The Evidence Collective elects Dr. Raven Baxter as a member
Members of The Evidence Collective, a network of scientists, clinicians and communicators, elected Dr. Raven Baxter to the group on March 4, 2026.
National Women's Business Council brings Dr. Raven Baxter to its Women in STEM roundtable at Howard
Created by the Women's Business Ownership Act of 1988, the federal council advises the President, Congress and the Small Business Administration on issues facing women business owners
Participants and council moderators of the National Women's Business Council's Women in STEM Roundtable at Howard University. Baxter is second from left. Photo: National Women's Business Council
Dr. Raven Baxter joined federal officials, founders and policy analysts at Howard University on Aug. 17, 2023, for the National Women's Business Council's Women in STEM Roundtable. The 90-minute session in the Blackburn University Center asked how responsible advancement can support women entrepreneurs.
The council listed Baxter as president and founder of The Science Haven. Council members Selena Rodgers Dickerson and Jenny Poon moderated. Others came from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Small Business Administration, a congressional office, a policy group and Howard, along with two company founders.
The council's event graphic listed eight featured speakers, including Baxter. Image: National Women's Business Council
The roundtable met eight days after a White House fact sheet marked one year of the CHIPS and Science Act. The Inflation Reduction Act turned one the day before. The council's questions named both laws. Women made up half of U.S. adults ages 18 to 74 in 2021 but about a third (35%) of people employed in STEM jobs, according to the National Science Foundation.
The council published a summary of each answer. Asked what the past teaches about women in STEM and entrepreneurship, Baxter pointed to the culture of science. "From her own point of view, science culture is really antiquated," the recap said. "Those pursuing STEM are often put in an academic pipeline where there were no opportunities to think as entrepreneurs."
As a student, she believed business resources were meant for business students, according to the recap. "She would like to see more embracing of non-traditional pathways and allowing people to share more of who they are."
Asked how women engage with STEM in their communities, she described her own audience. Her first social media posts covered hair and beauty for Black women. "When she pivoted to posting about science, all of her followers stayed," the recap said. She called for STEM to reach people at a younger age, with parents and children taking part together. "The center of everything she does is aimed at increasing public engagement in science."
She named Mae Jemison, the first Black woman in space, as the woman in STEM who inspires her. In the closing round, she welcomed what the recap called "this break away from the elitism and exclusivity of entrepreneurship." She also spoke about learning to see herself as a mentor. "To her, it is about moving forward on faith and purpose," the recap said.
The council was created by the Women's Business Ownership Act of 1988, which President Ronald Reagan signed into law, according to its history. The same law ended state rules that required a man to co-sign a woman's business loan. Its 15 volunteer members send yearly policy recommendations to the President, Congress and the Small Business Administration, which houses the council.
Its 2023 Annual Report lists the Howard roundtable among the year's engagement highlights. The report's Women in STEM recommendations carry forward the event's hope that women entrepreneurs will tell their children "how mommy saved the world."
Baxter is a molecular biologist who goes by Dr. Raven the Science Maven online. She completed her Ph.D. at the University at Buffalo in 2022, studying how science is communicated.
The council's recap of the roundtable summarizes each answer.
