Biomechanists can revolutionize the STEM pipeline by engaging youth athletes in sports-science based STEM outreach

Abstract

Increasing diversity in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields has become imperative to ensure equitable access to economic opportunity and to provide the technologically adept workforce of the future. The present STEM pipeline preferentially engages youth who are, not only aware of and interested in STEM, but also, can see themselves on a path to a STEM career. The present pipeline fails to capture youth for whom STEM remains remote and outside their current experience. Interest in sports casts a wider net and includes populations currently underrepresented in the STEM pipeline and in STEM careers. To engage these young people in STEM, it is necessary to incorporate STEM into activities they enjoy and already participate in, such as sports. Sports engage millions of youth who are intrinsically motivated to grow and improve as athletes. Biomechanical experiments and activities can build a bridge between young people’s interest in sport activities to awareness and interest in STEM. This connection between science and sports is reinforced by the growing use of sports-science as a tool for elite athletic performance at the highest levels. The potential of sports-science to provide diverse youth with access to the STEM Pipeline is extraordinarily promising. Biomechanics researchers are uniquely positioned to deliver on the promise of sport-science based STEM outreach due to the applicability of biomechanical analysis to sports-science analysis. Historically, and not without resistance and great effort, participation in sports has broken barriers of cultural and racial discrimination within broader society. Through sports-science infused STEM outreach, biomechanists have potential to jumpstart the same process within the STEM career fields.