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CRESE Seminars

Spring 2025 Seminars and Brown Bags...
Please Join Us
!

This seminar series explores findings from discipline-based STEM education research that can help advance equity, academic success, and social mobility for all students. Distinguished speakers will present their research, followed by interactive Q&A sessions focused on translating these findings into practical teaching strategies for undergraduate STEM classrooms. Through these discussions, we will examine strategies to address barriers, foster inclusivity, and enhance student achievement within a diverse academic community. This series will showcase the significance of discipline-based STEM education research in undergraduate STEM programs, foster meaningful discussions, and inspire actionable change in teaching.

Seminars are noon-1 in Markstein 101 on the following Thursdays:

STEMunch & Learn Brown Bag

Tuesdays noon-1
Dates: TBA
Location: TBA

Join us for STEMunch & Learn, a brown bag lunch discussion of the scholarship of teaching and learning in STEM disciplines. No preparation is required - just bring your lunch and join the conversation as we explore common challenges we face in STEM classrooms, share successes, and exchange innovative ideas. See you there!

Fall 2024 abstracts

Thursday, February 20, 2025

Dr. Brean Prefontaine, Duke University 

Abstract: Despite global demand for computing expertise, Black, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander people remain significantly underrepresented among students, faculty, and industry professionals in the field. Additionally, developed technologies continue to include elements of discrimination while appearing neutral. Our research focuses on how undergraduate computing students perceive race and how their perceptions may influence their recognition of racial bias in computing contexts. Using a mixed-methods approach, we surveyed and interviewed undergraduate computing students across the country to further understand their race socialization before and during college, their understanding of race, and how they view racial bias in the context of academic and professional computing environments. In this talk, I will describe several important findings from our study, implications for computing education, and some next steps that faculty can take to help students further their understanding of race. 

About the Speaker: Brean Prefontaine is a postdoctoral researcher at Duke University with The Alliance for Interdisciplinary Innovations in Computing Education (AiiCE). She earned her PhD in physics at Michigan State University and her BS in physics at Drexel University. Her dissertation focused on understanding how opportunities to facilitate informal physics programs can impact undergraduate students, particularly in their physics identity development. Her current research spans both computer science education and physics education and is focused on understanding the undergraduate student experience. Her physics education research continues to focus on the ways that undergraduate students facilitate in informal STEM spaces while her computer science education research is focused on how undergraduate computing students perceive and experience race and racism. 

 

Erin Shortlidge, Portland State University 

Abstract: TBA

About the Author: TBA

Previous seminars:

Fall 2024

Thursday Sept. 26, 2024
Eleanor Close, Texas State University San Marcos
Supporting equitable student success and inclusive STEM community through a Learning Assistant Program

Abstract:
The Learning Assistant (LA) Model is a structure for near-peer instructional support that has demonstrated benefits across a wide range of courses and institutions. At Texas State University we launched our LA Program in 2012 in physics and have recently expanded the program into biology and chemistry with a five-year NSF HSI project. Our implementation of the LA Model is informed by the theory of Communities of Practice and is structured specifically to create a shared culture of mutual support. Students in LA-supported courses have both higher success rates (lower percentage of students receiving grades of D or F, or withdrawing) and increased content learning. LAs change their ways of learning and of being students as a result of their LA experience, and physics LAs describe positive impacts on their physics identity and sense of belonging to a supportive and collaborative community. In this talk I will describe the LA Model, the specifics of the TXST LA Program, and some of the positive outcomes we have seen for our STEM students and faculty.

About the speaker:
Dr. Eleanor Close is a Professor of Physics at Texas State University and a physics education researcher. She co-directs the STEM Communities Learning Assistant Program at TXST, co-organizes regional and national workshops through the National Learning Assistant Alliance, and is currently PI of an NSF Noyce Scholarship project and Co-PI on two NSF HSI projects. Her research interests include situated learning and identity development through communities of practice, particularly for multiply marginalized students; Learning Assistant program impacts on students, LAs, and faculty; and physics teacher preparation and professional development. She received her Physics M.S. from the University of Washington in 2003 and her Ed.D. in Curriculum & Instruction from Seattle Pacific University in 2009. Between receiving her B.A. in Physics from Bryn Mawr College and starting graduate school, she taught high school physics and physical science for three years in rural North Carolina, where she became science department chair by seniority after five months. In her non-work life, she co-parents three teenagers and gardens with native plants for local wildlife.


Thursday Oct. 24, 2024
Natascha Trellinger Buswell, UC Irvine
The write answer for equitable and inclusive engineering classrooms

Abstract:
In this talk, Dr. Natascha Trellinger Buswell draws upon the breadth of her research to examine the questions where and how writing and other professional skills, such as writing, teaming, communication, and ethics, fit in to engineering classrooms. While these topics are often relegated to specialty courses, Dr. Buswell argues for inclusion of these topics in all engineering courses.

Next, Dr. Buswell shares her approaches to teaching in engineering classrooms. She explores research-based approaches and interventions that can support feelings of belonging in engineering classrooms, gives examples of assignments and discussion topics, and shares her beliefs for how to make engineering an equitable and inclusive field to all in the future.

About the speaker:
Natascha Trellinger Buswell is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UC Irvine. She earned her PhD in engineering education at Purdue University and her BS in aerospace engineering at Syracuse University. Her dissertation examined the pathways and experiences of early-career faculty at non-R1 institutions, and she is focused on understanding and supporting all students through her teaching and research. Her research explores faculty and graduate student teaching development, graduate student writing processes, the identity formation of undergraduates, and the workplace experiences early-career engineers. She is particularly interested in researching the stories of female and non-binary engineers and engineers of color.


