Dr. Adrienne Starks, Founder of STREAM Innovations and IF/THEN Ambassador
Dr. Adrienne Starks is the founder of STREAM Innovations, a non-profit in Birmingham. She believed her biomedical training lacked significant representation of underrepresented minorities and women. This reality became the catalyst to promote scientific exploration and innovation for students to successfully pursue STEM careers in her home state of Alabama.
STREAM Innovations is committed to helping students develop and explore their passion in Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STREAM) by providing exposure, experiences, and engagement with high expectations for their success.
Dr. Starks was recently selected as an American Association for the Advancement of Science IF/THEN Ambassador. She has also been selected to be featured in the If Then She Can exhibit—a monumental exhibit of the most women statues ever assembled in one location, at one time.
Best Advice: The best advice that I have received was from my father, Daryl Starks, while I was in graduate school in Maryland. He would use Winston Churchill’s quote that “Success is not final; failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts” to remind me to continue the path to complete my studies regardless of the success and failures along the way.
Greatest Influence: I have had a number of major influences on my life that have contributed to my success. My parents have been a consistent source of support as I have made the transition from scientist to CEO. Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, former President of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, has had a significant influence on my life as my graduate school president and now mentor. He has set an example of excellence in STEM for students to pursue advanced degrees to solve complex problems globally.
