Preschooler Kathy Avila couldn’t quite believe her eyes one morning last October when a little chunk of dry ice reacted with a clear solution to produce carbonic acid, lowering the solution’s pH and turning it a clear, pretty pink as a dense cloud of CO2 and water vapor spilled over the rim of the beaker. In fact, she had no idea what was even happening, or why. But that didn’t matter a bit. What mattered was that she was fascinated.

She wasn’t the only one. In fact, there were 45 kids at UAFS that day for the Festival of Science, making polymer slime, “elephant toothpaste,” and a non-Newtonian fluid nicknamed “oobleck”—all with the help of UAFS faculty and students. The hope is that such early, positive experiences with STEM will lead more students to STEM majors and, ultimately, help fill the millions of new STEM jobs forecast for the coming decade—or better yet, serve as badly needed STEM educators themselves.

m a t t e r s

REACTION5210 Grand Avenue

Fort Smith, AR 72903uafs.edu/stem

Vol . 1 • Iss. 1 • Apr i l 2013 • uafs.edu/stemIn s I d e t h e Is s u e :

steM ed u c at I o n

UAFS works to meet the urgent , r is ing need for STEM teachers

te ac h I n g I t Fo r wa r d

Jesse Watson wants to pass on the spark l i t by a high school math teacher

uaFs a n d ha r d I n g te a M up o n Ma r s rov e r

Engineer ing students col laborate on components for the next generat ion of explorat ion vehic les

nat u r a l In t e r p r e t e r

5 Quest ions with Dr. Char les Preston ’72

STEM ENROLLMENT RISESUAFS Outpaces Nat ional TrendTotal enrollment in the College of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics increased more than 27 percent from fall 2008 to fall 2012, making STEM one of the fastest growing of UAFS’s seven academic colleges. That’s a very encouraging statistic at a time when nationwide the number of STEM degrees conferred as a percentage of total degrees is falling—as it has been for more than 25 years. In 2011, about 16 percent of all U.S. degrees were conferred in STEM fields, compared to 47 percent in China. And it’s not just China; the U.S. isn’t even in the top 25 globally. Why does that matter? Because even though scientists and engineers make up only about 5 percent of the U.S. workforce, their technological innovations drive a large portion of our economy. The U.S. needs more of those innovators in order to stay competitive with countries like China and India, which are training them much more quickly than we are. On a smaller scale, STEM graduates are needed urgently to fill up

to an estimated 3 million open positions. Although a STEM degree doesn’t guarantee a job, the STEM unemployment rate hovers around half the national rate, and employers report having a hard time finding people with the right training to fill their STEM positions. At the same time, the number of STEM jobs is forecast to grow nearly twice as fast as that of non-STEM jobs, making the shortage still worse. The result, simply put, is that regions with larger numbers of STEM-trained workers will attract the businesses that employ them. STEM occupations also pay more—about $35,000 more a year on average—and offer substantially better job security than others. Every single one of the 10 best-paying four-year majors are in STEM, and STEM graduates, even if they don’t work in a STEM field, make about 11 percent more than others with the same level of education in a non-STEM major. That’s a good thing not only for the graduates themselves but also for the region’s median income and unemployment rate.

young minds + neat sc ience → real impactAt Fest ival of Science

*Sources: National Science Foundation and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

16% 47%

United States China

10% 17%

Non-STEM Jobs STEM Jobs

$43,460 $77,800

All Occupations

STEM Occupations

STEM GRADUATES

PROJECTED JOB GROWTH

MEAN ANNUAL WAGE

Only about 16% of all U.S. degrees are conferred in STEM fields, compared to

47% in China.

The number of STEM jobs in the U.S. was projected to grow 17% between 2008 and 2018, versus 10% for all jobs combined.

In 2009, the mean annual salary for STEM jobs in the United States was

$77,800, versus $43,460 for all jobs.

