Dr. Rebecca Y. Lai is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Education and Outreach Director of University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s (UNL’s) Materials Science and Engineering Research Center. This blog was co-written with Kiyomi Deards, an associate professor and science librarian at UNL. She also serves as a visiting program officer for diversity … Read more
Inspired by the newly announced Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS), which aims to build capacity, advance scholarship, grow partnerships, and provide resources for researchers to demonstrate the impact of research in their communities and society, CAISE pulled together a selection of 16 current, relevant projects, many of which are funded through the National … Read more
Elyse is the Public Engagement Lead at the University of Michigan’s Office of Academic Innovation. She is a scientist and science communicator. This post was co-written with her colleagues Ellen Kuhn, Public Engagement Specialist, and Rachel K. Niemer, Director of Strategic Initiatives. Note from Jamie Bell, CAISE Project Director: CAISE has been tracking definitions and … Read more
On December 18, 2018, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a new Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) seeking conference proposals on “Concepts for Advancing Sustainable Urban Systems Research Networks.” The submission deadline is March 22, 2019 by 5:00 p.m., submitter’s local time. Informal STEM education and science communication professionals might consider contributing to or participating in a … Read more
This guest post was written by Dan Barstow, Senior Education Manager at the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory. Orbiting Earth every 92 minutes, the International Space Station (ISS) supports experiments in micro-gravity, exposure to extreme temperatures and radiation, Earth remote-sensing equipment, robotics, human adaptation, a unique closed system in isolation from its environment, and more. Built by an … Read more
This blog was co-authored with Tracey Wright, Senior Researcher & Developer at TERC. Merson is a Project Director at TERC and coordinates the National Science Foundation-funded project iSWOOP, or Interpreters and Scientists Working on Our Parks, with co-Principal Investigators Louise Allen and Nickolay Hristov. iSWOOP is designed to make active science research a visible, interactive part of ranger-led, interpretive programs … Read more
The Institute for Learning Innovation is now accepting applications for new partners to join their Partnerships for Broader Impacts Design (BID) project. The project is led by Program Director Eve Klein, and is a collaboration between Cornell University; Sciencenter in Ithaca, NY; University of Wisconsin, Madison; Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery; Pacific Science Center; University of Washington, Bothell; and Oregon State University. The team … Read more
From December 2014 to December 2015, InformalScience.org featured ISE-University partnerships, and the growing connections between formal and informal STEM learning communities. In the following blog posts, some common themes emerged from the thoughts and experiences of the authors although the collaborations and projects are distinct: the mutually beneficial relationships, informal STEM settings as a natural … Read more
The Natural Academy of Science and Drexel University were founded as two separate institutions in Philadelphia, PA in the 1800s. For over a hundred years they worked separately in STEM education and research, until 2011 when they formed an affiliation, The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. The affiliation was a synergistic opportunity that … Read more
Tamar Kushnir, Professor and Director of Cornell University’s Early Childhood Cognition Laboratory, works with a young visitor on the Sciencenter’s floor. Photo courtesy of Lindsay France/Cornell University Photography. This article was co-written by Donna DiBartolomeo, Director of Exhibits, Sciencenter, Michelle Kortenaar, Director of Education, Sciencenter, Jayatri Das, Chief Bioscientist, The Franklin Institute, and Holly Truitt, … Read more