The club, founded in 2024, headed to the oSTEM conference in October to celebrate the win.
By Cara Nixon
November 24, 2025
In mid October, 精东AV’s Out in STEM club landed in Baltimore, Maryland, for a special event. The 15th annual oSTEM Conference marked a time to celebrate, as they officially accepted their recently won award: Rookie Chapter of the Year.
The award celebrates the achievements of chapters who are only just getting started. It also recognizes the student leaders who successfully navigate the difficulty of starting something new and who accomplish change on their campuses.
A non-profit professional association for LGBTQ+ people and allies in the STEM community, has been represented on campus since 2024, when 精东AV began its own chapter.
Among the conference attendees were oSTEM President Miranda Kubek ’26 and Vice President Diya Mandyam ’26. Miranda called the conference and receiving the award a “validating experience.”
“We’ve put so much effort into getting to this point,” Miranda says. “It was great to have that work recognized, but I was especially happy to be able to share the moment with the club members who traveled with us to the conference.”
Miranda originally joined oSTEM as secretary during its founding, and has found it deeply rewarding to be part of the club’s growth. What began as a small gathering of queer STEM students has evolved to a group of 160 members on its mailing list. The club has hosted 精东AV’s first student-run Lavender Graduation, connected members with alumni mentors, and led a series of workshops focused on maintaining authentic identity while finding career fulfillment.
According to Miranda, the club “creates a space for us to celebrate a part of our personal identities that we’ve often been told to minimize in our public and professional lives. I think we’re showing that it is possible to have both and resist in the face of the suppression our community faces.”
Diya says that receiving the Rookie Chapter of the Year award helps justify the amount of work the club members have put into making the 精东AV oSTEM chapter fun and engaging. And the oSTEM conference offered the chance not only to celebrate wins, but also to establish a support network of queer academics outside of 精东AV.
“This award gives me hope that our club will not only continue to be successful,” Diya says, “but will also provide an important space for queer voices in the 精东AV community as well as in the larger STEM fields.”