About TAPDINTO-STEM

About TAPDINTO-STEM

TAPDINTO-STEM students taking a selfie

Our Story

The TAPDINTO-STEM Alliance was founded to empower postsecondary students with disabilities (SWD) in STEM fields.

Rooted in a commitment to dismantling barriers, the alliance’s aim is to improve academic practices and address bias and discrimination to enhance inclusion, increase persistence, and advance success of SWD. With concurrent objectives targeting degree completion, workforce entry, and collaboration across stakeholders, TAPDINTO-STEM envisions a future where every student, regardless of ability, finds a welcoming and supportive path to success.

The launch webinar for the TAPDINTO-STEM Alliance offers an overview of the project, including objectives, organizational structure, and progress, an introduction to our partners, as well an in depth look at the Bridge Mentoring Model which guides our program to support students with disabilities.

View the Launch Webinar

Our Vision

Postsecondary students with disabilities nationwide will be empowered to succeed in STEM disciplines.

Our Mission

Enhance the existing academic and social practices of institutions of higher education to produce a robust collaborative infrastructure that also addresses intersectionality, bias, and discrimination in disciplines to widen pathways for students with disabilities.

Our Purpose

Increase the persistence and graduation of students with disabilities in STEM degree programs and the rate of transition to the STEM workforce.

Coast-to-Coast and Beyond

TAPDINTO-STEM is a national collaborative effort divided into 6 regional hubs involving 35 colleges and universities in 16 states,
Washington D.C., and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Collective Impact

Through implementation of the NSF INCLUDES’s Collaborative Infrastructure model, TAPDINTO-STEM Alliance employs Collective Impact ensuring a common agenda, shared measurements, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and support of a dedicated project backbone.

TAPDINTO-STEM Collective Impact

Our Goals Can Be Attained

TAPDINTO-STEM Quote box about page

Thurston, L.P., Shuman, C., Middendorf, B. J., & Johnson, C. (2017). Postsecondary STEM Education for Students with Disabilities:
Lessons Learned from a Decade of NSF Funding. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 30(1), 49-60.

The TAPDINTO-STEM Alliance is primarily funded by NSF’s Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) Initiative, a comprehensive national initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in discoveries and innovations by focusing on diversity, inclusion, and broadening participation in STEM. The Alliance is jointly funded by the NSF Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program.

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