Information about this blog, and other blogs by Jill Andrews

Although SiSphere is a year old, there may be information in it relevant to the School of Information / Research Impacts.

Other blogs you can check out that I have created and still maintain are:

Research Impacts Team
The Research Impacts Team works to achieve broad dissemination and deeper societal understanding of research breakthroughs and subsequent impact on our lives. The U-M Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) recently completed plans to create a university-wide, collaborative effort to develop strategies that ensure broad, societal impact of the University’s research output. The 3-year pilot project begins this summer and is jointly sponsored by OVPR and participating U-M units. I co-manage the Team with Marvin Parnes and Ann Verhey-Henke.

University-K12 Partnership Guidebook
This guidebook, compiled over the summer of 2008, describes a model program to establish, nurture and sustain a holistic, lasting relationship between university faculty, scholars, students and staff and a public school district’s administrators, teachers, students and parents.

(OE)2
This blog reports on the activities of the College of Engineering's (OE)2 office, which supports ongoing efforts to motivate, prepare, educate, and support outstanding, qualified students to enter the engineering field. It also provides assistance to faculty, scholars and students who wish to increase diversity and promote the public understanding of engineering and science.

Graduate K12 Teaching Fellows blog
This blog is utilized by College of Engineering graduate teaching fellows, who volunteer their time each week in local K-12 classrooms. A fascinating read!

Parent Learning Community
The Parent Learning Community is part of the Partnership Program between Ypsilanti Public School District and the University of Michigan College of Engineering, through its (OE)^2 office. A small group of Ypsilanti parents are participating in this pilot program to promote lifelong learning, increase their own and thier children's "college knowledge," and learn new ways to help their children achieve in school.

April. May. Change!

Good thing this isn’t a national news source, because we would be out of business due to lack of postings. The good news is – we are really busy! Before I post brief updates on the month of April and most of May, I'd like to announce a couple of important changes.

First, as of July 1, 2007, I will be full time with the UM College of Engineering, directing a newly established enterprise: The Office of Engineering Outreach and Engagement -- or (OE)^2.

While I’ve truly enjoyed interacting and working with my friends and colleagues at SI, I am also ready pursue this new opportunity. I sincerely appreciate the immense generosity of SI leadership, who decided to take the risk of hiring me at a time when it was a real challenge to create a position that hadn’t previously existed. Dan Atkins, John King, Tom Finholt and Olivia Frost were key to that process and I want to publicly thank them for the “home base” they provided me at SI. I also want to acknowledge the support and friendship of Ann Verhey-Henke, who possesses both invaluable expertise in grant administration and an unflappable, yet energetic approach to doing business. Of course, the SI Office of Research and Innovation team -- Tom and Ann, whom I've mentioned, as well as Shelly MacMillan, Sharon Mahoney, Erik Hofer, and Karen Woollams. Although I feel a twinge of sadness at leaving SI, I am enjoying the anticipation of a challenging future with (OE)^2. I plan to continue to encourage SI and CoE collaborations whenever and wherever possible, and so will no doubt continue to work with many of my SI colleagues in the future.

Because of this new development, I’ll be starting a new blog for (OE)^2. You’ll see it develop over the next few weeks, and the 2 sites will be linked. As I wrap up SI business, I’ll transition most of my postings to the new site. Of course, I’ll continue to highlight research-based outreach and engagement across the University of Michigan as the (OE)^2 enterprise ramps up.

OK – here are the updates!

APRIL and MAY 2007

School of Information: Funded Work
101 people registered and 80 people attended the Fifth National Science Foundation Research Center Educators’ Network (NRCEN) Workshop, Creating Positive Influence: Innovative Approaches to Research-based Education and Outreach, which took place here in Ann Arbor April 13-15, 2007. Weather delays and storms caused some cancellations and another sharp drop in attendance on the last day, but early returns show that the majority of participants found the conference to be well worth the effort to attend. NSF representatives Margaret Tolbert, Mary Poats, Jeff Nesbit, and Joan Ferrini-Mundy participated as panelists and/or special speakers. We’re collecting evaluations and writing the final report, but the presentation materials can be viewed on the conference site.

CI TEAM.
Summer Productions, Inc. and its film crew will be traveling to Japan later this month, and then will return to Michigan in early June to continue documenting the origin, development and testing of bendable concrete, how the material is manufactured and used in national and international projects, the multiple uses of the material and how embedded sensor technology is revolutionizing structural health monitoring, and how cyberinfrastructure capabilities support the social computing and collaborative work in progress across disciplines and international boundaries. The film will be used as a stand-alone informational video on the project, as well as incorporated into “Material World,” a multi-part series under production by WETA-PBS. To see a password-protected promotional website that features the pilot for the series, please contact me.