Fr o M t h e de a n

Hello, and thank you for reading this issue of STEM Matters. As these stories show, both UAFS and the College of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics have both good momentum and immense potential as the result of many things, the most important being outstanding teaching. Whether it’s traditional teaching in the lecture hall, laboratory, and field, or the more personal instruction involved in a research project or internship, our students get an education rivaling the best colleges in the country. Yet, we can and will improve. These are exciting times on campus. The University is engaged in a master planning process, into which the College of STEM will figure prominently as we seek to fulfill our mission by providing unrivaled practical experiences for our majors and for students in area schools. Just as you can’t learn to compose music by listening to a symphony, true mastery of scientific concepts comes from personally and physically engaging in its proven processes, so it is imperative that we create and maintain environments for discovery and scientific investigation. Recently, leaders of the Department of Information Technology have been collaborating with national security interests and graduate programs. As a result, the department has revised its curriculum to increase emphases on computer science and cyber security while improving its offerings in information technology. To reflect this expansion, we are excited to announce a new name for the department: the Department of Computer and Information Sciences. I want to remind you how much we value staying in touch with our graduates and friends. I ask you to let us know about your milestones and successes. Current and former teachers, colleagues, and mentors all enjoy hearing what you’re up to now. Your accomplishments show the campus and local communities the returns of their investments in your education. Most importantly, your stories can help us recruit more STEM majors, which our region, state, and country so badly need. Send your latest news to me at mark.arant@uafs.edu.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mark Arant, Dean

CRITICAL SHORTAGEUAFS works to meet urgent, rising need for STEM teachers

The problem is easy enough to see. The fewer good math and science teachers in our middle and high schools, the fewer kids graduate with proficiency and interest in those subjects. And thus the fewer students study them in college. And thus the fewer good math and science teachers in our schools. It’s a classic downward spiral, and it’s happening now. The Arkansas Department of Education says we have a “critical need” for math and science teachers. Locally, says Dr. Brenda Sellers at the Fort Smith School District, there’s “a large degree of need,” and the shortage is getting worse, not better. In response, UAFS is working hard to recruit more students into STEM education programs—majors that combine math and/or science with teacher licensure. Some students, like Jesse Watson (facing page) and Dustin Clark (above), gravitate naturally to STEM education—often thanks to an inspiring science or math teacher along the way. But frankly, that no longer happens often enough. One approach to recruiting is simply talking to students about STEM education, something Marshal Hurst of the University’s Western Arkansas Education Renewal Zone does regularly, visiting introductory-level STEM courses to make sure students are aware of how much opportunity there is for STEM teachers. Another way is enticing them by offering attractive scholarships. Or more accurately, offering attractive scholarships specifically for STEM education majors. That’s where private donors like Mona Fuller Alonzo, a 1960 graduate of Fort Smith Junior College, and her husband, Dick, come in. Recognizing the urgent local need for STEM teachers, the Alonzos recently made a generous gift to help alleviate the situation with a pair of scholarships. But much more is needed. Although UAFS produces a steady stream of STEM teachers, enrollment numbers in those programs have remained relatively flat, even as enrollment in non-teaching STEM majors has climbed. The good news? Upward spirals work just like downward spirals. Every talented, enthusiastic STEM teacher UAFS produces—like Clark and Watson—has the opportunity to inspire literally thousands of young students to follow in his or her footsteps. “You can see the students that already enjoy it,” says Clark of his seventh grade science classes, “that want to do more. You stay with them, show them everything you can do, keep that interest up, make that drive in them. It starts here.”

2013 STEM ADVANCEMENT COUNCIL

MOMENTUM AND POTENTIAL

The Advancement Council of the College of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics is a group of respected community members with a vested interest in promoting STEM education in Greater Fort Smith. They advise the College on its direction and help educate its students in their post-graduation careers. They also organize events like the annual Ethics Symposium, which brings professionals to

campus to talk with students about ethical thought and conduct in their daily lives. Additionally, council members are generous in opening their doors to student internships and shadowing opportunities, creating opportunities for valuable, real-world experience in a variety of disciplines and professions.

