by Dave Reed, ddreed@mtu.eduThe American Statistical Association has worked with NIH and NSF to encourage statisticians to participate in the panel review process. The first link below is a Google Form for nominations to be on NIH panels. The second link is to an NSF page where people can volunteer for panels, and the third is a link to a general document that describes the process, how to get involved, and things to consider when reviewing a proposal. The first is specific to statisticians, but the second two are general and are suitable for all disciplines.NIH Funding Review Panel Nominations
NSF – volunteer for panels
Serving effectively on funding review panels: advice for statisticians new to the process
Joan Chadde, jchadde@mtu.edu Director for Science & Environmental Outreach
Greetings, members of the ECM community! We hope your spring semester is off to a great start. As you continue to look for potential National Science Foundation or other state and federal agency funding, you will likely come across the need to incorporate K-12 education / outreach in your project proposal.
I’d like to introduce you to the work of the Center for Science & Environmental Outreach (CSEO), which has a wide range of experience developing and delivering K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs, along with many environmental education programs. These are for students and teachers in Houghton County, the western U.P., statewide in Michigan, the Upper Midwest/Great Lakes region, and some programs are even disseminated nationally, such as the Family Engineering Program!
Established in 1991 and wholly grant-funded, the Center offers programs focused on enhancing the teaching and learning of STEM for K-12 students, teachers, and community members. The Center’s diverse programs include Outdoor Science Investigations Field Trips, Family Science & Engineering events, After School STEM Classes & Summer Camps, Water Festival, Girls & Engineering and other programs to increase under-represented students in STEM, K-12 teacher professional learning, and Western UP Science Fair & STEM Festival. Programs are created and delivered by the Center’s education staff and we also partner with Michigan Tech faculty who wish to conduct modules/short courses/etc. with our target audiences. The Center’s programs engage ~15,000 students, teachers, and community members annually so it is a great place to broadly disseminate your hands-on / interactive ideas!
And the good news is that you don’t need to figure out logistics! The Center has a menu of education / outreach ideas with an estimated cost for each. These ideas should pique your creativity and then you can set up a meeting with CSEO staff to customize an offering to your research broader impacts.
The Center is located at the Great Lakes Research Center where it takes full advantage of the learning lab/classroom and other spaces to deliver a wide range of programs. There are 4 full-time staff with a range of experiences, from science, social studies, environmental education GIS, technology, geoheritage, citizen science, and organizing large and small events. The Center’s expertise way outpaces the links on this page: https://blogs.mtu.edu/cseo/
This valuable post on Tomorrow’s ProfessorSM eNewsletter by Kerry Ann Rockquemore, PhD, president and CEO of the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity begins with “At this point in the term, it’s an ideal time to stop and evaluate your progress… by gently asking yourself several important questions:
- How is the term going so far?
- How much writing have I completed?
- Have I developed a daily writing routine?
- How am I progressing towards the goals on my strategic plan? and
- How do I feel about my answers to the previous questions?”
The post goes on to provide practical advice to classify the areas that hold you back so you can intentionally make adjustments for the rest of the semester. “Most academics’ productivity is blocked by some combination of what Julie Morgenstern describes as technical errors, psychological obstacles, and external realities.” The technical errors are easiest to fix; those and external realities are usually cited to others for lack of progress. In my own career, I’ve found my own psychological attitude to be the key challenge and also to undermine my ability to deal with external realities and technical errors. This is a wonderful post to read and discuss in your ECM meetings this month. Have a great, productive and rewarding semester! – Adrienne
Read the full article here.
by Amy L. Howard, Center for Diversity & Inclusion
What does diversity mean and why does it matter?
Join us at noon Monday, February 12, 2018 in MUB Ballroom B1 for our first Diverse Dialogues to engage in meaningful campus dialogue around topics of diversity and inclusion. Bring your own lunch, light refreshments and beverages will be provided.
This guided conversation will allow individuals to discuss the meaning of diversity and explore the multiple diversities that exist. Individuals will work to identify the relevance of their own cultural and social identities and leave with an enhanced understanding of how to embrace diversity in order to work more effectively across difference at Tech and within their respective communities.
The Diverse Dialogues series aims to provide opportunities for students, faculty and staff to have conversations about relevant issues of equity, diversity, inclusion, social justice and much more. They are designed to be an informal, yet guided gathering to allow participants to educate and learn from one another. While each dialogue in the series has a centralized theme, we want to encourage participants to determine where the conversations go. This series is meant to start the discussion on difficult topics and implore individuals to push their awareness, knowledge and action related to themes of diversity and inclusion.