SI Proposals Pending.
The pre-proposal to seek NSF IGERT funding (Stephanie Teasley and Barry Fishman, co-PIs) was submitted. Supporting leaders and participants include the University of Michigan-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (UM-LSAMP) and the Michigan AGEP Alliance (MAA) programs, the University of Michigan Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP), and the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Marian Sarah Parker Scholars Program. If funded, “Preparing Scholars of STEM Professional Practice: The Learning Sciences at Michigan” IGERT will support research opportunities for women and underrepresented minority students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site.
Ann Verhey-Henke, Karen Woollams, Laura Elgas and I met to discuss development of a new REU Site proposal that will be connected to the research conducted by Jeff Mason’s STIET program, a recently renewed IGERT. A new REU Site Program Announcement from NSF (to be posted) will most likely reflect the guidelines for the upcoming deadline in August.

SI Office of Research and Innovation.
Tom Finholt, Jill Griffiths and I are collecting data from various electronic sources to review SI faculty research activities to be reconfigured for a new SI Research page on the SI website. To date, we’ve interviewed Margaret Hedstrom, Soo Rieh, Paul Resnick, Michael Cohen, Yan Chen, Gary Olson, Judy Olson, and Stephanie Teasley. When we complete the interviews, the information we gather and update will be handed off to the SI Web development team to be incorporated into the new design.

CoE Outreach.
The new Office of Engineering Outreach and Engagement (OE)^2 is interested in learning more about CoE outreach activities! Please visit this web page to register the important community outreach activities you undertake that are in some way related to your research. This information will be used by (OE)^2 to build a database of activities to encourage participation, collaboration and sustainability.

CoE / Ypsilanti Public School District (YPSD) Partnership.
In mid-April, Tony England, Joy Oguntebi, Maurice Telesford and I conducted a presentation on Teaching Assistant opportunities in YPSD classrooms. As a result, we received 16 applications from CoE graduate students; of those, 11 were interviewed and seven have been selected to participate. We’ll announce the new YPSD Partnership Project TAs soon. The joint YPSD – UM CoE plan can viewed by clicking here.

Maurice Telesford has been volunteering in Ypsilanti High School math and science classes. He started a blog recently -- "YHS Classroom Experience" is well worth the read!

I’ll present a paper I authored with Lorelle Meadows, Joy Oguntebi and Maurice Telesford at the May 21 summit "Educating a STEM Workforce: New Strategies for U-M and the State of Michigan." The summit is co-sponsored by the College of Engineering, the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, the Institute for Social Research, and the Office of the Vice President for Research. Interested faculty and staff may participate in the summit at no cost, but attendance is limited to the first 40 faculty and staff who register. You may learn more about the summit and may register to attend by visiting the website: http://www.engin.umich.edu/students/support/wie/summit/index.html.

CoE Proposal Development.
CoE faculty Dawn Tilbury (Complex Adaptive Information and Control Systems), Arvind Atreya (Center for Life Protection Under Extreme Fire and Impact Loading of Structures ) and Dennis Assanis (Energy Systems for Carbon Neutral Sustainable Mobility ) submitted pre-proposals in mid-April for the NSF Engineering Research Center competition. With assistance from partner K-12 school representatives and numerous student and staff volunteers, I advised each PI on the “broader impacts” portion of their proposals.

NCID-NSF/ADVANCE Advancing Diversity and Excellence in Science and Engineering Grant.
Maurice Telesford and Joy Oguntebi collaborated with me in writing a grant request to UM’s NCID ADVANCE grant program in March, and we just learned that we have been fully funded! With this grant support, we will be able to implement our nascent partnership with Ypsilanti Public School District (YPSD) to increase the number of motivated, historically underrepresented students in engineering-related careers, and support course rigor, content learning, professional learning, and demonstrations of knowledge acquired. This partnership fits with YPSD’s plans for coherent interventions and building meaningful learning opportunities for all students, will contribute to a significant transformation for diversity in science and engineering in our K-12 schools environment, and encourage CoE community members to aspire to altruistic goals in this rigorous academic setting.

NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12).
(OE)^2 supported eighteen co-investigators who have won a recent UM internal competition to submit The K-12 + UM Partnership Project (GK-12/MP2), a NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) proposal to implement a sustainable, transportable, mutually beneficial model partnership based on an innovative pilot program with Ypsilanti Public School District (YPSD). GK-12 funds could enable full establishment at YPSD with expansion to Southfield Public School District (SPSD) and Detroit Public Schools (DPS), and addition of both international and cyberinfrastructure (CI) components. The three districts will participate with GK-12 co-investigators and their graduate students at the University of Michigan College of Engineering (CoE) and Literature, Science and the Arts (LSA). Principal Investigator A. M. (Tony) England, with Jill Andrews and Lorelle Meadows of (OE)^2 and YPSD Superintendent James Hawkins, YPSD Executive Director of Educational Services Richard Weigel, and YPSD teachers have collaborated on strategies to launch a sustained partnership to benefit all participants, including K-12 teachers, students and their parents, and UM researchers and their graduate students.

NSF Research Experiences for Teachers (RET).
The office of the Associate Dean for Research and The Office of Engineering Outreach and Engagement plans to host a NSF RET Proposers' Workshop designed to orient all interested investigators to the requirements, guidelines and southeastern Michigan community needs and partnership opportunities. With solid relationships begun in the last year with Ypsilanti Public School District, Detroit Public Schools and Southfield Public School District, we can help potential PIs and co-investigators understand how to interpret the program solicitation. A pizza lunch is tentatively scheduled for noon on May 17, location TBD.

NSF CAREER.
Cindy Finelli, Managing Director of Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) North is hosting a CAREER workshop for interested investigators on May 14 from 12-2 (Lurie Engineering Center, Johnson Rooms, 3rd floor). Three newly awarded CAREER recipients and two NSF Program Officers have been invited. These are experts that have reviewed and/or won CAREER awards. Directions: The Lurie Engineering Center on North Campus is located on Beal Avenue between Bonisteel Blvd. and Hayward. The Johnson Rooms are on the Third Floor. For a map of the area, please visit . Please feel free to contact Natalie Taliaferro , Seminar Series Coordinator, Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT), for more information.


Summary / % Effort
SI: Faculty Development & Funded Work = 47%
CoE: (OE)^2, Diversity & Outreach Council = 43%
LSA: Mathematics Literacy Project = 2%
SoE: Proposal development = 2%

March 18-31, 2007

School of Information: Funded Work
Registration is still open for the upcoming Fifth National Science Foundation Research Center Educators’ Network (NRCEN) Workshop, Creating Positive Influence: Innovative Approaches to Research-based Education and Outreach, which takes place here in Ann Arbor April 13-15, 2007. For information and to register, visit the workshop website.

Dr. Robert de Groot, research science consultant to Summer Productions, Inc., will return to Michigan with a film crew later this spring. The crew will spend two days documenting the origin, development and testing of bendable concrete, how the material is manufactured and used in national and international projects, the multiple uses of the material and how embedded sensor technology is revolutionizing structural health monitoring, and how cyberinfrastructure capabilities support the social computing and collaborative work in progress across disciplines and international boundaries. The film will be used as a stand-alone informational video on the project, as well as incorporated into “Material World,” a multi-part series under production by WETA-PBS. To see a password-protected promotional website that features the pilot for the series, please contact me.

SI Proposals.
The pre-proposal to seek NSF IGERT funding (Stephanie Teasley and Barry Fishman, co-PIs), now has the official support of leaders of the University of Michigan-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (UM-LSAMP) and the Michigan AGEP Alliance (MAA) programs (which both include the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University and Western Michigan University), the University of Michigan Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP), and the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Marian Sarah Parker Scholars Program. Program leaders signed a joint letter, stating their commitment to develop and implement a relationship with the “Preparing Scholars of STEM Professional Practice: The Learning Sciences at Michigan” IGERT to support research opportunities for women and underrepresented minority students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

NSF TeraGrid will benefit from the expertise of SI’s Ann Zimmerman and Tom Finholt, who are leading a NSF-funded project to help plan TeraGrid’s future evolution. I met with Ann to discuss project involvement by underrepresented groups, especially women and minorities.

CoE Outreach.
The new Office of Engineering Outreach and Engagement (OE)^2 is interested in learning more about CoE outreach activities! Please visit this web page to register the important community outreach activities you undertake that are in some way related to your research. This information will be used by (OE)^2 to build a database of activities to encourage participation, collaboration and sustainability.

Lorelle Meadows and I presented a PowerPoint with an overview of (OE)^2 to AOSS, CSE and EECS faculty. Throughout the spring, we’ll be meeting with other CoE faculty to talk about how we can assist them with research-related educational outreach and engagement.

