Our vision to inspire and prepare 100,000 "first-in-family" minority students to go into STEM college degree programs.

1. An educational non-profit with a big vision.

2. And even though engineering careers
have one of the highest median earnings...
[Source: Federal STEM Education 5 Year Strategic Plan].
Even though STEM careers
will form the backbone of future employment in the US…
[Source: Federal STEM Education 5 Year Strategic Plan].
An aerospace engineer created Iridescent 7 years ago
because she saw a problem...

3. • Less than 20% of students choose STEM
• Just 2.2% of Hispanics and 2.7% of African Americans go into STEM,
even though they account for 40% of K-12 students
[Source: President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology].
This ultimately results in the US losing its innovative edge.
In 2010, for the second year in a row, foreign companies were awarded more U.S patents.
than U.S companies [Source: USPTO].
...there is an undersupply of scientists and engineers.

4. After a lot of trial and error, and research, and more trial and error...
Iridescent set out to educate underprivileged children to become Science, Engineering &
Technology Innovators.
So Iridescent decided to change this.

5. ● Science & Engineering
● Focused on Underprivileged Children
● Technology Entrepreneurship
● Focused on Girls
Iridescent developed two programs:
Please contact us to learn more about technovation, but for this story, we will focus
on science and engineering and Curiosity Machine.

6. 2. Curriculum Development
by Engineers & Scientists
1. Science communication
for Engineers & Scientists
5. Publishing Curriculum Online
3. Engineers teach
Families over 5 weeks
6. Training Parents to use Curriculum
7. Training Teachers &
After-school Educators
to use Curriculum
8. Engineers & Scientists
mentor Children online
4. Video Production
Curiosity Machine uniquely involves underserved children,
their parents, their teachers and mentors.

7. Develop critical thinking skills.
Develop life traits of curiosity, creativity, and persistence.
Advance toward powerful careers in science and engineering.
Curiosity Machine benefits everyone in the ecosystem.
Children
MentorsParents Teachers
Understand benefits and
accessibility of STEM
careers
Learn how to support their
children towards STEM
careers
Gain greater confidence
and sense of self-efficacy
Become more creative by
problem solving with
different groups
Become better leaders by
learning how to motivate
diverse learners
Improve their science
communication skills by
developing engaging
multi-media presentations
Learn how to use different
tools/resources to bring
engineering and mentors
into the classroom
Gain greater confidence
and sense of self-efficacy

8. ProfessionalsCollegeGrades 6 - 12preK-5
Contact Hours 10 40 40 20
Taught by Volunteer
Engineers
Volunteer
Scientists
Iridescent Staff Iridescent Staff
Organized by Parents
Teachers
After-school
Educators
Teachers
After-school
Educators
Iridescent Staff Iridescent Staff
Like school, Curiosity Machine provides a rich curriculum
that inspires and prepares a child as she grows.

9. Online Curriculum: CuriosityMachine.org

10. Our technology tools and games
provide:
● Scaffolded curricula for K-12
● Scalable assessment
● Long-term mentoring
● Digital design challenges to
supplement the hands-on
design challenges
We disseminate this curriculum through our online platforms,
free, and available to everyone.

11. So far, Iridescent has reached more than 22,000 participants
across both programs.
… and this is just a start!
In our 7 years of field-testing and optimizing our Curiosity Machine model, we have
reached 21,000 participants and trained 1,400 engineers and scientists…

12. Our model lets us scale by leveraging different stakeholders to
develop and deliver content.
Curiosity Machine Staff
(12)
Run Science
Communication Trainings
(60)
Engineers/Scientists
(600)
Parents
(300)
Students & Parents
(10,800) (5,400)
Run Partner Trainings
(60)
Teachers & Community
Partners
(780)
Design Challenges
(350)

13. We care about our impact a lot…
…so we have studied and analyzed this extensively.
NSF-funded External Evaluations show that after our programs:
● 75% of children are more persistent, less averse to challenges and understand
science better
● 90% of parents do hands-on science projects at home
We reach many participants, but do our programs have
the intended effect?

14. FUNDING
PARTNERSPROGRAMPARTNERSPRESS
The strength of our vision - and our execution - has helped us to
attract top tier partners.

15. So how will we do this?
In the next 15 years, we want to engage:
Now, we want to dramatically scale our reach.
24,000
265,000
1,300,000
...100,000
engineers and scientists
parents
underprivileged children, out of whom….
we will prepare and deliver
“first-in-family” children to pursue higher
degrees in STEM

16. by leveraging our “train the trainer” model..
15 yrs 15 yrs 15 yrs 15 yrs

17. and a slowly growing team...

18. Kevin Miklasz
PhD, Marine Biology
Assessment, Digital
Games
Amy Kim
PhD, Chemistry
Engineer & Scientist
Training
Cristiano Meira
Filmmaker
Engineer & Scientist
Videos
Andrew Collins
MA
Engineer & Scientist
Video Interviews
Veronica Cavallaro
Former Dir. of
Evaluation, Boeing CSR
COO
Sylvie Denuit
MS Aero. Engineering
Strategy & Engr.
Partnerships
Tara Chklovski
MS Aerosp.
Engineering
Founder, CEO
Mariana Meira
BA Journalism
Parent, Teacher, &
Educator Training
...with the right competencies...

19. We will hold ourselves to our mission and commitment.
It will cost us only $11,000 per child to support her for
15 years and prepare her to become a “first-in-family” going
into a STEM college degree.
ProfessionalsCollege6 - 12preK-5

20. YOU!
You will change the lives of many children and
in doing so will also be benefited.
We believe we can pull all this off, so there is really just one more
ingredient we need for success:

21. By working with us you will benefit in three ways:
Inspire Employees
● This model will bring your company’s core technologies directly to the public. In addition
the public goes through an in-depth technical product training so that it can truly
understand the value of these technologies.
● Curriculum developed through this model is made widely and freely accessible worldwide
through video and online platforms.
Create Social Impact
● Employees can use their expertise to inspire underprivileged children.
● Employees will have long-term mentoring opportunities through which they can support
underprivileged children to prepare for STEM careers.
Align with Business
● Employees gain skills of clear science communication and presentation.
● They become better leaders by learning how to motivate learners of all ages.
● They get a chance to look at their work through different perspectives - resulting in more
creative problem solving. The end experience is challenging - and life changing.
● They are publicly recognized for their contributions to the world and as powerful role
models.