Women in STEM Resources

Summary

Women in STEM: Innovators Powering Our Energy Future

Celebrate Women in STEM Day with this curated video collection from Switch Classroom, highlighting women who are shaping the future of energy through science, engineering, technology, and policy.

Start with the Discussion Guide

At the center of this collection is the Women in STEM Discussion Guide, a ready-to-use educator resource designed to support thoughtful conversation across all included videos. The guide features:

Guiding questions that can be used with any video in the collection
Reflection prompts specifically for Energy Switch episodes
An optional extension activity connecting energy topics to real-world STEM careers

Click here for the Women in STEM Collection: Discussion Questions

Read the Blog Post

For more context on Women in STEM Day and how this collection can be used in classrooms, explore our companion blog post:
Celebrating Women in STEM: Learning From the Innovators Shaping Our Energy Future

What’s Included in the Collection

The videos in this collection draw from the Switch Classroom Resource Library and selected Energy Switch episodes, showcasing women’s perspectives across the energy system.

Classroom Videos & Interviews:

- Hydropower Impacts with Yiying Xiong
- Nuclear Around Us with Grace Stanke
- Career, Carbon Capture, and More with Shadya Taleb
- Switch On: Developing on Coal
- Switch On: Hydropower in Africa
- Switch – Electricity Options: Solar

Featured Energy Switch Episodes:

- Energy Justice (Margo Weisz & Monisha Shah)
- Plastic Recycling (Dr. Anja Brandon & Holli Alexander)
- The Future of Biofuels (Valerie Reed & Yiying Xiong)
- How to Decarbonize Industry Part 1 and Part 2 (Dr. Rebecca Dell & Samantha Gross)
- Sea Level Rise (Dr. Rachel Cleetus & Dr. Susmita Dasgupta)
- Nuclear Waste (Dr. Kathryn Huff & Dr. Allison Macfarlane)
- Students on the Future of Energy (Shadya Taleb & Grace Stanke)
- How Could Artificial Intelligence Change Energy? (Pamela Isom & Anima Anandkumar)
- The Energy-Water Nexus (Afreen Siddiqi and Newsha Ajami)
- What’s the Future of Natural Gas? (Dr. Naomi Boness & Rachel Fakhry)

This collection is ideal for celebrating Women in STEM Day on February 11th, introducing students to energy-related STEM careers, and supporting classroom discussion around innovation, human flourishing, and real-world energy challenges.