Lorelle Meadows and I met with Daryl Weinert and Jessica Boria, of Corporate and Government Relations at UM CoE. We discussed ways to coordinate the industry- and community-related activities of (OE)^2 with his office staff, especially in the context of multiple partnerships we are pursuing on behalf of CoE faculty with local K-12 schools. We’ll be working with Jessica Boria to develop ideas for K-12 teachers and students, who will be invited to participate in events such as the annual Design Expo.

Speaking of which!! If you’d like to see the amazing array of CoE students’ projects that showcase application of engineering theory to hands-on projects, visit the Spring 2007 Design Expo. at the Duderstadt Center and Pierpont Commons on Thursday, April 12th, from 1 – 5 pm. Click here for directions and parking information.

CoE / Ypsilanti Public School District (YPSD) Partnership.
The Ann Arbor News covered the unveiling of our YPSD-CoE Partnership Project at the March 26th YPSD School Board meeting on March 26th. YPSD Executive Director of Educational Services Richard Weigel, CoE Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Tony England, Academic Affairs Coordinator Lorelle Meadows, and CoE students Maurice Telesford and Joy Oguntebi and I presented our joint plan, which can viewed by clicking here.

CoE Proposal Development.
SI MSI candidate Bette Shifman will be working with me through May on helping CoE faculty and staff to establish contact with potential education and outreach partners in the K-12, industrial, government, and academic communities. CoE principal investigators Dawn Tilbury, Arvind Atreya, Dennis Assanis, and Sridhar Kota are developing pre-proposals for the NSF Engineering Research Center competition.

NCID-ADVANCE Advancing Diversity and Excellence in Science and Engineering Grant. Maurice Telesford and Joy Oguntebi collaborated with me in writing a grant request to UM’s NCID ADVANCE grant program. As PI, I asked for support to implement our nascent partnership with Ypsilanti Public School District (YPSD), mentioned above, to increase the number of motivated, historically underrepresented students in engineering-related careers, and support course rigor, content learning, professional learning, and demonstrations of knowledge acquired. This partnership fits with YPSD’s plans for coherent interventions and building meaningful learning opportunities for all students, will contribute to a significant transformation for diversity in science and engineering in our K-12 schools environment, and encourage CoE community members to aspire to altruistic goals in this rigorous academic setting.

Summary / % Effort
SI: Faculty Development & Funded Work = 49%
CoE: K12 schools, Diversity Blueprints, Diversity & Outreach Council = 51%

March 4-17, 2007

March 4-17, 2007

School of Information: Funded Work
Registration is still open for the upcoming Fifth National Science Foundation Research Center Educators’ Network (NRCEN) Workshop, Creating Positive Influence: Innovative Approaches to Research-based Education and Outreach, which takes place here in Ann Arbor April 13-15, 2007. For information and to register, visit the workshop website.

Dr. Robert de Groot, research science consultant to Summer Productions, Inc., visited UM SI and CoE co-investigators and their groups for two days to collect information and discuss ideas for the film production component of the NSF CI TEAM project. While here, he met with SI’s Tom Finholt, Stephanie Teasley, and Libby Hemphill, as well as CoE’s Victor Li, Jerry Lynch, and their research groups, and discussed with them their individual roles in the project to begin developing a story line. When de Groot returns to Michigan with the film crew, they will spend two or three days documenting the origin, development and testing of bendable concrete, how the material is manufactured and used in national and international projects, the multiple uses of the material and how embedded sensor technology is revolutionizing structural health monitoring, and how cyberinfrastructure capabilities support the social computing and collaborative work in progress across disciplines and international boundaries. The film will be used as a stand-alone informational video on the project, as well as incorporated into a “Material World,” a multi-part series under production by WETA-PBS.

SI Proposals.
The pre-proposal to seek NSF IGERT funding (Stephanie Teasley and Barry Fishman, co-PIs), is due April 5th, and we are working on revisions based on co-investigator feedback, as well as meeting with potential partners across campus including AGEP, LSAMP, and WISE to develop the student recruitment and support components. The IGERT proposal is to create an innovative and multidisciplinary research and training program, Preparing Professionals for Practice: The Learning Sciences at Michigan.

