Visualizing the 2018-22 civic science entrepreneurship program for early career researchers

Launched in 2018 by the Civic Science Media (CSM) Lab, the now-concluded Sai Fellows Program was designed to mentor and equip early-stage founders in building informal STEM learning and public engagement initiatives. The program explicitly focused on cultivating civic science entrepreneurship to support early-career researchers, specifically graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, with bold ideas for building new public engagement initiatives from the ground up. Applications were reviewed holistically, with a preference for candidates who had prior science communication or engagement experience and who could clearly articulate the problem, target audience, and sustainability strategy of their proposed venture. Interdisciplinary and “outside-the-box” science engagement ideas were strongly encouraged.

Fellows received seed funding, individualized mentorship, and a structured 10-week curriculum grounded in logic model design. The goal was to help participants develop fundable, measurable, and sustainable civic science ventures—including apps, events, media platforms, journals, games, exhibits, and more. Over the course of eight cohorts between 2018 and 2022, the program supported a diverse portfolio of initiatives, many of which continued well beyond the fellowship. Notably, the program served as the catalyst for launching the Civic Science Television Network (CivicSciTV Network), which is the flagship project of the CSM Lab.

The fellowship structure (Panel A) paired each fellow with a dedicated mentor for weekly 1:1 meetings, alongside group sessions organized around themes such as problem definition, solution design, evaluation strategy, and funding models. Guest speakers joined biweekly in between core lectures to share real-world insights. Each cohort concluded with a Y Combinator-style pitch day, where fellows presented their initiatives to resident scholars and entrepreneurs in the CSM Lab alongside other invited guest stakeholders. Formative and summative feedback from fellows enabled continuous program refinement between cohorts. Application trends over time (Panel B) show a steady increase in interest, beginning with three test cohorts and peaking with Cohort 8. Panel C shows the acceptance rate across each cohort.

Panel D illustrates the distribution of offers and the program’s high yield rate of 91%. Seed funding for the initial test cohorts was provided internally by the CSM Lab, while later cohorts received external support, enabling larger funding amounts (Panel E). Panel F highlights logos from several fellow-led ventures—including EvoHom, Science in a Box, Pre-Search, Museum Zines, PubNavigator, and #ProjectNavigate from the CYD Institute—many of which remain active today. Although the formal fellowship concluded at the end of 2022, the curriculum, fellow profiles, recorded pitches, and additional information remain available here. Many of the guest presentations and core lectures are also accessible on CivicSciTV’s Educational Program.

Analysis of the formative and summative program feedback is ongoing.

Fanuel Muindi

Fanuel Muindi is a former neuroscientist turned civic science ethnographer. He is a Professor of Practice in the College of Arts, Media, and Design at Northeastern University where he leads the Civic Science Media Lab. Dr. Muindi received his Bachelor’s degree in Biology and PhD in Organismal Biology from Morehouse College and Stanford University respectively. He completed his postdoctoral training at MIT.