Barriers to breakthroughs: Empower disabled students in STEM!

Photo from 2025 AccessUCI workshop featuring disabled students with UCI mascot Peter the Anteater
$6,700
33%
Raised toward our $20,000 Goal
114 Donors
27
days left
Project ends on January 01, at 12:00 AM PST
Project Owners

Giving Tuesday Update

December 01, 2025

Only 30 days left before the close of our campaign!

♿ We’re now 30% of the way to our goal of $20,000 to support disabled students! With your help, we reached over 100 donations, unlocking Stacy Branham’s $500 gift. Thank you!

❤️ In the spirit of Giving Tuesday, please consider taking the next step and share our ZotFunder campaign with your network. If you have family and friends who care about empowering students with disabilities to pursue STEM careers, ask if they can spare $5 for our cause.

To properly share our appreciation, please watch the thank you video below:

Levels
Choose a giving level

$5

#Igave5

Calling all former students of Stacy Branham to consider contributing $5 to show your support. Every donation, no matter the amount, makes a difference! . . . #igave5 Unlocking Challenge! When we receive 100 donations of $5 or more, an additional $500 will be unlocked!

$25

Supporter of AccessUCI

Every 4 donations of $25 enables us to hire media support for hosting a digitally accessible workshop, including hybrid event access, sign language interpreters, professional captioning of recorded event talks, and so much more.

$50

Friend of AccessUCI

Every 2 donations of $50 enables us to hire service providers for hosting a physically accessible workshop, including renting an accessible venue space, transportation assistance, print braille reading materials, and so much more.

$150

Ally of AccessUCI

Just 10 donations of $150 enables us to host around 100 attendees at our flagship workshop, which takes place in person on UC Irvine’s campus every Spring.

$250

Advocate of AccessUCI

Every 2 donations of $250 enables us to send another high school scholar to an educational conference, where they can present their research project and network with potential mentors.

$500

Champion of AccessUCI

Every $500 donation enables us to recruit a highly accomplished STEM leader with a disability to give a keynote presentation and mentor our students one-on-one.

$1,000

Hero of AccessUCI

Every $1,000 enables us to sponsor a graduate student to conduct regular assessments of our programming to ensure our interventions are evidence-based and impactful.

$2,000

Superhero of AccessUCI

Every $2,000 enables us to sponsor one additional high school scholar through a year-long research project in a UC Irvine lab and regular meetings with mentors in STEM who share their disability identity.

$5,000

Supernova of AccessUCI

When you donate $5,000 to AccessSTEM, you provide us the resources to not only sustain our existing programming, but to grow. We currently work with 4 OC school districts; with your investment, we can expand to lower-resource districts and start building bridges into STEM for students with disabilities from all backgrounds!