Advancement Council Chair Scott Archer

Scott Archer (Chair)Principal Mechanical Engineer, HSA

Engineering

Steve Arnold Assistant Principal, Fort Smith

Southside High School

Dr. Peter FleckCardiologist, Cooper Clinic

Chester KoprovicOwner, Butler and Cook

Steve LovickIT Director, Rheem

Bruce PetersonOwner, Peterson Chemicals

Dr. Claire PriceOphthalmologist, Eye Group

Mark ShackelfordVice President of Information Services,

Baldor-ABB

Greg ShipleyPresident, Morrison-Shipley

Wayne ThurmanExecutive Vice President of Engineering,

Baldor-ABB

Laura WitheringtonDirector of School Partnerships, UAFS

College of Education

Dustin Clark, a recent graduate of the middle childhood education with an emphasis in math and science program, teaches seventh grade science at Fort Smith’s Chaffin Junior High.

pa r t I c u l at e Mat t e r

DR. LINDA TICHENOR, associate professor of biological sciences, was one of 16 biologists selected to participate in the 2012 Research Residency of the American Society of Microbiology/National Science Foundation Biology Scholars Program, a national leadership initiative that seeks to improve undergraduate biology education based on evidence of student learning. Tichenor is also the secretary-treasurer for the Executive Board of Directors for the Society for College Science Teachers.

DR. SANDHYA N. BAVISKAR, assistant professor of biology, was appointed to the Arkansas Broad Based Committee for reviewing the Next Generation Science Standards in Washington, D.C., in June 2012. She was also invited to participate in a round table discussion on “Exemplary Science Teaching” at the annual conference of the National Science Teachers Association, to take place in April 2013 in San Antonio.

DR. RAGUPATHY KANNAN, professor of biology, was appointed to a five-year term on the Arkansas Audubon Society Trust. So far, he has helped disburse more than $10,000 in grant money to biologists pursuing graduate and undergraduate projects, mostly based in Arkansas. Additionally, Kannan’s undergraduate research team had a major paper, “Status, Dispersal, and Breeding Biology of the Exotic Eurasian Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto in Arkansas,” accepted for publication in the Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science.

DR. DAVE MCGINNIS, assistant professor of chemistry, has been accepted to present a research poster at the 245th American Chemical Society National Meeting in New Orleans. His abstract is entitled “First planar-chiral isocyanide ligands: synthesis and coordination chemistry of (pS)-1-isocyano-2-methylferrocene and (pS)-1-isocyano-2-methylcymantrene.” Got that?

DR. JILL GUERRA, professor of mathematics, is currently serving a three-year term as governor of the Mathematical Association of America’s Oklahoma-Arkansas section. She also serves as MAA Section NExT coordinator, a professional development program for new mathematics faculty in Oklahoma and Arkansas, and on the MAA Committee on Articulation and Placement. In January she began her term as chair of the MAA Committee on the Participation of Women.

UAFS AND HARDING TEAM UP ON MARS ROVER

TEACHING IT FORWARDJesse Watson wants to pass on the spark lit by a high school math teacher

“Ask any kid on the street, ‘What’s your favorite subject?’” says senior math education major Jesse Watson, “and they’re not telling you math.” Watson should know; she was one of those kids herself until she was a high school junior. That was when her math teacher at Greenwood High School saw something in Watson and suggested she move from Pre-calculus to AP Calculus. It was tough at first, but Watson caught up quickly and was soon enjoying tutoring other students. “I had to go back and thank her later because I liked it so much,” she says. By the time she graduated, she had decided she wanted to be a high school math teacher, not a meteorologist as she had until then. The question, though, was where to go to college. Wheelchair access figured into the decision, and UAFS, according to Watson, offers the best around. But that wasn’t all. She was also attracted to the education program’s strong reputation as well as the financial support she was offered. In fact, between merit-based scholarships like the Academic Distinction Scholarship, special scholarships like the Governor’s

