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Making WAVES is an initiative to increase diversity of faculty in STEM fields funded by the National Science Foundation ADVANCE Program.

The $3.5 million, five-year grant to UMass Lowell is for an institutional transformation program led by the Center for Women & Work. The goal of the WAVES project, which began in September 2016, is to implement interventions to:

  1. disrupt interpersonal and institutional microaggressions
  2. establish innovative mentoring approaches, and
  3. promote equitable policies and procedures.
Intervention diagram for Microaggressions. Microaggressions are verbal, non-verbal, and/or environmental snubs/insults that slight based on gender and other marginalized group membership; they are notoriously difficult to address. survey results at UMass Lowell indicate that women STEM faculty experience a disproportionate number of microaggressions.

Microaggressions are verbal, non-verbal, and/or environmental snubs/insults that slight based on gender and other marginalized group membership; they are notoriously difficult to address. Survey results at UMass Lowell indicate that women STEM faculty experience a disproportionate number of microaggressions.

Go to the UMass Lowell MAKING WAVES Initiatives page to learn more about our specific goals and interventions.

If you would like to learn more about UMass Lowell Faculty Bystander Training or register to attend the workshop please visit the :

UMass Lowell MAKING WAVES Faculty Bystander Training webpage