In lecture halls filled mostly with men, Yenny sometimes feels like an outsider.
As a queer woman studying computer science at Cal Poly, Yenny said there are moments when being LGBTQ-plus in STEM can feel isolating. That’s why she became involved with Cal Poly’s chapter of Out in STEM, or oSTEM, a national organization that supports queer students and professionals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.
Now a fourth-year computer science major and the club’s vice president of member relations, Yenny helps create the kind of community she once struggled to find herself.
“It can become a little bit isolating at times, when you’re surrounded by what looks like from the outside a sea of people who don’t look like you,” Yenny said. “I feel like it’s very rare that I meet somebody who is both queer and part of STEM.”
For many LGBTQ-plus students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, that isolation is familiar.
According to a study by the National Institutes of Health, only about 3.5 percent of people working in STEM identify as LGBTQ-plus.
STEM disciplines, particularly majors like computer science and engineering, also remain overwhelmingly male-dominated nationwide, with approximately 73 percent of people in science and engineering identifying as male, according to the National Girls Collaborative Project.
At Cal Poly, Yenny said that imbalance can make it difficult for students to feel comfortable expressing identities that already exist on the margins.
“There’s just not much diversity to begin with,” Yenny told New Times. “The lack of diversity just, I believe, makes it a little bit more difficult for people to be open with themselves in terms of gender expression or their identity.”
For Yenny, oSTEM became a place where those pressures felt lighter.
The organization hosts professional development events, networking opportunities, and social gatherings specifically for queer students navigating technical industries. But Yenny said the group’s value goes beyond career preparation.
“I think that many people that I’ve met, they’re searching for a sort of haven from the typical demographic you would find in their major, myself included,” she said.
Yenny transferred to Cal Poly from De Anza College in 2024 and discovered oSTEM almost by accident during her junior year after a friend invited her to a social event.
The activity? Lava lamp making.
‘It can become a little bit isolating at times, when you’re surrounded by what looks like from the outside a sea of people who don’t look like you. I feel like it’s very rare that I meet somebody who is both queer and part of STEM.’
–Yenny, oSTEM club vice president of member relations
“It was just fun,” she said, laughing. “There was a rainbow assortment of lava lamps. I thought that it was fun to hang out with other people in the queer community, especially in a small town like SLO where that’s not readily accessible.”
What began as a casual outing quickly became something more meaningful. For the first time since arriving at Cal Poly, Yenny found herself surrounded by people who understood both the pressure of STEM culture and the experience of being queer.
“It felt really welcoming,” she said. “You’re taking two communities … and putting them together; it becomes this really niche space.”
At Cal Poly, oSTEM hosts a mix of professional development events and community-building activities. This year, students toured Genentech’s South San Francisco campus, where they connected with queer employees working in biotech through the company’s LGBTQ-plus employee resource group.
“It allowed students, including myself, to go ahead and network with and talk with people who were both queer and employees of Genentech,” Yenny explained. “[They] represented that full-time career-seeking queer individual who is also part of STEM. It gave the students in our organization a better look at what it kind of looks like in the real world and in industry as somebody who is queer and STEM-focused.”
The organization also partnered with the Trans Queer Student Union, Career Services, and the Pride Center at Cal Poly to host résumé workshops and free professional headshots for students preparing to enter the workforce.
Outside of professional events, oSTEM focuses heavily on building community through smaller social gatherings and collaborations with other LGBTQ-plus organizations.
Earlier this year, members organized a Spirit Halloween outing for students without transportation and hosted a hack-a-thon with Cal Poly’s Computer Engineering Society.
The winning team earned an all-expenses-paid trip to next year’s national oSTEM conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Even with those events, the organization remains relatively small. Attendance can range anywhere from a couple of students to around 15 regular participants. But, Yenny said, the size often makes the group feel more connected and personal.
Finding queer community, she added, can be harder than people think.
At Cal Poly, oSTEM is trying to make sure students do not have to navigate that experience alone.
“It’s really exciting to bring together even just a handful of people who understand both sides of the organization,” Yenny said. “Even talking about normal college life feels refreshing.” ∆
Reach Staff Writer Chloë Hodge at chodge@newtimesslo.com.
Correction, June 15, 2026 12:08 pm: Correction: In an earlier version of this story, New Times incorrectly stated the community college Yenny attended. She attended De Anza College. New Times regrets the error.
This article appears in Pride 2026.
