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The Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), with funding support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), sponsored a study to ascertain the current status of mathematics in science centers and museums. The charge was to document examples of mathematics exhibits, programs, publications, and workshops in five case-study sites. In part the goal was the determine the feasibility of a mathematics initiative...

Informal learning environments like planetariums play a critical role in educating the public on climate change. Local stories motivate more than abstract global threats when it comes to understanding the science of climate change and how communities can enact resilience efforts. Climate change disproportionately affects marginalized and under-resourced communities, as they are most at risk from disruptions in water and...

Under-resourced communities along the United States coasts experience year-round flooding hazards including stormwater, ponding, coastal flooding, flash-flooding, and riverine flooding. To accommodate and recover from the effects of these occurrences, community resilience or the capacity to persist, adapt, and transform when met with such challenges is critical. Community Science, which involves collaboration between the public and scientists, is a mechanism,...

Black and Latinx people are underrepresented in the STEM workforce. This project examines how curricula and practices in a culturally situated, community-based youth development program nurture and support the STEM engagement of Black and Latinx boys and girls. Often research supporting out-of-school-time (OST) activities in STEM and traditionally underrepresented youth takes place in newly created learning environments. However, this program...

Women veterans reentering the civilian workforce face challenges in handling familial and caregiver responsibilities while working to create financial stability. Research indicates these challenges contribute to stress, injury, and depression rates that are over 2.3 times higher than rates of incidence among male veterans. Transitioning to civilian employment is challenging for women veterans for several reasons, including a) finding meaningful...

Marginalized communities disproportionately experience the effects of environmental degradation such as sinking infrastructure, urban flooding, and coastal land loss as a result of legacies of segregation and lack of access to resources. To support youth in Black and Afro-Indigenous communities in Southeast Louisiana, the research team will work collaboratively with local community organizations to develop and enact a justice-centered framework...

Given the many pressing challenges to environmental sustainability, it is important that learning opportunities foster connections to nature, especially because such connections are linked to understanding and pro-environmental behavior. It is well-established that outdoor nature experiences, particularly those that generate emotional responses such as feelings of awe, can bring about a sense of nature connectedness. However, the ways that nature...

The stories of people of color who make contributions to STEM often go unnoticed, with the exception of the few who gain mainstream attention. To challenge the pervasive narratives and shed light on the value of everyday citizens' contributions in STEM, this project will highlight stories and the STEM identities of historically marginalized communities in local contexts. The STEM in...

People in rural areas, including those in agricultural communities, face disproportionately high risks associated with wildfire hazards. Educational approaches that more fully consider their perspectives and goals are needed to mitigate these risks. Accordingly, this project will build partnerships among rural community organizations, a small science center, and a university, with the purpose of understanding diverse perspectives on wildfire. These...

Synthetic biology is an emerging field that uses computation and design technology to modify biological cells for biological research and health applications. This new field is an important area for community involvement because synthetic biology has complex ethical implications and health applications. This project aims to engage youth and their families in this new field, which is largely inaccessible to...

Broadening access to STEM for members of the public can be challenging, as many STEM-focused media channels and recreational venues primarily cater to those with a pre-existing interest in STEM. This is especially problematic when learning about climate change because it is the most disenfranchised members of society who will likely bear the heaviest burden of its effects. Public festivals,...

The need for ultrathin (thickness in sub-2 nm) oxide semiconductor films with tunable electronic structures and functionalities arises from the steady trend of reducing device dimensions in electronics for advanced computing and artificial intelligence following the empirical Moore's law during the past few decades. New energy-efficient computing paradigms have emerged, such as neuromorphic computing (NC), which is inspired by how...

Fostering positive science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) identity and providing access to quality STEM learning opportunities that connect with youths' local contexts and interests is essential for learning and growth. However, access to quality STEM education experiences can be limited among historically underserved youth. Furthermore, women and individuals identifying as Latinx or Black remain underrepresented in STEM fields. Responding...

Research shows the importance of children seeing themselves as capable of "doing STEM" and developing a positive STEM identity. Yet, children of color are less likely to have access to these informal STEM opportunities. Building on the successful "Science is Fun" (SIF) intervention, the project will revise this program for Hispanic students using a culturally-responsive approach. Facilitated by Hispanic, near-peer...

This project is an Expand AI Partnership between the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI), and the AI Institute for Advances in Optimization (AI4OPT) at Georgia Tech, an NSF-sponsored AI institute focused on automated decision-making and mathematical optimization. In this project, a minority-serving institution leads a new collaboration with an AI Institute focused on scaling...

The Space Science Institute’s (SSI) National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) was awarded funding from NASA’s TEAM II Program to develop and implement Moon, Mars, and Beyond. The project partnered with seven public libraries to: (1) increase youth and adult patrons’ interest in and engagement with the NASA’s Moon/Mars program, its contributions to STEM disciplines, and related STEM careers; (2)...

This is a final evaluation report of a NASA-funded project to provide a new STEM learning opportunity for youth to help address inequities in learning. The project involved designing, creating, and disseminating two "Learning Lunchbox Kits" that focused on the Artemis rocket and the James Webb Space Telescope. Each Kit contains five hands-on activities to learn about Space with with...

This project aims to serve the national interest by exploring community-based participatory research and relevant theories from disability studies and organizational change to implement inclusive practices for developmentally disabled employees, interns, and volunteers in informal STEM education settings such as zoos and aquariums. The investigator will implement a mentorship and professional learning plan specifically focused on three key areas: 1)...

With the support of the Future of Semiconductors (FuSe) Program, Professors Anthony Engler, Phillip Sprunger, Revati Kumar, and Christopher Marvel of Louisiana State University (LSU) will design, synthesize, and investigate new polymeric materials and processes for high-resolution patterning in semiconductor manufacturing. New research infrastructure will be installed at the LSU Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD) synchrotron that will...

This document is a reference for the sustainable materials & processes that were used in Oregon Museum of Science and Industry’s 2000sf Creatividad silvestre / Wild Creativity exhibition....

Despite the interconnected nature of the world, traditional science disciplines, such as physics and biology, are often presented in isolation. Through a partnership between Aztec dancers and Western trained scientists, this partnership project seeks to bridge multiple knowledge systems to co-design and develop a clear pathway for Western and Indigenous knowledge to inform and generate new approaches to informal science...

Although the number of refugee groups has increased across the United States in recent decades, many groups do not have opportunities to engage in quality STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning opportunities, embedded within a comprehensive systems-wide approach to understanding and advancing the refugees' goals and planned trajectories. To address this issue, this project will result in the development...

This project will broaden participation in engineering by developing learning resources through which Black families have opportunities to engage in engineering practices and to see themselves as part of the engineering community. The research team will co-develop informal learning resources with Black families in which children, ages six to ten, have opportunities to engage in biological, civil, computer, electrical, environmental,...

By the time they enter middle school, many youth have opted out of engineering pathways due to marginalization and underexposure to engineering fields and careers. This project will address this issue by developing and testing a promising model of informal engineering programming designed to foster engineering identities among youth aged 9-12. This model will iterate on the existing work of...

This project will broaden participation in engineering by developing learning resources through which Black families have opportunities to engage in engineering practices and to see themselves as part of the engineering community. The research team will co-develop informal learning resources with Black families in which children, ages six to ten, have opportunities to engage in biological, civil, computer, electrical, environmental,...