PLF Proposals for Spring 2015 now being accepted!

Hello instructors!

Are you teaching in a lower-level STEM course and are interested in having PLF support?  

We are now accepting proposals for the Spring 2015 semester!

Please submit a proposal to Mary Cianflone at mcian@unm.edu by Dec 7th!

Download the Proposal here:  PLF Proposal Form Spring 2015

_______________________________________

Not sure if your class is eligible for PLFs?  

Click here to see our detailed list

Summer Research and funding

Are you considering undergraduate summer research and/or applying to graduate school. Check out these opportunities!

For Undergraduates:

Paid Summer 2015 Undergraduate Research Placements:

Over 800 programs – REU, NASA and other paid summer research opportunities for undergrads

http://www.pathwaystoscience.org/undergads.aspx

For Financial Support in Graduate School:

Fellowships and graduate programs in a wide variety of STEM disciplines:

http://www.pathwaystoscience.org/grad.aspx

   

For NASA-supported internships, fellowships and scholarships:  

http://intern.nasa.gov

For tips on applying and associated resources:

http://www.pathwaystoscience.org/toolbox.aspx

For opportunities specifically in the Ocean Sciences:

http://www.pathwaystoscience.org/oceanscience.aspx

For opportunities specifically in Engineering:

http://www.pathwaystoscience.org/engineering.aspx

Institute for Broadening Participation. IBP’s mission is to increase diversity in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workforce. We design and implement strategies to increase access to STEM education, funding, and careers, with special emphasis on reaching underserved communities and diverse underrepresented groups. www.PathwaysToScience.org makes it easy for faculty and administrators to access resources that can assist them in their efforts to reduce barriers to participation, create environments rich in the positive factors that support student success on the STEM pathway, and conduct outreach to underserved communities and underrepresented groups by implementing recruitment and retention strategies that broaden participation and increase diversity.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pathways-to-Science/120825625433

In addition, don’t forget about the S³ resources:

·       Scholarship opportunities

·       Internship opportunities

·       Summer opportunities

·       Graduate school opportunities 

·       Calendar of upcoming events

·       UNM Undergrad Research

·       Additional professional and academic workshops (PAW) at UNM (note, these are open to anyone)

·       Other Resources

McNair/ROP is accepting applications from STEM Students

http://mcnair.unm.edu/

The University of New Mexico’s Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program and the Research Opportunity Program (ROP) prepares undergraduates for graduate school by providing scholars with a faculty-mentored research experience and support for the graduate school application process. When scholars complete the program, many are successful in gaining admission to graduate programs nationwide and are offered financial support to help pay for their education.

S-cubed facilitators wanted!

Are you passionate about STEM or know somebody that is? We are looking for S-cubed facilitators for the Spring semester.

You can view the posting (and forward it!) using this link: unmjobs.unm.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=80319

Check us out!

We're featured on the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) website!
Check it out: http://www.ece.unm.edu/

Resources!

Don't forget that we provide continuously updated resources, check them out:

* Scholarship opportunities

* Internship opportunities

* Summer opportunities

* Calendar of upcoming events

* Additional professional and academic workshops (PAW) at UNM (note, these are open to anyone)

Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC)

Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) is an NIH funded Undergraduate T34 training program whose mission is to help prepare undergraduates who are interested in pursuing a PhD in some aspect of Biomedical research.

MARC trains cohorts of up to ten under-represented students at a time. They provide students with resources ($988/month) in addition to laboratory supply money and support to travel to national conferences, which greatly build CV strength. This type of support allows their scholars to concentrate on academics and research, rather than jobs. In addition, they also help scholars find labs and professors that fit their future goals, with advisement and assistance for two years, including the graduate school application process.

Interested? Find out more about the program, including the requirements and application at: http://biology.unm.edu/MARC. Best of luck!

STEM Student Groups Fair a success!

Earlier this Fall, the S-Cubed team brought several STEM-centered groups together for a STEM Fair.  UNM Students perused the tables of Explora!, UNM's Society of Women Engineers, McNair Scholars, Engineers Without Borders, and more!

UNM Alliance for Minority Participation Informational Meeting!

Attention undergrads!

 Are you interested in research, WITH stipends?  

How about STEM advising and mentoring?  

And getting ready for grad school?

If so, check out UNM's 

Alliance for Minority Participation in Research. 

UNM Alliance will host 

an Informational Meeting 

on Thursday Sept. 11 

in Room 105 Northrop Hall

 from 4:30-5:30 pm.

If you cannot attend, but are interested, 

please contact Prof. Laura Crossey 

at lcrossey@unm.edu 

(Please include “AMP” in the subject line of your email!)

Course Redesign Cohort 3 Teams Selected

STEM Gateway and members from the Course Redesign Advisory Council have selected three teams to redesign their course to improve student success at UNM.  The new cohort will be hard at work between May 2014 and August 2015.

Math 116- Pre-calculus and Trigonometry

The Math 116 course is a unique redesign that combines two three credit math courses (Math 123- Trigonometry and Math 150- Pre-Calculus) into a single 4 credit course thus speeding students time to comlete their degree.

