Dr. Andrea Motto ’97, manager of public and youth engagement at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, will present the Alumni Forum, “Privilege, Resilience and Equity in Science Education," at 11 a.m. on Oct. 10 in Yoder Recital Hall.

At the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Dr. Motto oversees public programs, exhibit interpretation, summer camps, community engagement and youth programs. As director of the EVOLUTIONS (Evoking Learning and Understanding Through Investigations of the Natural Sciences) after school program, she works with 120 New Haven students who participate in after school classes, work experience and internships through all four years of high school. 

Dr. Motto specializes in youth development in museums and focuses her research on power and privilege in science education, environmental justice and barriers to STEM participation for low-income students and students of color. She is currently participating in a National Science Foundation research team studying faculty bias in the geosciences, an international committee on equity in museums, and the conference planning committee for the Association of Science Technology Centers. 

Her presentation will highlight how her experiences growing up in a working class immigrant community guided her toward her current work in addressing issues of race, class and culture in predominately white institutions. She will discuss finding a career path in museums that intersected science and social justice, and will share stories of the difficult, scary and sometimes awkward challenges of speaking up against inequity.