Dear NGCP Champions Board Members, I am currently serving as an advisor to the Science Education Department of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. They are working on an NSF-funded study: "How Pre-College Informal Activities Influence Female Participation in STEM Careers". The goal of this project is to identify and test factors of Out-of-School Time activities that are hypothesized to strengthen interest in pursuing the study of STEM in college, particularly for female students. The research will try to determine the extent to which these activities facilitate females' participation in STEM fields in terms of interest, identity, and career choices. The research team is developing a comprehensive paper-and-pencil survey which will be administered in college classes such as English Composition, that are compulsory for both students with and without STEM interests. They need our help as they develop survey items. The team is interested in learning about STEM opportunities that you (as stakeholders) offer and what you believe are the features of these opportunities that have the greatest impact on pre-college students' science interests, STEM identity, and their desire to pursue STEM careers. Please take a few minutes in the next two weeks to answer a brief survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FROSTS Thanks in advance for your time. I will keep you posted on this project. The results of this study will help NGCP strengthen the capacity of girl-serving STEM programs and I'm honored to be involved. Karen Karen Peterson, Chief Executive Officer The National Girls Collaborative www.ngcproject.org<http://www.ngcproject.org> @ngcproject