Biology 204- Plant Form and Function Lecture and Biology 202L- Introductory Genetics 

Redesigning two biology courses has provided a special opportunity for team members to work across teams to not only improve the course that they are redesigning but to also look at the alignment of the curriculum throughout the program.  The redesign may entail moving the course into UNM’s active and collaborative teaching and learning spaces, the Learning Studios.

Final redesign proposals will be posted at the STEM Gateway website in mid-August. Congratulations and best wishes to the 2014-2015 Course Redesign Cohort!

Sixth-Grader Surprises Science Community

 Three cheers for young women in STEM!

Lauren Arrington, a Florida sixth-grader, grabbed the attention of scientists when she submitted her science fair project results.

Lauren's results indicated that lionfish, normally thought to be mainly saltwater fish and an invasive species to boot,  "can survive in nearly fresh water." 

Experiments have been done on the lionfish's habitat before, but Lauren's project took the numbers of salinity (or lack thereof) even further.

Lauren's fish lived in water with salt levels of 6 parts per thousand.

 

 

 
Her research project is also being cited in a science journal.  Congratulations, Lauren!

Read the full story at NPR's site here.

McNair & ROP Impromptu Speech Competition

On June 27th, the thirty-three students from the McNair Scholars and Research Opportunity Programs’ summer cohort competed in a Students for STEM Success (S³) sponsored Impromptu Speech Competition!

The friendly competition was a follow-up to an Oral Presentation Skills workshop the previous week.  These workshops were designed to give the students tips, tricks, and practice on how to communicate effectively in a variety of ways.  

The Competition!

The group of 33 was first divided into 4 teams.  Students competed in two rounds of competition within the small groups and each group voted on who to send to the championship round.  For each round, students selected a random topic out of a selection of approximately 40 topics. For each round, the competitors had 2 minutes to prep a 1 minute speech on that topic.

Topics included:

If everything in the world had to change to the same color, what color would you choose and why?

Explain how a smart person might not be wise.

Why should you get money for your research?

You are an ant. Convince an anteater to not eat you.

It was a close competition!  The four finalists did a fantastic job of entertaining us with their impromptu one minute speeches.  There could only be one champion and the cohort voted Dominique Santistevan the winner for her speech on The best way to teach an old dog a new trick.

Congratulations again to Dominique the first S³ Impromptu Speech Champion!

If you would like to see the skills these students learned in action please attend the 2014 McNair Scholars and Research Opportunity Programs’ Summer Research Symposium on July 10 & 11, 2014 at Centennial Engineering Center, Room 1041 (Auditorium).  This event features the mid-summer research presentations of the undergraduate scholars in the program.

Are PLFs in your Fall classes?

Check out our list of PLF-supported courses for the fall!  

Register for these sections to get active learning techniques and peer support in your classroom:

New Study on Active Learning

The University of Washington recently published a new study about active learning in classrooms in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which shows that students performance improves in STEM courses through an active teaching style. According to the study, the students improve their grades by an impressive 6%--the difference between a B+ and an A. Compared to the standard lectures that many teachers use, the study suggests that employing a change every 10 minutes with active teaching and learning techniques will allow more students to succeed. By using methods like groups, open questions, calling random students, and using clickers, the teacher engages the students and encourages them to actively participate and learn while they are in class.

To support these findings, the group responsible for the study at the University of Washington, Freeman and his colleagues, analyzed 225 studies on undergraduates in STEM classes and the teaching methods used in those classes. After culling the data from these studies, the group learned that making students participate rather than just listen improved their exam scores and reduced their failure rates.

This study is great news for the STEM Gateway since we have been promoting the benefits of active learning in classrooms and helping with course reforms to allow active learning!

For a link to the article: Click here!

For a link to the study: Click here!

Hiring New PLFs!

We have exciting news for any one interested in working at the STEM Gateway, we are hiring PLFs for all subjects for the fall 2014 semester. So, anyone who wants to help students learn in subjects like Math, Chemistry, Physics should apply here!

Working as a PLF presents an exciting, fun, and challenging environment where you can tutor students, help them understand new concepts, and improve the STEM community on campus. While the work may seem foreboding at first, the students always appreciate your help, and your fellow PLFs and teachers will help you along the way!

To become a PLF you must have at least a 2.5 GPA, completed a similar course to the class you want to PLF or its equivalent (for example, Math 121 if you want to PLF for Math classes), and a letter of recommendation from a faculty member in a STEM focused field. For a complete list of the requirements, please refer to the job posting in the link above or below!

If you are still not convinced, then consider working as a PLF an opportunity to improve your own skills in a field you enjoy. While many of the PLFs study in STEM fields, we do not require you to be a STEM person yourself. Thus, as long as you want to help your fellow students and have an interest in STEM courses, studies, or education, you are an excellent PLF candidate!

Here is the link again for the job posting: Be a PLF!

STEM Study in Journal of College Student Development

By Patrick Coulombe

A recent study published in the Journal of College Student Development looked at contextual variables that were predictors of the fourth-year GPA of Hispanic students enrolled in a STEM major. The authors found that, after controlling for demographic variables such as gender and parents’ education, Hispanic students who frequently received support and encouragement from faculty members reported a higher GPA. 

