News & Announcements Blog / News

Babson Graduate Business Brings STEM to Latin America

Clubes de Ciencia
Marcos Bento '17 and Luis Ortiz '17

Babson graduate business, Clubes de Ciencias, is a non profit organization that is selecting the brightest Latin American PhD candidates from United States universities and bringing them to their home countries to teach STEM workshops. They are currently working in Mexico, Bolivia, and Colombia.

Babson graduate students and the leaders of Clubes de Ciencias, Luis Ortiz MBA ’17 and Marcos Bento MBA ’17,  aim to expand access to high quality science education and to inspire and mentor the future generation of scientists and innovators through one of the largest international scientific networks. Ortiz, is a Fulbright scholar from Bolivia and has more than five years of experience in logistics and transportation in Chile and Bolivia.  Bento is from Brazil and has five years of experience in strategy working for a renewable energy company in Brazil.

Clubes de CienciaThe Idea

Two years ago, Clubes de Ciencia started with four Mexican PhD candidates at Harvard. Ortiz and Bento realized they needed to play a role in supporting students to have access to high quality education and these PhD candidates could do just that.

After a pilot program in Mexico, the program expanded quickly through the interest of students and PhD scientists wanting to provide an innovative and accessible way to learn STEM in their home countries.

Clubes de Ciencia is now one of the leading scientific educational platforms in Latin America. They have had more than 10,000 applicants for their workshops (or ‘Clubes’) and they have engaged with more than 300 scientists from top US universities.

These workshops are inspiring the students to pursue a degree and a career in STEM.

The Future

Clubes de Ciencia’s main goal is to provide access to a high quality educational service to students and inspire the next generation of STEM professionals. Over the next few years they plan to spread to many other countries in Latin America and pursue new revenue streams.

Clubes de Ciencia is currently in the Summer Venture Program at the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship with access to a co-working space, mentorship from advisors and a great community that shares and helps troubleshoot issues and brainstorm new ideas.

“Most importantly, though, is that Babson offers a unique network of students, faculty and alumni who are interested in helping Clubes de Ciencia in various ways,” says Bento, “From alumni who volunteer in Colombia, to people who recommend Clubes de Ciencia to local partners in Mexico to potential partners, the Babson network supports our work.”