Blog

During my sophomore year of college, I told my friends about my declared majors: data science and chemistry. The most common response from my non-science friends was: “Why do you do it to yourself?”. This anecdote is one of my few examples reflecting on the notion that to those not in STEM, chemistry, or science in general, is challenging to logic through, and only few can understand it.

Upon discovering the outreach opportunity for the first time, I knew I wanted to work on events involving simple scientific experiments for children and make science enjoyable for them. Coincidentally, it fell during the Halloween season, my favorite holiday of the year!

In 2016, I joined the Science Communication Fellows Program (SCFP) at the Natural History Museum of Utah. As I worked my way through the program, I realized this was exactly the kind of training I wanted and needed as I looked to my future as a professor. The only thing disappointing about the program was that it ended.

As a mathematician, I have long despaired of making my discipline interesting to people outside of my field of study. Most people freeze up or turn away when I’ve approached them with the beautiful concepts of mathematics.

I am a STEM Ambassador for the University of Utah. This program has played an important role in teaching me how to approach various outreach and public engagement events. I am deeply passionate about educating the public in STEM, and outreach activities for inspiring kids to become interested in STEM fields.

When I started to think about public engagement of science, few things came to my mind: do table-top activities, give public seminars and get everyone excited about science. Though these were good starting points, the initial excitement slowly faded and nagging questions began creeping: Why am I doing it? How do I benefit from it?

My friend took a sip of his coffee and then smiled. “You would really like this program. You need to apply for this program.” Looking up the program online, I learned that STEMAP participants focused on designing content for segments of the population not typically drawn to science or for people who have limited access to educational materials.

The STEMAP team has been busy since our last newsletter in Spring of 2022! We have hired new staff, moved departments, attended several national conferences, developed a new funding model, and established professional collaborations to facilitate our transition off our seven years of NSF funding with the completion of our most recent AISL grant.

STEMAP has had a busy and exciting spring! Our Spring 2022 STEMAP cohort at the University of Utah (UU) wrapped up with a wonderful Reflection Meeting in May. Our Ambassadors engaged with several new community groups in the Salt Lake Valley both virtually and in person. You can read about the experiences of members of this Spring cohort and one member of the Summer 2021 Research Ethics cohort in the Reflect Section.

STEMAP has had a very busy winter! STEMAP staff have launched trainings for another cohort, with engagement activities happening later this spring and early summer. In addition, STEMAP offered another Broader Impacts workshop with the Research Education office, and has consulted with a number of researchers on their own Broader Impacts interests. We will be leading another one-day workshop later this spring.