Not surprisingly, students who spent more time on studying and homework also reported a higher GPA.

Interestingly, Hispanic students who were enrolled in culturally-relevant activities (such as an ethnic studies course or an ethnic student organization) reported lower GPAs. The authors propose that this may be due to students having less time to invest towards their studies. However, another explanation might be that Hispanic students who take part in culturally-relevant activities do so specifically because they do not feel comfortable or welcome into their academic program, and seek social support among peers through these extra-curricular activities.

Overall, almost a quarter of the differences in GPA among Hispanic STEM students that could be captured by the study were due to differences not in demographic variables (like gender and parents’ education) but in contextual variables. Therefore, it appears that the academic success of Hispanic students evolving in a STEM major in college is affected by the environment in which they study.

In a future study, instead of focusing on GPA, it would be interesting to use these same variables to predict whether Hispanic students in STEM majors go on to actually graduate with their STEM degree, or instead drop out or switch to a non-STEM major before completing their degree.

The study is available here: http://www.otl.wayne.edu/pdf/wider/Cole_Espinoza_Latinostudentsinscience.pdf

Reference:

Cole, D., & Espinoza, A. (2010). Examining the academic success of Latino students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors. Journal of College Student Development, 49, 285-300.

Students for STEM Success (S3) and STEM Gateway Imposter Syndrome Workshop!

IMPOSTER SYNDROME: Learning that you do belong in STEM

 

As a STEM Student,

• Do you ever think that your classmates are smarter or have more skills than you do?
• Do you worry about whether you are able to succeed in your STEM degree program?
• Learn how to see yourself as a competent, capable STEM student!

 

MONDAY MARCH 10^th from 10 – 11 am

Zimmerman Room 345

Join the event on Facebook!

Students for STEM Success (S3) and STEM Gateway Library Research Workshop!

LIBRARY RESEARCH: Strategies for STEM Students

Lora Leligdon, Assistant Professor

 This session will familiarize students with the University Libraries’ STEM resources and services. Students will learn about STEM specific databases, resources and Research Guides. It also briefly covers citation management & research data support.

In this session, you will learn to:

• Find specialized resources for any topic
• Find research guides for STEM Fields
• Search special collections
• Use other library services

TUESDAY MARCH 4^th from 1 – 2 pm

Centennial Library Room L253
Join the event on Facebook!

STEM Gateway- Request for Proposals

Submit a proposal before the April 7^th deadline to redesign your STEM course!

Gateway Science and Math Course Redesign Projects:

STEM Gateway will be providing supporting resources for instructors of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) gateway course at UNM to redesign their courses; gateway courses include not only the foundational classes that you teach for your department’s majors (mostly at 100 or 200 level) but also the mathematics, chemistry, and physics courses that are common to many STEM degrees. 

Course Redesign Projects are faculty-driven curriculum and pedagogy redesign efforts to utilize research-based instructional changes and align course outcomes and assessment. Course redesign teams for three courses will be selected each year from proposals submitted by faculty within departments. You can view project goals for the course redesign projects from years 1 and 2 at the STEM Gateway web pages http://unmstemgateway.blogspot.com/p/course-reform.html. Proposals for the third-year cohort of course-reform teams can also be found on the website listed above. Contact Gary Smith at gsmith@unm.edu for more information. 

Congratulations to PLF, David Danielson!

We have some great news about one of our PLFs, David Danielson. He has been accepted into the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program!

The MARC program prepares students for graduate school by offering various training and research in the Biomedical field. We know that David will do well in this program, and we hope to see whatever he produces in the future!

STEM Gateway Presents Its New Initiative: Students for STEM Success — S3

Students for STEM Success (S³), a student-centered STEM Gateway initiative, that focuses on creating connections and fostering skills that will enhance the overall experience for STEM students at UNM. Our mission consists of three primary parts: to help STEM students network and collaborate with other students, faculty, and staff who have similar interests; to connect students with their chosen department earlier in their academic career; and to provide students access to programs, support services, and workshops that will improve the mastery of their own learning skills. By establishing a cooperative student network beginning as soon as students arrive on campus, we can build a truly integrative STEM community that facilitates STEM degree attainment for the diverse student body of UNM.

In addition to enhancing and increasing student involvement in activities, programs, and workshops already available on campus, S³ is launching a new series of workshops for both undergraduate and graduate students at UNM.

If you or your students are interested in getting involved with creating and facilitating workshops, or have ideas for workshops, please email Meghan Gerson at the email listed below. While S³ is still in the process of setting up its workshop schedule for this semester, we are encouraging anyone interested in creating partnerships to contact Meghan Gerson at: mgerson@unm.edu

To keep in touch and up-to-date with what S³ is doing, join our Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/S3UNM

And follow our Twitter too: www.twitter.com/S3unm

Remember the more people we have to spread the word about the initiative, the stronger the STEM community on campus will become!

Check out our Facebook page, Twitter, and STEM Gateway Blog for our next update about the workshop schedule for the spring semester!