FIU in D.C. | Edie Fraser

Today is a very special day. It's a very special week with FIU opening up its new Washington campus in the heart of Capitol Hill and of Washington D.C. i'm Edie Fraser, President and CEO of Stem Connector and we are really thrilled to have a partnership with fiu. We really salute the new STEM Transformation Institute and the fact that you already have 7,500 students interested in STEM careers as undergraduates, that you're doing over 20 million in research grants and that you're on the forefront as the largest Hispanic based institution in this country. So we salute fiu. STEM Connector is the epitome of STEM education and careers. We are the one stop shop for everything about STEM. And we now have 155 members, including 50 universities such as FIU and major corporations and institutions. As we focus on the pathway to jobs, we say, as you know, that STEM jobs pay more than any other occupational area if you look at the technology or the science and for girls and for those of color, for Hispanics, for example, we also are the pay equity issue if we focus on STEM careers. Because if we just take girls, for example, if you're in a STEM career in technology, you make 96 cents on a dollar and 92 cents overall as opposed to 77 cents. And if you look at Hispanics, it's down to 57 cents on a dollar unless you're in a stem. So to build the excitement up with the knowledge of FIU students and the professors and the community and the parents, and for us to wake up Washington and this nation about the STEM pathway, you're doing it with your new D.C. office, you're doing it with your Transformation Institute, you're doing it with your leaders. So we're so happy to work nearly daily with Carlos and with so many others within the FIU family. Felicidades.