I helped SI Associate Professor Paul Conway with the Broader Impacts section of his Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) proposal to NSF to undertake exploratory research on the relationships between digital conversion guidelines for Image Digital Libraries (IDL) and end-user judgments about the quality, integrity, and value of IDL content. Some readers of this blog may find a few of my comments to him of interest, especially if planning to write a NSF grant anytime soon. This is a small window into the type of advice I give PIs:

• If the work potentially supported by this grant will provide benefits to organizations or institutions you named in the grant (e.g., Library of Congress, Image Digital Libraries, national and international schools of information, etc.), then make a statement to that effect. Try to estimate the nature of the impact (e.g., improved visual tools, better collection, organization, retrieval methods, etc.), including estimations of the number and types of audiences or users (librarians, library users, faculty, students, general public…etc). A “Broader Impact” criterion is whether the results will be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific and technological understanding. Again, you should try to estimate the populations / audiences that will ultimately benefit from this research – go beyond the research field to end users. For the question “What may be the benefits of the proposed activity to society?” -- you should include a couple of sentences addressing broad benefits to society. An obvious benefit would be increased usability of large digital image collections. Can you think of others? Perhaps cost savings (due to a decrease in amount of time spent on user judgments, such as making small technical decisions about how images are presented to the screen, or ability to access images).

CoE Outreach.
The new Office of Engineering Outreach and Engagement (OE)^2 is interested in learning more about CoE outreach activities! Please visit this web page to register the important community outreach activities you undertake that are in some way related to your research. This information will be used by (OE)^2 to build a database of activities to encourage participation, collaboration and sustainability.

The Diversity Blueprints Task Force
My work concluded with the Outreach and Engagement Subcommittee, and the final report, which summarizes the work of all subcommittees, is now
available online. The report is a summary and synthesis designed to guide UM’s immediate next steps. Detailed materials, including all suggestions received and complete reports of the subcommittees, will be archived at the Bentley Historical Library and will be made available to individuals and units responsible for planning and implementation. Everyone is invited to publicly comment on the Blueprints report on March 28, 2007, from 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. in Forum Hall, located on the 4th floor of Palmer Commons. In order to allow a number of perspectives to be heard, speakers are being asked to sign up in advance at diversityforum@umich.edu or in person at the beginning of the meeting. Speakers may present for a maximum of five minutes. Those who feel their ideas need additional explanation or detail may bring handouts.

CoE / Ypsilanti Public School District (YPSD) Partnership.
CoE Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Tony England, Academic Affairs Coordinator Lorelle Meadows, and CoE students Maurice Telesford and Joy Oguntebi and I will join YPSD leaders in formally announcing the YPSD / CoE Partnership at the March 26th YPSD School Board meeting. The final plan can be found by clicking here.

CoE / University Preparatory Academy (UPA) Partnership.
Developer of New Schools Margaret Trimer-Hartley responded to our first draft of a joint plan to establish a sustainable, collaborative partnership to increase opportunities for engineering-based studies and career pathways for UPA students. This partnership will ultimately carry over to the University Preparatory Science and Mathematics (UPSM) district, scheduled to open in fall, 2008. We’ll be meeting again to discuss these in the context of the coming year. The UPA/UPSM Goal is to develop a sustainable, collaborative partnership with a selective university (UM) that will provide middle school students with the skills, exposure and experience necessary to pursue STEM careers in the global economy.

• Objective 1: Establish and embed a powerful professional development relationship that increases content expertise and real-world application skills of middle school teachers in science, technology, engineering and math.
  
• Objective 2: Provide college and career exposure for middle school students exploring STEM careers.
  
• Objective 3: Forge a path for middle school students to high quality, competitive Engineering programs such as UM.
  
• Objective 4: Establish a curriculum advisory board including “customers” from higher education and the business world to ensure a rigorous and relevant curriculum.

CoE Proposal Development.
Through early May, I will be working with CoE faculty and staff to establish contact with potential education and outreach partners in the K-12, industrial, government, and academic communities. CoE principal investigators, their groups and other academic partners are already hard at work, creating pre-proposals for the NSF Engineering Research Center competition:

• Dawn Tilbury: Complex Adaptive Information and Control Systems (CAICS)
  
• Arvind Atreya: Center for Life Protection Under Extreme Fire and Impact Loading of Structures
  
• Dennis Assanis: Energy Systems for Carbon Neutral Sustainable Mobility
  
• Sridhar Kota: Center for Adaptive Structures

For each one of these, we will help faculty contact, meet with, and document agreements for partnership with local K-12 school districts to develop ideas for research-based educational programs, curricula, and activities for teachers, students, and their parents at local middle and high schools such as those within the Ypsilanti Public School District, Detroit University Preparatory Academy and Math and Science Districts, Southfield Public School District, etc. We will also work on identifying programs and partners for undergraduate and graduate student internships in industry and government. We will help craft each program description, based on discussions and meetings with our contacts in these sectors, and develop rationales for each, based on current literature and government reports on the state of our nation's science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. We will strengthen existing and/or forge new alliances with groups and organizations who support diversity in these disciplines, such as the LSAMP, AGEP, and WISE programs on campus, which have partners at Wayne State University and Eastern Michigan University.

