COS and CECS collaborate on STEM education initiatives

The College of Sciences and the College of Engineering and Computer Science have agreed to collaborate on STEM education initiatives.

This collaborative effort, Initiatives in STEM (iSTEM), is intended to promote and enhance COS and CECS collaboration on STEM education and STEM education research.

“We hope to make it easier for faculty with an interest in these matters to find one another, form new or better collaborations, and increase their ability to get external funding,” said Michael D. Johnson, College of Sciences Dean.

“We will also seek to include other colleges and units at UCF who are involved in STEM education and STEM education research,” Johnson said.

Initiatives in STEM (iSTEM)

Faculty in CECS and COS are very active in STEM education, including outreach, recruitment, programs to improve student success, and research. To build on this success, and expand collaboration, the two colleges have agreed to work together on multi-disciplinary STEM education research, programs, and outreach efforts. Therefore, the CECS/COS Initiatives in STEM (iSTEM) effort has as its core mission to promote and enhance CECS and COS collaborative efforts on STEM education and research. iSTEM will help us develop close ties with other colleges, centers, and institutes on campus, as well as other stakeholders with a similar interest in STEM initiatives. This includes both STEM and non-STEM units with an interest in STEM-related education.

Goals

• To bring coherence to the many externally and internally STEM funded projects at UCF.
• To increase grant and philanthropic funding efforts that support STEM education and related research by bringing together interested participants from throughout UCF and from outside UCF.
• To position UCF in Florida and nationally as a hub for STEM education and related research.
• To improve the STEM pipeline and produce a better STEM workforce.

Short run Initiatives

STEM Programs at UCF and Outreach to Potential STEM Students

• Bring together the funded STEM educational programs within CECS and COS (e.g., efforts to attract and retain students) and facilitate their coherence and closer collaboration.
• Facilitate collaborative efforts to pursue additional opportunities.
• Strengthen external research proposals, e.g. to NSF, by providing access to STEM programs and helping faculty integrate their research and STEM education plans.
• Increase awareness of STEM education and professional opportunities among K-12 students to encourage more – especially women and underrepresented minorities – to pursue a STEM career.

STEM Education Research at UCF

• Bring together the funded STEM research programs within CECS and COS, and facilitate their coherence and closer collaboration.
• Facilitate collaborative efforts to pursue additional opportunities.
• Serve as a hub to connect faculty and unitsengaged or interested in STEM education research.
• Provide evidence based models for improved student learning in STEM.

Fellowships and Scholarships for UCF Students

• Create a repository of available federal, state, and local STEM fellowships and scholarships available to UCF undergraduate and graduate students.
• Inform UCF students and faculty of these opportunities, and help UCF students aggressively compete for these opportunities by providing mentoring, conducting workshops, and exposing them to guest speakers.

In the long run, we hope broader participation will enable us to pursue another initiative:

Training and Retraining of K-20 STEM Teachers

• Bring together UCF’s externally and internally funded programs to improve K-20 STEM teacher training and retraining, and facilitate their coherence and closer collaboration.
• Facilitate collaborative efforts to pursue additional opportunities.