university of portland's first on-campus family stem night:
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STEM Education and Outreach Center
Winter Edition, 2016
The SOAR Club organized a visit from a class from Sitton
Elementary School to visit the UP campus to learn about
Engineering. Big thanks to students from the SOAR Club,
students from the Shiley School of Engineering, and Engineering
professors Tim Doughty, Shazib Viglee, and Aziz Inan for hosting
the grade school students!
Students from Open School also came to campus for a visit.
Once again the Shiley School of Engineering stepped up to the
plate to introduce these students to the wonders of
engineering. Special thanks to Khalid Khan for leading that
group’s STEM visit!
Visits to the UP Campus
UP Gets a New Grant :
Solar Thermal Energy
University of Portland Shiley School of Engineering has received
three separate grants totaling $45,000 for undergraduate
student research projects dealing with environmental and
sustainability issues.
The research involves collaboration with other schools and
organizations, and each project is funded by a $15,000 grant
from the Oregon Alliance of Independent Colleges & Universi-
ties (The Alliance) and the Katherine Bisbee II Fund of the
Oregon Community Foundation. The grant’s funds are to be
applied to projects that are easily discernable, have an element
of creativity, and show a long-term benefit to the people
and/or natural areas of Oregon.
The first grant involves the second phase of a partnership with
George Fox University and Portland General Electric (PGE), who
last summer jointly did research on solar-thermal energy
production. The project, submitted by UP engineering professor
Heather Dillon, provided students and faculty with a “real
world” challenge in terms of renewable energy science.
Students and faculty developed an automatic load control
algorithm to control the electrical load based on variations in
local weather.
The two universities worked together closely last summer and
developed project paths that allowed both schools to end up
with relevant laboratory data and experiments. George Fox
engineering professor Chad Stillinger was a collaborator on the
project, which received feedback from industry partner PGE.
“I am thankful for the PGE team for engaging these young
people in learning about energy systems and inspiring them to
continue their education in this area,” said Kregg Arntson,
Director, Corporate Social Responsibility and Executive Director
of PGE Foundation. “Being more intentional about connecting
our Alliance scholars with the energy industry not only benefits
the students in their educational pursuits, it helps us ensure we
have a qualified pool of workers to sustain us into the future.”
The STEM Center has had a busy
semester, mostly filled with
outreach activities. We held our first
on campus Family STEM Night in
November. We were really pleased
with the turnout. It was great to
have so many of our students and
faculty working with the local K-8
students and their families. The
enthusiasm in Howard Hall was palpable! See this issue of the
newsletter for more info and pictures. We also had two school
groups (Sitton Elementary and Open School) requesting
individualized visits, which I am happy to say we were able to
provide—mostly thanks to the faculty in the Shiley School of
Engineering and the SOAR Club on campus! This semester the
STEM Center is going to focus its attention inward to see how we
can better serve our own UP students and outward to provide
professional development opportunities for area teachers. We
have several ideas in the hopper, but you’ll have to wait to our
next edition to see what we did! Do remember to check our web
site (https://sites.up.edu/stem/) as Lloyd keeps it updated with
news and grant opportunities for faculty, undergraduate students,
and K-12 teachers!
We hope you have been enjoying this rather mild winter and wish
you a lovely start to spring!
Patricia Morrell morrell@up.edu
An Introduction
from the Director
Family STEM Night
and other
Outreach Activities
Robert Butler
Receives a
National Award
Faculty Grants and
Other news
Pollentia Update
Newsletter
Content
University of
Portland’s First
On-Campus Family
STEM Night:
You may recall, the last newsletter had an article on Dr. Robert
Butler winning the Neil Miner Award for his outstanding work in
Geoscience education. That same skill and enthusiasm has been
recognized by Western States Seismic Policy Council and
Dr. Butler received an award for Educational Outreach to
Schools. Dr. Butler has spearheaded the Cascadia Earthscope
Earthquake and Tsunami Education Program (CEETEP), serving as
their principal investigator, and is also known for his engaging
teaching style, long history with Earth Sciences, and his own
textbook on Paleomagnetism.
Pollentia Update
Faculty Presentation
Tisha Morrell and Julie Kalnin (both from the School of
Education) presented a research paper at the Annual
International Meeting of the Association for Science Teacher
Education, in Reno, Nevada this past January. Their study
examined the impact of a longitudinal professional development
experience (PD) on changing identity through communities of
practice. The PD focused on climate change and followed a
teacher as researcher model. The findings described the impact
of participation in the PD on both the teachers and the climate
change scientists involved in the project.
On November 19th in the Howard Hall Gym, University of Port-
land was delighted to hold an exciting event for K-8 students
and their parents to learn more about the possibilities of STEM
education. Just under 140 school children accompanied by
approximately 170 adults and family members were greeted by
activities put forward by an assortment of 100 UP students, club
members, and faculty representing the College of Arts and Sci-
ences and Schools of Engineering, Nursing and Education.
Among these were Dr. Robert Butler, winner of last year’s Neil
Miner award for his work in Earth Sciences, who gave a fantastic
presentation on earthquakes, as well as Dr. Shazib Vijlee, whose
students produced a perfect sine wave with a Ruben’s Tube.
Kids went home with diffraction glasses, pencils, and squishy
brains as our thanks for participating in the event.
Dr. Robert Butler Recognized Again!
Father Richard Rutherford (professor emeritus from Theology)
had his article “The Adventure Continues: Update on the
Pollentia Expedition” published in the February 2016 issue of
Catholic Cemetery. Also, the new video promoting Pollentia –
Roman City is in the top position on the Pollentia Wordpress site:
https://sites.up.edu/pollentia. If you haven't seen this short film,
give yourself to a 2 minute treat and, if new to the site, scroll
around a bit too for a more detailed share in the past two
Pollentia summers. If you are interested in participating in or
supporting the 2016 Summer Expedition, please contact Father
Rutherford (ruther@up.edu)
Grants for High-Needs
Careers
University of Portland, working with Impact NW and the Portland
Metro STEM Partnership, has secured a $75,000 grant from
Work Systems, Inc. The project, according to UP mathematics
professor Stephanie Salomone, includes writing curriculum to
help prepare youth in Multnomah and Washington counties for
four high-needs career pathways: infrastructure, manufacturing,
information technology, and health care. The project will serve
as a pilot program during the first year, and the goal of Work
Systems, Inc. is to eventually make its curriculum available
statewide. Work Systems, Inc. is a non-profit organization that
pursues and invests resources to improve the quality of the
workforce in the City of Portland, and Multnomah and
Washington counties.
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