SEIRI Welcomes Two New Postdoctoral Fellows
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Dr. Vidushi Adlakha
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Dr. Vidushi Adlakha comes to SEIRI from a Post-Doctoral role in Physics Education Research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Vidushi earned her Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Houston, with a research background centered around statistical physics. She started her academic journey with a Bachelor of Technology in Engineering Physics from Delhi Technological University, India. Vidushi’s current research interests synthesize efforts to advance inclusive STEM education, shape STEM career identities, and integrate technology for enhanced learning experiences. Serving as a committee member on the American Physical Society’s Committee on the Status of Women in Physics, her passions extend to promoting the retention of women in STEM fields and creating an equitable and supportive environment for all.
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Dr. Patrick Wilson
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Dr. Patrick Wilson comes to SEIRI from the University of Northern Colorado, where he earned an MS in analytical chemistry studying the effects of harmful noise on dopamine release in the auditory processing system. He then transitioned into the Chemical Education Ph.D. program, where his dissertation evaluated climate change coverage in undergraduate chemistry courses and general chemistry textbooks under the supervision of Dr. Melissa Weinrich. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. Before graduate school, Patrick worked in several hospital systems in the Midwest and East Coast, where he earned a histotechnologist license (HTL) and went on to train other histologists at a medical laboratory school program in Virginia. His research interests include improving an interdisciplinary approach to climate change education in STEM, course/curriculum design innovations in chemistry, and assessing and improving faculty professional development in implementing innovative research practices in their teaching.
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SEIRI Announces Staff Changes and Additions
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Dr. Grant Fore
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Dr. Grant Fore has been named SEIRI’s Assistant Director for Research and Evaluation, effective January 1, 2024. A long-time SEIRI researcher, Grant has done extensive research development, qualitative and mixed methods research, and programmatic assessment and evaluation. He is a trained anthropologist with expertise in qualitative methods and ethnographic writing. His primary research interest is teaching and learning ethics, civics, and sustainability through community-engaged and place-based pedagogies. As the Assistant Director, Grant will help guide SEIRI’s support of faculty through program and research development. He will also help support research development through SEIRI-led research, interacting with faculty in Indianapolis and nationwide.
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Thanking Dr. Brandon Sorge
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SEIRI would like to thank Dr. Brandon Sorge for his leadership during his time as SEIRI’s Associate Director. Brandon contributed to streamlining many facets of SEIRI operations, to bringing in new external evaluations, and to overseeing final reporting on SEIRI’s NSF-funded Integrated Community Engaged Learning and Ethical Reflection (ICELER) project, which concluded in December 2023. Brandon will continue to partner with SEIRI and its staff on currently awarded projects and on future proposals. Please join us in celebrating Brandon’s accomplishments and thanking him for his dedicated service to SEIRI.
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Conversations in STEM Education
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Conversations in STEM Education
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In Fall of 2023, SEIRI began its new monthly event series titled “Conversations in STEM Education.” This series is intended to highlight the STEM education work of SEIRI Faculty Associates and other faculty members working in STEM education and STEM education research. As the word “conversation” implies, these events are less formal than a typical presentation. The format here is more akin to an interview. The special guest, or featured faculty member, works with SEIRI staff to identify a topic of interest and then to structure the conversation to ensure an engaging event for both the guest and the audience. The series has four guests scheduled for the Spring 2024 semester and efforts to schedule guests for Fall 2024 are underway. The events will be held at 2pm on the following Fridays: February 16th, March 29th, and April 19th. Be on the lookout for announcements and registration details as the date for the event approaches. Recordings of previous Conversations in STEM Education events have been converted into podcasts that can be accessed here.
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Fall 2023 SEIRI Seed Grant Recipients
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SEIRI is pleased to announce that we have funded three new projects through the latest cycle of the SEIRI Seed Grant program this past fall. We funded one department-wide proposal from the IU School of Dentistry and two individual level proposals from the School of Science. We would like to extend a warm congratulations to all our recipients and their teams. To learn more about the fall 2023 recipients, see below:
Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Experiences: Community Engaged Research for Student Success
- Patrick Gentry – Senior Lecturer, Department of Biology
- Jim Marrs – Professor & Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Biology
- Kathy Marrs – Professor, Department of Biology
- Forrest Brem – Lecturer, Department of Biology
Reliability of Using a Progressive Learning Autonomy Assessment to Improve Surgical Performance in a Periodontics Residency Program
- Monica Prasad Gibson – Graduate Program Director & Associate Professor, Department of Periodontics
- Hawra AlQallaf – Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Periodontics
- Vanchit John – Chairperson & Professor, Department of Periodontics
Integrating the Nature of Geoscience into Earth Sciences Introductory Courses
- Sammy Nyarko – Assistant Professor, Department of Earth Sciences
- Stuart Kenderes – Visiting Lecturer, Department of Earth Sciences
- Anna Jessee – Lecturer, Department of Earth Sciences
- Kathy Licht – Professor and Department Chair, Department of Earth Sciences
- William Gilhooly III – Associate Professor, Department of Earth Sciences
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2024 SEIRI Seed Grant Competition
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The STEM Education Innovation and Research Institute (SEIRI) at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) is pleased to announce that we will be running our SEIRI Seed Grant competition for 2024. The goal of this competition is to facilitate and support STEMM education innovation and research on campus. Specifically, this opportunity provides faculty members in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) departments with funding to develop, implement, and evaluate the impact of pedagogical innovations in STEMM courses across campus.
The deadline to apply for the SEIRI Seed Grant is 11:59 pm, June 3rd, 2024. If you have any questions, please reach out to Danka Maric at dmaric@iu.edu.
Please keep an eye out for the next Request for Proposals and dates for information sessions.
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New report: How the pandemic battered student engagement, attendance
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Lake, Robin. “New Report: How the Pandemic Battered Student Engagement, Attendance.” Center on Reinventing Public Education, 15 Sept. 2023, crpe.org/new-report-how-the-pandemic-battered-student-engagement-attendance/.
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Beyond “Inert” Ideas to Teaching General Chemistry from Rich Contexts: Visualizing the Chemistry of Climate Change (VC3)
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