Michigan Campus Compact CYCLE 34 VENTURE GRANT (MCC). With the help of Lorelle Meadows, Maurice Telesford and Joy Oguntebi, I signed on as PI of a grant request to the MCC for support with a matching component from CoE to help with the continued summer development of the CoE - Ypsilanti Public School District (YPSD) partnership. The partnership is designed to increase student motivation and content understanding, support coursework rigor, and enhance science and math professional development opportunities for teachers. This developing program employs UM CoE graduate students who, with support from this grant, will design the student mentoring component, which aims to increase the number of students who apply to engineering-related higher education programs and careers. This partnership fits with the overall plans of the YPSD for coherent interventions and the building of meaningful learning opportunities for all students.

Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD) Mathematics Literacy Project.
I was invited by UM SoE’s Laura Roop and LSA’s Evans Young to meet with a group of educators and Maisha Moses, daughter of Bob Moses and National Training Director for the Young People's Project. A 3-pronged effort is emerging that involves representatives from Washtenaw Community College, UM School of Social Work, UM SoE, UM CoE, UM Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives, UM LSA, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Lincoln Consolidated, and Willow Run Public Schools, and many other groups that support strong mathematics programs for the K-12 schools:

• 1) On campus, two courses with service learning components;
  
• 2) with National African American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID) and the parents in the region;
  
• 3) and with the ISD and schools and districts in the region.

Summary / % Effort
SI: Faculty Development & Funded Work = 59%
CoE: K12 schools, Diversity Blueprints, Diversity & Outreach Council = 37%
Paid Leave = 4%

February 18 – March 3, 2007

February 18 – March 3, 2007

School of Information: Funded Work
Mr. Jeffrey Nesbit, National Science Foundation’s Director, Office of Legislative and Public Affairs (OLPA), is the featured keynote speaker for the upcoming Fifth National Science Foundation Research Center Educators’ Network (NRCEN) Workshop, Creating Positive Influence: Innovative Approaches to Research-based Education and Outreach, which takes place here in Ann Arbor April 12-15, 2007. Prior to forming his own communications consulting business in 1992, Mr. Nesbit was the Director of Communications to former Vice President Dan Quayle at the White House; Associate Commissioner for Public Affairs at the Food and Drug Administration for David Kessler, M.D.; a U.S. Senate press secretary and a national journalist with media organizations such as Knight-Ridder Newspapers. Seventy-five people are registered for the Conference. For information and to register, visit the workshop website.

Neo-Sphere.
We are now beta testing the new, interactive website that facilitates virtual networking capability of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Center Educators Network (NRCEN) and beyond. This Website project proposes to take the first steps toward creating a cost-effective, sustainable virtual “home” for NRCEN. Dr. Ethan Allen, NRCEN member and Manager, Education & Outreach, University of Washington Center for Nanotechnology, says “It’s great that you’ve put this in place – very much what the field needs. I’ll be interested to watch and participate in its evolution. I think this could easily grow into an extremely powerful tool/vehicle/forum for NRCEN members and more. Thanks.” The test site will be converted to its official URL in late April, but you can view it, register to it, and upload/download documents to it now.

Susan Van Gundy, Director of Education and Outreach, National Science Digital Library (NSDL) and I had a great conversation last week on the possibility of establishing a partnership between NSDL and Neo-Sphere, the new, interactive website now under construction for the NSF Research Centers Education Network (NRCEN). The large scale ideas included building tools that would be of use to the Outreach professionals of the NRCEN community, and running workshops for outreach professionals about creating digital collections in NSDL. We’ll be pursing possibilities for an Integrated Services proposal in response to the current NSDL solicitation. We also discussed some short term partner opportunities as NRCEN is launching its web portal in mid-April, including a community hosted interface for NRCEN partners to catalog their resources, starting an outreach professionals’ blog in Expert Voices, and including the NSDL search box on the NRCEN site.

SI Proposals.
The internal proposal to seek NSF IGERT funding (Stephanie Teasley and Barry Fishman, co-PIs), was approved for pre-proposal development. Our first organizational meeting included plans to meet with potential collaborators across campus, including deans of the professional schools and leaders of the Michigan LSAMP and Michigan AGEP programs. The IGERT proposal is to creat an innovative and multidisciplinary research and training program, Preparing Professionals for Practice: The Learning Sciences at Michigan.

