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Laura Sánchez Fernández

Female STEAM Leadership: Scientific Rigor and Creativity in Action

Bio

Laura Sánchez Fernández, is Spanish and passionate about mathematics, education, technology, and science, with extensive experience in the STEM world. Degree in Mathematics from Spain, a Master's Degree in Statistics from Chile, and a recent Master's Degree in Machine Learning from MILA, Canada.

My professional career has been developed, over almost 20 years between university and high school teaching, mathematics and statistics, mathematics training for primary and secondary teachers, and creation of mathematics educational books for students with high abilities in primary school in Editorial Santillana (Chile), as well as mathematics courses for gifted students in primary school. I developed educational projects of mathematics leveling for high school and university students, statistical consulting and I have been and am an entrepreneur in EdTech.

Since 2019, I have been shaping and validating my latest project, Civita Laurea, thanks to participating in project incubators such as Datapreneur at the Polytechnic University of Montreal, the District3 Validation and Launch and Grow programs at Concordia University, or the Digital Project Acceleration program, Digitech at CEIN, Navarra (Spain).
I am currently developing a personal brand that brings together personalized math classes, educational math content on Instagram and YouTube, an educational podcast in Spanish aimed at teachers, where education is discussed from the perspective of teaching experiences in Spanish-speaking countries, and the creation of an educational platform of personalized character and teaching thanks to the implementation of AI.

As an active advocate for gender equality and the need for diversity and focus on social impact within the STEM world, I was an intern at AI4Good Lab in the summer of 2019 and participated as a volunteer in the organization at the annual AI in Social Impact conference, where also in the online 2020 version, I was able to present my vision in Education, talking about my future educational platform, Civita Laurea.

I strongly believe in the importance of fostering diversity and inclusion in the EdTech world and I am dedicated and focused on being a reference of perseverance and courage, for young STEM girls interested in innovation and social impact for good, in Education.

Summary

The integration of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) is essential to promote current innovation, starting from the educational base. The gap in STEAM is woven from adolescence when young scientists begin to feel that they must choose between tangible and rigorous results, much more mental, and more intuitive, flexible, and creative/emotional processes.

The dissonance between the scientific and artistic worlds, in addition to the lack of close references, or definitions of success and leadership, oppose their impulse on how to act in life, making a large part of girls at the beginning ages choose, and move away from STEAM careers. On the other hand, those who follow STEAM paths mostly give up on their desire to take leadership roles, finding that this possibility entails leaving the emotional connection aside.

At present, we are going through a crisis such as the climate crisis, which requires Science to be overcome, and at the same time, the technology that is being developed with the introduction of generative AI is taking us as humanity to spaces where ethical limits blur. Promoting female leadership in STEAM from an early age will allow these girls to be attracted to the scientific field with a broader and more diverse perspective than the current one, with these young people being the ones who help educate and train new generations of leaders, who can connect both worlds: that of the mind replicable by machines, with that of empathy and conscience, which differentiate us from them.

We will delve into the definition of leadership, success, the value of the A added to the STEM world and propose actions that will bring to bear the possibilities of changing the current approach to attract girls to the STEAM world and break the gender gap in this field.