 
Thursday Nov 21, 2024
Lalo Gonzalez, UC Santa Barbara

Scalable Success: Use of Near-Peer Mentors to Promote STEM Student Academic Performance

Abstract:
Mentorship is an effective strategy to promote postsecondary STEM studnt academic success and retention. However, as undergraduate STEM enrollment continues to increase, faculty-student mentorship at large, public universities is not a scalable approach. Here we describe the positive impacts of near-peer mentorship approaches which leverage upper-division biology students to provide support to first- and second-year majors at the University of California.  

About the Author:
Lalo Gonzalez Nino is the Vice Chair for Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. A first-generation Latino, he holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez in Mexico and a PhD in biology from New Mexico State University. In over a decade of experience in STEM education, Eduardo has led initiatives focused on mentoring and supporting underrepresented students. His work centers on improving student success and retention through innovative teaching practices, including peer mentorship models that empower upper-division students to mentor their first- and second- year peers. 


Spring 2024 


Thursday February 29, 2024
Mary Pilgrim, San Diego State University
 
Thursday March 14, 2024
Laird Kramer, Florida International University
 
Thursday April 4, 2024
Susan E. Shadle, Boise State University


Mary Pilgrim, San Diego State University

Mathematics Graduate Teaching Assistant Preparation for Teaching through the ELITE PD Program

Abstract: 

Mathematics graduate teaching assistants (MGTAs) make up part of both the current and future teaching force at the undergraduate level; however they are often not adequately prepared to teach in engaging, inclusive, and equitable ways. Without robust professional development (PD) for teaching that focuses on active, engaged teaching practices, MGTAs often replicate the lecture-based teaching practices that they have experienced and observed as students. The ELITE PD project aims to implement and study a PD program for MGTAs focused on engaged learning, inclusive teaching, and equity (ELITE PD). Spanning multiple semesters, the ELITE PD program is being implemented with cohorts of MGTAs across three institutions. In this presentation, I will share the ELITE PD program model, an overview of the research, contextual adaptations, and an example activity.

About the Author: 
Mary E. Pilgrim holds an MS in Mathematics and Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from Colorado State University. She is Associate Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at San Diego State University and is the Math Graduate TA professional development provider. Her research area is in undergraduate mathematics education. Within this field of study, she has expertise in mathematics instructor professional development for teaching, with a focus on active, equitable, and inclusive practices. In addition, she studies the uptake and sustainability of related change efforts at the department level. She has two National Science Foundation grants that support this work: 1) Collaborative Research: Mathematics Graduate Teaching Assistant Professional Development Focused on Implementation of Evidence-based Teaching Practices (Award Nos 2013590, 2013563, and 2013422), and 2) Collaborative Research: Mathematics Persistence through Inquiry and Equity: Redeveloping Gateway Mathematics in a Two-year HSI to Promote Success in STEM (Award Nos 1953713 and 1953753).

 


Establishing a new standard of care for calculus instruction

Laird Kramer, Florida International University

Abstract:

The Catalyzing Change in Calculus (C3) Project developed and rigorously tested the Modeling Practices in Calculus (MPC) curriculum and pedagogy for Introductory Calculus at Florida International University. MPC is a comprehensive instructional approach that promotes ambitious teaching practices, fosters students' use of the practices of mathematicians to learn calculus and embeds culturally responsive instruction into an active learning calculus course. A large-scale pragmatic trial with randomized student allocation was used to compare the MPC instructional approach to traditional, lecture-based instruction. A sample of 811 undergraduate students were studied across 32 sections taught by 19 instructors over three semesters. Large effect sizes were consistently measured for student learning outcomes in the MPC sections, demonstrating a new standard for calculus instruction and increased opportunities for completion of STEM degrees. The talk will summarize the MPC approach, share the experimental strategies and methods, and provide insights on potential future growth and opportunities.

About the Author: 
Laird Kramer is a Professor of Physics and served as the Founding Director of the STEM Transformation Institute at Florida International University. His work focuses on facilitating institutional change through implementation of, and research on, evidence- based educational practices to establish equitable outcomes for all students. His work began in transforming the undergraduate physics experience at FIU, creating more well-prepared majors through the implementation of Modeling Instruction-based studio physics courses, establishment of student-centric methodologies, and establishment of a high school/university research and learning community. He launched FIU’s Learning Assistant Program in 2008 that grew into an institutional priority and now impacts over 12,000 student enrollments across all STEM departments each semester. These and other efforts led to establishing the STEM Transformation Institute that situates FIU as a STEM education laboratory for research, development and dissemination of inclusive models that will transform institutional educational practices in order to meet the national need for qualified STEM professionals.
 
 
Susan Shadle, Boise State University
 
Abstract: 
There have been decades of calls for improvements to post-secondary STEM education with the goal of improving student outcomes.  And for many of us in the classroom, we see first-hand the need for improved learning and more equitable outcomes for our students.  How do we approach changes at a variety of levels in the system - from individual classrooms to departments and institutional environments?  This presentation will frame ideas for making change in the service of student learning and persistence, provide examples of what this can look like at different levels of the system, and consider strategies for leading change for student and faculty success.  
 
About the Author: 
Susan E. Shadle serves as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Boise State University.  She also spent many years as the Executive Director of Boise State’s Center for Teaching and Learning.  Dr. Shadle’s scholarly interests are focused on understanding and supporting organizational learning and institutional change, especially in the areas of STEM Education reform, faculty development, and student success. She has contributed time, energy, and leadership to support the work of the national POGIL Project (www.pogil.org), the POD Network (Professional and Organizational Development Network), and ASCN (the Accelerating Systemic Change Network). She is currently the Project Director of a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Inclusive Excellence-3 award at Boise State.