New KC STEM Alliance leader: All students have a place in Kansas City’s emerging Tech Hub

Growing Kansas City as a hub for STEM industries brings additional opportunities for connection and collaboration, the incoming leader of the KC STEM Alliance said, highlighting the role young people can play in the evolving innovation economy.

“Kansas City and the surrounding region’s designation as a 2023 Tech Hub (KC BioHub) brings a real opportunity to leverage resources for students in a way that builds long-lasting synergy for the region’s workforce development across multiple STEM fields,” said Dr. Chelsea Barbercheck, who begins her role as executive director of the KC STEM Alliance Jan. 29.

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Martha McCabe, Project Lead The Way

The KC STEM Alliance, a collaborative network of educators, businesses and related organizations that champions STEM education initiatives across the region. Barbercheck succeeds longtime executive director Martha McCabe, who moved into a national role with Project Lead The Way in 2023.

Click here to read more about McCabe’s departure from KC STEM Alliance after a decade.

When Barbercheck begins work later this month in Kansas City, she’ll bring a wealth of experience in managing collaborative programs with multiple stakeholders. She most recently served as the Manhattan, Kansas-based executive director for Great Plains IDEA (Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance) and was the inaugural program director for Boston University’s BEST (Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training), a National Institutes of Health-funded initiative to expose doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers to potential career pathways.

Barbercheck earned a doctoral degree in Microbiology, Cell, and Molecular Genetics from Oklahoma State University and completed post-doctoral research with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and Boston University.

“I’m thrilled to serve as the next KC STEM Alliance director,” Barbercheck said. “By instilling design thinking and problem-solving skills that prepare students for jobs of the future, this alliance is changing lives and building a foundation for innovation in our region. I am excited for what the future holds as we move forward with partners and friends to advance this work.”

Since its founding in 2011, the KC STEM Alliance has helped scale best practice STEM education programs including FIRST Robotics and Project Lead The Way and has cultivated the region’s STEM learning ecosystem known as STEM Connect-KC.

Barbercheck looks forward to continuing the organization’s work to bridge societal gaps in STEM education, she said. That includes, among other things, increasing a sense of inclusion and belonging in programming through intentional, focused recruiting of mentors and volunteers.

“Coming from rural America I have been fortunate to have mentors along my own path to look up to,” Barbercheck said. “They have picked me up, patted my back, opened doors, welcomed me into their networks, and asked me ‘Why not?’ That is who I want to be when I grow up; that is who I want to be for the students of Kansas City — because all students need to know they have a place in STEM.”

Dr. Kevin Truman, dean of the School of Science and Engineering at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said the KC STEM Alliance, which is an independently operated program housed at the university, will benefit from Barbercheck’s leadership.

“Dr. Barbercheck’s experiences in the biosciences and in strategic leadership of alliances connected with higher education and workforce initiatives will be a great asset,” Truman said. “I am confident the Alliance will continue to be seen as a leader in STEM-based education, recruitment, outreach and civic engagement.”