Meet Alumni:

Amritha Praveen

2022 3M Young Scientist Challenge Finalist
2025 Alumni Grant Recipient

Amritha was awarded the Science in Your Community Grant for their work on “Amethyst Changemakers- Bridging Abilities in STEM” through an innovative nonprofit initiative that transforms traditional STEM education by creating fully accessible learning experiences for students with diverse learning abilities and backgrounds.

About their Project

Amethyst Changemakers - Bridging Abilities in STEM is an innovative nonprofit initiative that transforms traditional STEM education by creating fully accessible learning experiences for students with diverse learning abilities and backgrounds.

Their project addresses the significant representation gap in STEM fields by providing specialized, universally designed educational kits and programming that make complex STEM concepts accessible to neurodivergent learners and students from underrepresented communities. We focus particularly on serving Title I schools where resources for specialized education are often limited.

What was the inspiration behind your project?

My inspiration for this project stems from my personal connection to accessibility in STEM education through my brother, who has autism and a deep interest in STEM subjects. However, he struggled to engage with standard STEM kits due to inaccessible instructions and formats that weren't designed with his learning style in mind. So, I started creating modified versions with clearer and simple instructions and created videos tailored to his learning style.

Seeing how these adaptations dramatically improved his engagement and understanding, it sparked a realization that many students with learning disabilities face similar barriers to STEM participation. I also observed a concerning lack of representation of both disabled and minority students in STEM fields, particularly in underserved communities. This motivated me to expand my efforts beyond my family by starting after school STEM clubs at Title I schools in my neighborhood, where I could implement these accessible approaches for students who typically have limited access to quality STEM resources.