Commission on People with Disabilities Scholarship, and private support like the Larry Weigand Memorial Scholarship, Watson’s tuition and housing have been entirely covered. Of course, Watson has offered a great deal to UAFS in return, too. She’s in her fifth year with Cub Camp (as a counselor, chair, and director), serves as president of Gamma Eta sorority, holds a state-level office in Phi Beta Lambda, works on the Baptist Collegiate Ministry leadership team, sings with the campus women’s ensemble, and was elected Homecoming Queen in 2012. So what comes after graduation? That depends. Watson would like to go to graduate school, but financial aid is somewhat tougher to come by at that level, so she may teach for a few years first. Either way, she’s in the enviable position of being virtually assured of a job when she’s ready for it. The Arkansas Department of Education lists secondary math teachers as a “critical shortage area,” yet Watson is one of fewer than 50 math education majors at UAFS.

Last summer the Mars rover Curiosity made headlines with its high-resolution images of the planet’s surface, but a bit closer to home, UAFS Professor of Electrical Engineering Dr. Kevin Lewelling and seniors Theva Chanthaseny and Andrew Binder were working on a rover of their own—this one carrying a complement of optical instruments to sense and measure atmospheric compositions, including biomarker gases suggesting the presence of life now or in the past. For the project, funded in part by a grant from the NASA Collaborative Research Program, Lewelling and Chanthaseny are designing and constructing the rover’s on-board power supply system based on a 1 rge area. Once the rover is complete, it will be field-tested in a mock Martian environment before work begins on an already planned second-generation rover. The collaborative efforts of UAFS and Harding University will be reviewed and considered by NASA engineers for inclusion in a new generation of rovers being deployed to Mars.

Every last one counts, though, of which Watson is living proof. Had her own high school math teacher not encouraged her to challenge herself more, she almost certainly would have taken a different path—and wouldn’t be just a year away from entering the classroom herself, where she in turn hopes to kindle an interest in mathematics in a few of her own students. “We need more teachers that are excited about math,” Watson says. “If I’m excited about math in the classroom, students are going to be excited about it too.” And maybe a few of those students will, like Watson, get excited enough they’ll want to teach, perpetuating the sort of ripple effect that can make for real change in a community, a region, or even a country.

“ If I’m excited about math in the class room, students are going to be excited about it too.”

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pa r t I c u l at e Mat t e r

Senior mathematics education major CASSIE PEER recently proved the non-negativity of the Taylor series coefficients about the origin of the Schwarz-Christoffel mapping under certain assumptions from the unit disk onto an m-sided regular polygon. Her research provides the foundation for future students investigating topics resulting from research currently being done by her advisor, DR. JEANINE MYERS, pertaining to conformal mappings onto more general types of polygons.

DR. RICK L. MASSENGALE, head of the Department of Computer and Information Sciences (formerly Information Technology), is serving as the site chair and DR. JANET RENWICK, professor of CIS, is serving as chair for the five-state regional 2013 Mid-South Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges. The conference will take place April 5-6 on the UAFS campus and will be attended by faculty and students from across the region.

DR. DAVID PAULUS, associate professor of mechanical engineering, is leading students for the fifth year in the Society of Automotive Engineers Baja competition. The competition consists of college-level engineering students from around the world designing, building, and racing off-road vehicles.

DR. MICHAEL REYNOLDS, associate professor and head of engineering, is currently serving as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Online Engineering Education. This international journal is the leading source of information about online engineering educational efforts. Reynolds is also collaborating with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in a multi-year, NASA-funded grant to investigate how acoustic metamaterials can be used to make aircraft wings more durable.

DR. KEVIN LEWELLING, professor of electrical engineering, is currently the director of the Electric Vehicle Project at UAFS. The project, which receives funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation, is working to design and build its second electric vehicle. Lewelling is also collaborating with Harding University on a multi-year project to build a Mars rover for biogas detection. He is also representing UAFS on the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium.

