STEM advocacy can mean different things to different people: using STEM to inform public policy, making sure public policy advances STEM, advocating for the real people that make up the STEM enterprise.

Regardless of how you define it and engage with it, STEM advocacy crucially acknowledges that STEM is political. We can no longer pretend that STEM exists in a vacuum, denying its impact on society and muting the voices and identities of the real people that make up the STEM enterprise.

STEM is a powerful agent for justice, and that’s what Science Rising is all about. Here are the reasons became coalition partners in this important movement:

We joined Science Rising to stand with Dreamers and LGBT+ individuals, whose futures depend on our public policies and whose contributions mean so much to STEM.

We joined Science Rising to empower STEM professionals to speak up for what they believe in, and discover how they can make real change, even as students.

We joined Science Rising to get out the vote. We learned that STEM students vote less, yet policy decisions affect STEM students, their work, and their local communities.

Midterms are one nail-biting week away, but there’s still so much we can do.

• Follow the Science Network on Twitter to join the Science Rising conversation (or search #ScienceRising).
• Explore this giant list of resources Science Rising has gathered into one place, from finding your polling place to what questions to ask candidates.
• Check out these helpful voter guides created by 500 Women Scientists pods in 8+ states.

Most importantly, be empowered to find your place in STEM advocacy (check out how these women in STEM got involved in it). There’s a place for everyone, and we need everyone — next week at the polls, and beyond.

(Science Rising image available at www.sciencerising.org/resources-faq/)