Royce Williams

As of 2022, I am a Master’s student at Cornell University for Applied Economics and Management but will soon be applying for PhD programs in applied economics. I have earned a B.S. in Managerial Economics and B.A. in Political Science – Public Service. Though I am from North Carolina, I grew up in Sacramento, California. Almost all of my time is spent working outside of school, as I enjoy applying my skills and learning from actually doing something productive for the communities I care about. Any free time I have is spent hanging out with my significant other, working out, reading fiction, or engaging in thoughtful conversations with my very talkative cat.

Having been heavily involved with NSTEM for a year now, I naturally accepted the position to make more meaningful improvements to the organization. I have an entrepreneurial spirit and an affinity for management, which means that I love creating something out of nothing, working with people, and leading projects in a high-pressure environment. On the other hand, I always try to maintain a servant-leader mindset by working with my team members as their coach rather than their boss.

NSTEM stood out to me, because it appealed to one of my core values: enriching, encouraging, and expanding STEM education. My studies are closely intertwined with the Math component of STEM, but throughout my K-12 education, I have seen too many opportunities to drastically improve STEM education in the US. NSTEM is a social benefit-oriented organization that can actually fill those gaps.