SEIRI Newsletter - Message #3

The STEM Education Innovation and Research Institute (SEIRI) at Indiana University Indianapolis is pleased to announce that we will be running our SEIRI Seed Grant competition for the spring 2025 semester. 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. We will be accepting individual-, team-, and departmental-level proposals, and welcome interdepartmental collaboration. See the Request for Proposals for more information. The deadline to apply for the SEIRI Seed Grant is 11:59 p.m., Monday, June 2, 2025. If you have any questions, please reach out to Danka Maric at ude[dot]ui[at]ciramd. Proposals submitted after the deadline will be returned without review.

SEIRI will host two information sessions in the spring semester for the Spring 2025 SSG competition via zoom on May 15^th and on May 21^st. Please check our events page to register.

SEIRI is pleased to announce that we have funded two new projects through the SEIRI Seed Grant program this past fall, which focused exclusively on departmental-level projects. Departmental-level proposals focus on widespread change or innovation across three or more courses within a single department and require a team of three or more faculty members including the departmental chair. We would like to extend our congratulations to our recipients from the mathematics department in the School of Science and the new music technology department in the Herron School of Art.

Student Success in Algebra Through Active Engagement 

• Daniel Ramras – Associate Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Mathematical Sciences

• Barbara Johnson – Senior Lecturer, Department of Mathematical Sciences

• Kristen Weddington – Lecturer, Department of Mathematical Sciences

• Jeffrey Watt – Department Chair, Professor, The M.L. Bittinger Chair of Mathematics Education, Department of Mathematical Sciences

Designing Formative Assessments in Music Technology Coursework 

• Daniel Walzer – Assistant Professor, Department of Music Technology

• Robin Cox – Department Chair, Associate Professor, Department of Music Arts and Technology

• Tim Hsu – Director of Music Technology Graduate Programs, Assistant Professor, Department of Music Technology

SEIRI provided funding to the Girls STEM Institute program in recognition of 11 years of excellent work. This special funding was granted to the program’s director, Crystal Morton, to aid in the assessment and evaluation of the impact of the Girls STEM Institute. We congratulate Dr. Morton on her continued success with this program.

Girls STEM Institute Evaluation Project

Black girls face unique challenges within traditional educational spaces because of their historically marginalized gender and racial identities, which significantly impact their motivation to pursue STEM degrees and careers. In 2013, Girls STEM Institute (GSI) was founded to provide an inclusive and transformative learning space for Black girls and other girls from marginalized groups to help counter the negative and oppressive experiences faced in traditional classrooms. The GSI evaluation project through SEIRI will provide GSI with the resources to conduct an in-depth analysis of the program's impact on scholars and their caregivers over the last 11 years. Other components of this project include developing a comprehensive GSI alum database, conducting outreach to all GSI alums to track their post-high school academics, majors, and career interests, and designing and distributing a survey to all GSI scholars and their caregivers for feedback on program effectiveness, impact, and areas for improvement.

SEIRI’s “Conversations in STEM Education” series will be returning in Spring 2025. This series intends to highlight the STEM education work of SEIRI Faculty Associates and other faculty members working in STEM education and STEM education research. The series has three guests scheduled for the Spring 2025 semester and efforts to schedule guests for Fall 2025 are underway. The conversations will be held at 2 p.m. on the fourth Friday of February, March, and April. Amy Pearce, Teaching Professor of Psychology, will be the special guest on February 28th. On March 28th Samuel Nyarko, Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences Education, will join the conversation. Gautam Vemuri, Professor of Physics, will be the special guest on April 15th. Be on the lookout for announcements and registration details as event dates approach. Recordings of previous Conversations in STEM Education are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other major podcast platforms. You can access them  wherever you listen to podcasts, or directly from our website.

February 14, 2025
2 - 3 p.m.

April 11, 2025
2 - 3 p.m.

This workshop will explore essential quantitative methods for analyzing educational data, with an emphasis on statistical techniques and their practical applications. Participants will engage in interactive activities to deepen their understanding of data analysis tools and enhance the rigor of their research. Whether you are new to quantitative methods or looking to refine your skills, this session offers valuable insights for advancing your work.

We're thrilled to welcome Roberto "Tito" Lara to our team! We look forward to his contributions and the positive energy he'll bring to SEIRI.

We are deeply grateful to our graduate students for their outstanding contributions to our research and evaluation projects.

Dr. Karen DSouza earned her PhD in Computer and Information Science from Purdue University Indianapolis in December 2024, specializing in multimodal machine learning and computer visualization for AI in education. Dr. DSouza has since moved on to a postdoctoral research position at Idaho National Laboratory, where she leverages her expertise to develop advanced AI solutions for nuclear science.

Surya Rao Sripathi and Vaishali Vijay Shinde, both graduated with Master’s degrees in health informatics from IU Indianapolis in December 2024. While in SEIRI, they worked on projects related to Peer-Led Team Learning and contributed valuable insights that advanced our research and evaluation work. 

We thank them for their hard work and wish them all the best in their future endeavors.

Bowen, J., & Watson, C. E. (2024). Teaching with AI: A practical guide to a new era of human learning. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Dasgupta, A., Hess, J. L., & Varma-Nelson, P. (2024). Promoting STEM faculty members’ DBER literacy: Findings from an internal grant program. To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, 43(2).