CuSTEMized engages, encourages, and empowers young girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) by providing them with tangible products and educational experiences that foster a positive scientific identity from a young age.
According to the US Department of Commerce, girls (women, females, Homo sapiens with two X chromosomes) remain vastly underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math, collectively termed STEM fields. Research suggests that an increased sense of belonging and self-concept as a scientists increases the likelihood of girls going on to pursue STEM fields.
CuSTEMized was founded by a woman in STEM as a not-for-profit initiative to encourage girls to envision themselves in STEM by providing personalized storybooks that depict them in STEM fields and learning programs that expose them to real-world female role models in STEM. In this manner, we hope to help foster a positive STEM identity in girls and inspire the next generation of women in STEM.
Our Storybooks
A motivational story like no other! The Little Book of Big Dreams depicts your child as the hero as she dreams about herself in lots of cool STEM careers.
The Little Book of Big Dreams is a colorful picture storybook written in rhyme that describes various STEM careers and how they can impact the world! But what makes the Little Book of Big Dreams truly unique is that your daughter (or niece, or whoever) is the hero: you can customize the book to have your daughter's name and character. We applied our STEM skills so you can personalize and download your special book on demand (for free!).
In this manner, we hope to create a truly personalized message and reach each and every girl to encourage her to envision herself in STEM starting from a young age. Although we have written the book for a K-5 audience, we hope that its message can resonate with girls of all ages in any stage of their schooling or career.
Our Founder
Meet our Founder and Director, Jean Fan, a woman in STEM.
I think STEM is really cool. That's why I'm pursuing my PhD in a STEM field.
But when I started my PhD program, I realized I was the only girl in my class.
So I volunteered to teach young girls science. At the end of the year, I wanted to provide my students
with a personalized gift that would teach them about all the scientific careers
I didn't have a change to tell them about and remind them that I believed in them.
I saw how these personalized messages resonated with my students
so with a little imagination and computer science skills, CuSTEMized was born.
I really do believe that when we empower our girls with the confidence and STEM
skills to create tools for their community, they will change the world.
- Jean Fan
CuSTEMized Founder
PhD Bioinformatics, Harvard University
My Scientific Name
