout

There was an owl liv’d in an oak
The more he heard, the less he spoke
The less he spoke, the more he heard.
O, if men were all like that wise bird.

 I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 403.

The owl is a symbol for wisdom and in some cultures are considered eternal teachers. The owl can symbolize courage and drivers of change. The owl can also symbolize leaping forward and represent truth, understanding and patience.

What better symbol for a company being born during a time of adversity (attacks on advancing DEI in STEM and other spaces) that strives to courageously create and advance strong & wise connections and drive organizations and individuals forward in their pursuits. STEMwise Connections, as the old poem implies, is about listening, learning, paying attention, and connecting to help organizations create wise and strategic decisions, programs and processes.

And don’t miss the connector lines and nodes throughout the leaf the owl sits on! It’s all about connections!

Unknown's avatar

Published by Tricia Berry (she/hers)

Tricia Berry is closing the STEM gender gap by creating an inspired and diverse community of confident STEM leaders as Executive Director of Women in STEM (WiSTEM) at The University of Texas at Austin. She concurrently supports the Texas Girls Collaborative Project, leading dissemination of effective, equitable, and inclusive STEM education practices while fostering networks and collaborations across Texas in coordination with the National Girls Collaborative Project. Through both roles, she connects and supports organizations and individuals working to advance gender equity in STEM fields across Texas and beyond. Tricia serves in an advisory or leadership capacity for various STEM or equity-focused campus, community and school organizations including the UT Austin K12 STEM Collaborative, Greater Austin STEM Ecosystem, and the DiscoverE Messages Matter Advisory Group. Previously Tricia served for 20 years as Director for the Women in Engineering Program at The University of Texas at Austin, cofounded and led the career consulting company 825 Basics, and worked as a Product Development Engineer at The Dow Chemical Company. In her “outside of STEM” work, Tricia is the co-author of You Can’t Eat Your Degree: Combine Your Passions and Philosophies to Create the Story of Your Future and Exceeds Expectations: Take Control of Your Performance Review. She is a hobbyist gardener, novice bird watcher, amateur nature photographer, and avid reader. Tricia holds a BS Chemical Engineering degree and an MBA, is the mom of 2 chemical engineering college students, and is the wife of another chemical engineer.

Leave a comment