NATURAL INTERPRETER5 Quest ions with Dr. Char les Preston ’72

Last October, Dr. Charles Preston, a 1972 Westark graduate, returned to campus to speak about natural resources interpretation—the art and science of making the natural world interesting enough that the public will actually want to learn something about it. It’s a subject about which Preston, a biologist by training, is not only deeply knowledgeable but also deeply passionate. After an early career as a professor, he led design and development of the Draper Museum of Natural History in Cody, Wyo., which, since opening in 2002, has become a model for a new genre of highly immersive and relevant natural science museums. We had a chance recently to ask Preston—still lead curator at the Draper, as well as a working ecologist and conservation biologist—a few questions about his work.

You’ve dedicated yourself to making science accessible and interesting to non-scientists. What do you hope to achieve, in a larger sense, by doing that? “ I worry about a society that is disconnected from nature and that does not meet its challenges through a process of critical thinking. Helping people understand and embrace science addresses both of these concerns. It also gives me great pleasure to see other people get excited about the world around them and the possibilities it presents.”

How did you make the leap from biology professor to museum designer and curator?“ Before and during graduate school, I worked as a museum educator and assistant curator. Even when I was a professor, I was a museum trustee. I loved mentoring students, but I missed informal public education, and I was always imagining ways museums could better connect with audiences. The Draper gave me the opportunity to create what I had always imagined.”

When it became clear to production designer Pablo Guerra that the UAFS theatre program couldn’t afford to buy the revolving stage it needed for its original play Dromnium, he picked up the phone and called the engineering department, where Dr. Kevin Lewelling asked for volunteers from his classes to design and build one. The electrical engineering majors who raised their hands, freshman Daniel Schwartz and junior Clayton Lincoln were faced with the challenge of devising a way to drive a wooden turntable 24 feet in diameter at three to four RPM. Their basic approach was to use an electric motor and gearbox to turn a pneumatic trailer tire that would contact the edge of the stage with its tread. The problem was that the stage wouldn’t be perfectly round, so the tire would need to move in and out to accommodate irregularities in the edge of the stage. Schwartz and Lincoln responded by mounting the motor and gearbox on the underside of a metal “shelf” that floats inside

the housing on a total of 18 casters. Two heavy springs push the shelf toward the stage, holding the tire against its edge while also absorbing “bumps.” It’s not only an ingenious design, but also an economical one—especially in light of the fact that the University’s welding department did the metal fabrication, while Baldor Electric Company donated the motor and drive components, worth more than $3,000. In the end it was one of those rare endeavors where everybody wins—Schwartz, Lincoln, and the welding students, who got priceless real-world experience; Baldor, which found a unique opportunity to support the university from which it draws much of its workforce; and of course the theatre program, which got not only a revolving stage at a tiny fraction of the cost it would have paid elsewhere, but also an award for production design at the Arkansas Festival of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

ENGINEERING STUDENTS DESIGN REVOLVING STAGE FOR THEATRE PROGRAM

You study interaction between human society and the natural world. Can they comfortably share the same land?“ What I call the human-wildlife interface certainly presents challenges. We see that in the Yellowstone area, where grizzly bears and people meet, wolves kill livestock, and elk eat hay. But I think these problems are manageable and worth managing. I envision a zoned approach. We might grade from a preserve zone where negative human impacts are not tolerated, to a buffer zone where we work to balance human and wildlife needs, to a “human” zone managed strictly to accommodate our activities. This is simplified, but it provides a platform of expectations that can direct our socioeconomic choices of the future”

Your field research has focused largely on raptors. What’s so fascinating to you about birds of prey?“ I guess they embody the essence of wildness to me—beautiful, powerful, profoundly capable, and unpredictable. They also provide great models for understanding how nature works—how species respond to habitat change, how similar species share the same habitat and resources, and how predator and prey populations affect one another.”

How do you describe the Yellowstone region to someone who only knows the more developed areas of the country?“ Many of the more rugged parts of this region still retain the natural character they have had since the end of the Pleistocene. I can hunt, fish, and explore without hearing or seeing another human being and find places at night completely without artificial light. On a given day from my summer cabin I might see grizzly bear, wolf, moose, bighorn sheep, elk, mule deer, cougar, golden and bald eagle, and much more. When I take a walk in this place, I feel a little more alert and alive than any other place I have been.”