A Hero For The Arts And Sciences: Upcoming Marvel Covers Promote STEAM Fields; NPR, 8/28/16

Jason Slotkin, NPR; A Hero For The Arts And Sciences: Upcoming Marvel Covers Promote STEAM Fields:

"Readers may notice that Marvel's tapped a diverse field of heroes for the covers — characters Riri Williams and Moongirl are African-American, and Spiderman Miles Morales is of Hispanic and African-American descent — all working in fields in which educators and officials say women and minorities are underrepresented.

"The media literally shapes what people aspire to be," said Virginia Booth Womack, president of the National Association of Multicultural Engineering Program Advocates.

Womack also oversees recruitment and retainment efforts for students from underrepresented communities at Purdue University's College of Engineering. She says part of getting students to feel like they belong involves seeing people who look like them engaged in their field, in their own communities and the wider culture."