To encourage girls to pursue their interests in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), the Ad Council convened an unprecedented coalition of partners, including GE, Google, IBM, Microsoft and Verizon, to launch She Can STEM. 

Women make up half of the total college-educated workforce in the U.S., but they hold only 25 percent of STEM jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Research from the National Science Foundation shows that while approximately 66 percent of girls are interested in science in fourth grade, many lose interest in STEM as early as middle school, and this path continues through high school and college, ultimately leading to an underrepresentation of women in STEM careers.

This national public service campaign from McCann NY includes television, digital, social and print creative content that showcases the achievements of seven female STEM role models to reinforce the idea that STEM is cool, creative and inspiring to get more girls interested and involved. 

In this ScreenWork entry, Bonnie Ross, head of the Halo Game Studio at Microsoft, meets and inspires a group of girls. The “She Can STEM” package of PSAs was directed by Nanette Burstein of Hungry Man. Other STEM role models in the campaign include: Lisa Seacat DeLuca, distinguished engineer at IBM; Tiera Fletcher, structural analysis engineer at Boeing; Maya Gupta, research scientist at Google; Danielle Merfeld, chief technology officer at GE Renewable Energy; Nicki Palmer, chief network engineering officer at Veriaon; and Lucianne Walkowicz, astronomer at the Adler Planetarium.

Credits

Client The Advertising Council Agency McCann New York Sean Bryan, chief creative officer; Pierre Lipton, EVP, global creative director; Holly Hessler, SVP, group creative director; Lucas Crigler, Hope Nardini, associate creative directors; Jordan Nerison, Christina Hillman, Yung Lee, designers; Nel Sparkman, Zeynep Gungor, jr. designers; Sean Flanigan, digital producer; Mila Mitova, sr. art director; Elina Rudkovskaya, sr. copywriter; Carolyn Johnson, SVP, head of integrated production; Rebecca Magner, producer; Kelly Ramsey, sr. art producer. Production Hungry Man Nanette Burstein, director; Kevin Byrne, managing partner/exec producer; Dan Duffy, producer/director of sales; Mina Jarjoura, exec producer; Julianne Maloney, producer. Editorial Union Editorial NY Sloane Klevin, Christopher Huth, Ryan Stacom, Adriana Machado, editors; Caryn Maclean, exec producer; Lauren Hafner Sheehan, post producer; Kirk Balden, Flame artist. Color Color Collective Alex Bickle, colorist. Music Position Music and Score a Score Audio Post Sonic Union Brian Goodheart, mix engineer.

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