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Dear STEM Ambassadors, community partners, and public engagement enthusiasts,
2025 is another packed year for STEMAP!
Following the success of our Spring, Summer, and Fall 2024 cohorts, we are continuing
our partnerships with two NSF programs: Navigating Home (NH) and the Futures Engine in the Southwest (Futures Engine). We are currently recruiting for the Futures Engine cohort this fall (more details
below). We look forward to growing our community of STEM Ambassadors at these organizations
with our Summer 2025 NH cohort and our Fall 2025 SWSIE cohort. Through these partnerships,
we hope to inspire scientists from all backgrounds and fields to connect with their
communities.
We have also been busy with our continued involvement in the Program to Enhance Organizational
Research Impact Capacity (ORIC), created and run by the NSF-funded organization Advancing Research Impact in Society
(ARIS). The University of Utah is one of 8 participating institutions in the 2024-2025
ORIC cohort. We attended and presented a successful panel on the collaboration between
STEMAP and the Navigating Home program at the 2025 ARIS Summit.
To keep up with all of this excitement, we added a member to our team. We welcomed
Allie White as our new Graduate Assistant at the beginning of the year! Allie is assisting
with program operations, managing our online presence, and supporting our grant writing
projects. More information about Allie can be found below.
If you would like to keep up with STEMAP on social media, you can find us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Bluesky. We are grateful for your continued support of public engagement with science and
STEMAP's work!
Sara K. Yeo
Director, STEM Ambassador Program
Corinne Ryan
Program Manager, STEM Ambassador Program
Allie White
Graduate Assistant, STEM Ambassador Program
Meet Our New Graduate Assistant
We are thrilled to announce the addition of a new graduate assistant to the STEMAP
team this year! With the generous support of workforce development funding from the
Futures Engine, our new assistant, Allie White, has been instrumental in driving our
initiatives forward during the spring and summer of 2025. Allie is currently getting
a PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Utah. She is passionate about public engagement
and has been actively involved in various outreach programs aimed at inspiring the
next generation of STEM leaders, including Brain Awareness Week, the Diversity and
Science Lecture Series, the Bioscience Research Education Office's Science Communication
and Policy Career Club, and launched the new organization Utah Science Communicators this summer. She aims to enhance community involvement in STEM education and foster
connections between students and professionals in the field. Allie looks forward to
further contributing to STEMAP’s mission and this fall and winter.
2024 Futures Engine and Navigating Home Cohorts
 
We are excited to share updates about the 2024 Futures Engine cohort and the 2024
and 2025 Navigating Home cohorts!
Futures Engine of the Southwest (Futures Engine)
The Futures Engine is an NSF-funded engine that aims to build sustainable infrastructure
in the American Southwest, making this region a leading competitor in the world of
sustainable energy technology. It is dedicated to supporting ongoing sustainability
research at the University of Utah, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and Arizona
State University. The ultimate goal is to connect researchers with community and industry
partners to facilitate the effective translation of their research into practice.
Navigating Home (NH)
NH, another NSF-funded program, is a project focused on bringing back or retaining
scientists in the US territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
By creating opportunities for islanders with marine and environmental science degrees,
NH builds the local workforce while providing invaluable training for underrepresented
groups in science.
Cohort Projects
Futures Engine: Participants from many sustainability-related fields, such as engineering, geology,
technology, and project management, collaborated with various groups, including rural
communities, secondary school students, and local nonprofits. Their projects aim to
address real-world environmental and social challenges while promoting STEM career
exposure and education.
Navigating Home: Ambassadors in conservation-related fields worked closely with local students and
island educators to promote environmental stewardship and awareness. They brought
locally relevant educational experiences to their communities, making a significant
impact on their participants.
Be sure to check out the Reflection articles at the end of this newsletter, where
Ambassadors from our last NH cohort share experiences and insights from their projects.
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STEMAP is wrapping up its summer 2025 Navigating Home cohort! The cohort started training
in late spring and will soon conclude their projects at the end of this summer. Stay
tuned for their reflection articles!
In the fall, a cohort of graduate students from the Future Engine's university and
industry partners in Utah, Arizona, and Nevada will join STEMAP for a semester of
public engagement training.
Both cohorts are hybrid. They engage in several remote workshops and meetings as well
as in-person trainings and activities.
| We are excited to announce that STEMAP was accepted into the ARIS ORIC program in 2024. As part of this two-year program, the STEMAP team participates in
various workshops, training, and meetings with research impact professionals and other
institutional partners to hone their expertise in broader impact (BI) development
and execution. This will provide our team with the knowledge and tools needed to support
researchers at the University of Utah in writing grant proposals with robust BI components,
increasing the likelihood of receiving funding and bolstering the beneficial impacts
of their research on society. |
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This year, STEMAP attended the 2025 ARIS Summit held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We had a great time connecting with fellow science
communicators and researchers! STEMAP hosted a panel discussion and presented a poster.
Broader Impacts Consultations
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In addition to our regular Ambassador training programs, STEMAP also offers Broader
Impacts consultations for University of Utah students, staff, and faculty working
on NSF grant proposals. These 30-minute meetings with the former STEMAP Associate
Director, Dr. Andrew George, and current STEMAP Manager, Corinne Ryan, will help individuals
develop the Broader Impacts section of their grants by providing inspiration and guidance
for unique outreach approaches. These consultations are a great option for those seeking
NSF grant funding and who would like assistance crafting a creative proposal. These
consultations can increase the likelihood of a grant proposal's acceptance.
The STEMAP team also continues to work with the OVPR's Research Education team to offer Broader Impacts workshops for groups of 10 or more researchers interested
in writing NSF grant or fellowship proposals. Andrew leads 1-hour workshops that guide
researchers through the basics of understanding the NSF's BI requirements and designing
innovative BI activities that will make your proposal stand out. You and your research
group can sign up for these free workshops using the link below.
Sign Up for a Broader Impacts Workshop
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