I worked with Erik Hofer on his proposal to create a 2007 Distinguished Faculty/Graduate Student Seminar, “Improving Scholarship through Advanced Cyberinfrastructure.” Hofer, on behalf of the School of Information, proposes to lead a 2007 Faculty/Graduate Student seminar that examines ways to apply advanced cyberinfrastructure to improve scholarship. The focus of this Seminar will be on creative ways to leverage recent IT investments on the UM campus, such as the MiLR regional optical network and the Michigan Advanced Computing Center. Individual events will focus on novel uses of cyberinfrastructure at UM as presented by faculty, students and staff, hands on tutorials and presentations about “edge” technologies.

CoE Outreach.
We wrapped up our work for the Outreach and Engagement Subcommittee of the Diversity Blueprints Task Force, co-chaired by Theresa Sullivan, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, and Lester Monts, senior vice provost and special counsel to the president. The Task Force included students, staff, faculty, alumni and administrators, and is busy engaging the community in developing fresh, innovative approaches to sustain and enhance diversity. A summary of the preliminary report was presented at a meeting chaired by Sullivan and Monts, and a subsequent report was released via an article, Diversity Blueprints taking shape, published in the Michigan Univeristy Record Online.

CoE / Ypsilanti Public School District (YPSD) Partnership.
UM President Mary Sue Coleman spoke at a recent Ypsilanti event, the Brown Chapel AME Annual Brotherhood Banquet, and shared news of the YPSD / CoE Partnership Development Plan. “This partnership came about,” Coleman said, “because of Superintendent James Hawkins, who embraced an inquiry from our College of Engineering to get involved with Ypsilanti students. … Our student chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers has been named the best in the country, and for a number of years those students have been mentoring students at Ypsilanti High. We’re going to expand that. When the College of Engineering asked Ypsilanti teachers how we could help, the answer came back loud and clear: mentors and tutors for our students. And so U-M graduate students in Engineering are going to work with both students and teachers at Ypsi High, helping them with coursework and lesson plans, working on lab experiments, and coordinating visits to our campus. Where we currently have about five Michigan engineering students volunteering at the high school, we now have more than 30 who say they want to be part of this partnership. And they represent all disciplines in engineering, from civil and chemical to nanotechnology and biomedical engineering. We’re also going to work with parents, because the more engaged they are in the educational process, the more they will see their children as successful college students. That may mean working with parents to see that they continue their own educations, or helping them understand and explore all that is available on the Internet. We want to send a very loud message that a college education should be in the future for every student.”

CoE / University Preparatory Academy (UPA) Partnership.
Lorelle Meadows and I met with UPA leaders Doug Ross, Margaret Trimer-Hartley, and a few of their administrative colleagues to continue our work to establish a sustainable, collaborative partnership to increase opportunities for engineering-based studies and career pathways for UPA students. This partnership will ultimately carry over to the University Preparatory Science and Mathematics (UPSM) district, scheduled to open in fall, 2008. We discussed our respective and mutual goals and agreed to launch a joint planning process with embedded metrics for success and related evaluation mechanisms. UM CoE objectives include developing a pathway based on a pre-engineering course concentration that prepares students to successfully pursue engineering studies and related careers, and to include motivational elements and sufficient academic rigor in the program to assure that a significant number of high school graduates are attracted to either UM CoE and/or its feeder colleges, and are prepared to thrive in its programs. We agreed to consider the following activities as we move forward with a collaboration agreement:

• Explore the UM CoE Senior Design Project as a resource for the interior design of new UPSM space.
• Use available resources and connections to help UPA develop engineering-based course materials (e.g., UM School of Education Master of Arts with Certification (MAC) Program).
• Create a UPA version of the model UM CoE / Ypsilanti Public School District graduate student mentoring / teaching assistant program.
• Match mentors with teachers
• Explore transportation possibilities, alternatives, funding sources
• Create a UPA version of the model UM CoE / Ypsilanti Public School District parent program.
• Explore alliance with UM Detroit Admissions Office (Tyrone Winfrey).
• Explore alliance with UM Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP)
  
• Create a UPA “CoE Faculty Affiliates” program for middle and high school teachers.
• Give Faculty Affiliates and their students access to CoE and UM events and resources to help them envision the engineering education trajectory as continuous from pre-college engineering through the BSE.
• Bring Faculty Affiliates to campus in summer for professional development (especially in science/math pedagogy) and/or internship programs that would award them CEUs.
• Pursue NSF’s Research Experience for Teachers grant.
• Pursue area museums’ professional development opportunities (Ann Arbor Hands On Museum, UM Exhibit Museum of Natural History, etc.).
• Leverage current / pending grant opportunities
• Seek industrial partner(s) to co-sponsor our programs and encourage / leverage federal and foundation support.
• Incorporate anticipated support from Jack Kent Cooke Foundation / College Advising Corps; Knight Foundation / Detroit News collaboration; others?
• Explore an alliance with UM CoE’s Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program and possibility of creating a combined (LSAMP four-campus) application process.
• Explore alliances with community colleges, technical colleges, and other universities with similar geographic and demographic advantages (i.e., Washtenaw Community College, Wayne State University, UM Dearborn, UM Flint, etc.)
  
