Tag Archives: steam

UMass Lowell Wins ADVANCE Grant

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With great pride, I want to share that the National Science Foundation has awarded UMass Lowell an ADVANCE-IT grant for its proposal “ADVANCE: Institutional Transformation: Making WAVES: Disrupting Microaggressions to Propagate Institutional Transformation.” According to the proposal’s abstract, the goal is

“to create an academic environment that supports STEM women to achieve to their highest potential by disrupting interpersonal and institutional microaggressions that undercut their productivity and well-being. Despite increasing numbers, women faculty are still underrepresented in academic STEM, predominantly at higher ranks and in leadership. Recent research suggests that microaggressions, as a particular expression of subtle biases, have a powerful, cumulative negative impact on access to research support and advancement.”

The Institutional Transformation program WAVES (Women Academics Valued and Engaged in STEM) proposes to holistically tackle this critical barrier for women in STEM with interventions including surveys, an informational campaign, bystander training, alternative networks for STEM women, and increased transparency and accountability initiatives.

meg-sobcowicz-kline_opt_tcm18-38785Congratulations to the investigator team, including UMass Lowell Chancellor  Jacqueline Moloney, Ed.D.; Julie Chen, Ph.D.; Meg Bond Ph.D.; Marina Ruths, Ph.D.; and Meg Sobkowicz-Kline, Ph.D.

Dr. Sobkowicz-Kline, Plastics Engineering, will serve as Engineering’s liaison for the WAVES program. To date, $1.6 million has been awarded for this effort.

Welcome Francis College of Engineering, Class of 2020!

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Classes have officially started and the campus is buzzing again with activity. It is truly great to see. Having been in the education “business” for over two decades, I truly enjoy the renewal each fall season.

14192052_1464515000242073_6133718795296890739_nThe College welcomes 829 new undergraduate students this year, with 577 freshmen and 252 transfer students. The total represents a 6 percent increase in new undergraduate students over last fall, including a 13 percent increase in the freshman class. The boost in enrollment was aided by the launch of our new Biomedical Engineering program, with an inaugural class of 40 students.

The Biomed freshmen class boasts the highest High School GPA and second highest SAT score of any incoming major on campus! Additionally, it has an equal number of men and women.

Mechanical Engineering remains the most popular major, with 137 freshmen and 81 transfer students, for a total of 218 new majors. However, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is seeing the greatest increase in students among its two ABET accredited degrees, with 240 (159 freshman and 81 transfers).

14225574_1464508170242756_6198948552047997955_nWhile the growth in our programs is exciting, as it validates the hard work of our Faculty in delivering high quality programs, I am more excited about the continued growth in the quality of our students. The incoming freshmen class has an average High School GPA of 3.7 and an average SAT of 1221. Additionally, this class is 19 percent female, representing a 3.6 percent increase over last year and a 5.1 percent increase over two years ago. This is a trend that I hope to see continue.

I look forward to a wonderful 2016-17 academic year!

— Joe Hartman

 

Mechanical Engineering junior shaping minds and changing lives in Boston’s South End

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Samariah (Sammy) Jacobs, a UMass Lowell Mechanical Engineering junior, is doing amazing work getting inner city Boston youth creatively engaged in technology and engineering, as a mentor in the 14 year old Learn 2 Teach, Teach 2 Learn program at the South End Technology Center @ Tent City. 

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Sammy, fellow L2T/T2L college mentors and youth teachers just won an international Google RISE award for their work and the National Science Foundation is studying their work as national best practices in a Digital Literacies research project.  

Each year, 36 teenage youth teachers, who are selected to represent Boston, learn 6 different technology and engineering modules, build projects that solve community issues, then offer free 3-4 week STEAM camps for 700+ Boston elementary and middle school youth at 25 community organizations who would not otherwise offer STEM enrichment.  

SquishaySoccerSamRafaelSammy was a youth teacher when she was in high school and now is in her second year of working as a college mentor in the program.  Last year, Sammy developed a solar energy activity where youth soldered up solar circuits to power the propeller on their own lasercut wood airplane.  She just developed two activities and began teaching them to new youth teachers:  Teh Squish-ay (using conductive dough to teach electricity and circuits with LEDs, motors, tilt switches, photocells) and Blinkie Paper (uses linkages with circuit stickers to create light up cards).  

 

My sincere appreciation to Dr. Susan Klimczak, L2T Director of Special Programs, for calling attention to Sammy’s inspiring community contributions. She is a shining example of just one of the many reasons why I am so proud to be Dean of the College of Engineering. Look for more information on Sammy and her work at Tent City in future posts.