Cards Against Humanity Science Expansion Pack to Provide Women With STEM Scholarship

Photo via Cards Against Humanity

Cards Against Humanity—the politically incorrect, fill-in-the-blanks comedy card game—is using its new science-themed expansion pack to fund a scholarship for women looking to enter STEM fields.

“Women are underrepresented in science, tech, engineering, and math, and we felt like the funding from this pack could have the greatest impact by making it possible for more women to get an education in those fields, and by giving them a platform to share their work and their passion for science,” said Cards Against Humanity co-creator Josh Dillon in a press release.

Although women make up 47 percent of the U.S. workforce, they constitute only 27 percent of science and engineering occupations. Female scientists and engineers also tend to concentrate in different fields than men do. While women earn over half of the bachelor’s degrees awarded in the biological sciences, they receive 18.2 percent of degrees in computer sciences and 19 percent in engineering, according to statistics published by the National Girls Collaborative Project. Furthermore, minority women are represented by fewer than 1 in 10 employed scientists and engineers.

The Cards Against Humanity Science Ambassador Scholarship offers a full ride through four years of higher education in STEM fields. Similar charity packs released by the company have successfully raised nearly $2 million for nonprofits such as the Sunlight Foundation and DonorsChoose.org.

Applications will be open to the public for the fall 2016 school year. Students can sign up here (http://scienceambassadorscholarship.org/) to be notified as soon as it becomes available. Applicants must be in high school or college, and must identify as women in a way that’s significant to them, according to the press release.

The applications will be reviewed by a board of more than 40 female STEM professionals from institutions such as NASA, Harvard Medical School, and the Smithsonian Institute.

“So often girls are told in both overt and subtle ways that they aren't able to be good at math and science,” said Science Ambassador Scholarship board member Veronica Berns, PhD. “With this scholarship, I'm excited to get to tell a passionate girl out there, ‘Yes! What you are doing and dreaming is really great, and here's some help to get you where you want to go.’”