  Summary / % Effort
  SI: Faculty Development & Funded Work = 69%
  CoE: K12 schools, Diversity Blueprints, Diversity & Outreach Council = 31%

Weeks of February 4-10 and 11-17

School of Information: Funded Work
Seventy people are currently registered for the upcoming Fifth National Science Foundation Research Center Educators’ Network (NRCEN) Workshop, Creating Positive Influence: Innovative Approaches to Research-based Education and Outreach, which takes place here in Ann Arbor April 12-15, 2007. The workshop will be conducted by and for education and human resource (EHR) professionals within NSF science and engineering research Centers as well as participants from graduated Centers, representatives of university-wide outreach programs, and educators from NSF-supported science centers and/or museums. If you’re interested in attending, visit the workshop website.

Neo-Sphere.
This week we plan to release a new, interactive website that facilitates virtual networking capability of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Center Educators Network (NRCEN) and beyond. NSF provides support that carries with it the requirement to achieve broader impact through research-related education and outreach activities. Almost 180,000 people are directly involved in NSF programs and activities, which collectively impact many millions of people, including K-12 students and teachers, the general public, and researchers. Program activities range from workshops to informal science activities such as museums, television, videos, and journals; outreach efforts; and dissemination of improved curriculum and teaching methods. This Website project proposes to take the first steps toward creating a cost-effective, sustainable virtual “home” for NRCEN. Results from the most recent conference indicate that members share a common sense of urgency to continue the process of definition and integration of the community, and to build upon previous efforts to strengthen ties among individuals through an interactive, virtual community. Look for the “official” URL in my next blog!

SI Proposals.
I worked on an internal proposal with Stephanie Teasley and Barry Fishman, who plan to apply for IGERT funding to support an innovative and multidisciplinary research and training program, Preparing Professionals for Practice: The Learning Sciences at Michigan. The program is proposed to focus on two goals: (1) developing a better understanding of how professional schools at Michigan prepare their students to become leading practitioners in a range of fields, and (2) making fundamental contributions to the science and study of learning from both cognitive and organizational perspectives.

CoE Outreach.
I continued work with the Outreach and Engagement Subcommittee of the Diversity Blueprints Task Force, co-chaired by Theresa Sullivan, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, and Lester Monts, senior vice provost and special counsel to the president. The Task Force includes students, staff, faculty, alumni and administrators, and is busy engaging the community in developing fresh, innovative approaches to sustain and enhance diversity. Through e-mail, a website, brainstorming sessions and other means, we encourage alumni, faculty, staff, students, and others to consider the question, “How can we maintain and enhance diversity at UM in the years ahead?” Areas for specific input include recruiting, precollege/K-12 outreach, admissions, financial aid, mentoring/student success, climate, curriculum/classroom discussions, diversity research and assessment, and external funding opportunities. You can share your ideas by writing to this email link. There will be a final public comments session, 4:00-5:00 p.m., February 23, in the Residential College Auditorium of East Quad. If you want to present your ideas, sign up in advance or in person at the beginning of the meeting. Speakers may present for a maximum of five minutes. Those who feel their ideas need additional explanation or detail may bring handouts.

Outreach Coordination with School of Education (SoE).
I met with Laura Roop to discuss ways CoE and SoE can coordinate on our outreach efforts, especially in the K12 community.

CoE / Ypsilanti Public School District (YPSD) Partnership.
Maurice Telesford, Joy Oguntebi and I met with Dr. Richard Weigel, YPSD Executive Director, Educational Services, to work on completion of the YPSD / CoE Partnership Development Plan. We developed a timeline tied to our mutual goals. Maurice will immediately begin working with two YPSD teachers, Molly Porter and Hans Sowder, to provide the experiential framework for the detailed design of the pilot mentoring program. When the plan is completed in early March, we will develop assessment and evaluation tools, identify potential graduate student mentors, and prepare a presentation for the late March YPSD School Board meeting.

LSA / Museum Studies Program. (MSP)
As a member of the MSP Steering Committee, I reviewed applications and then met with other committee members to select the students to whom we will extend invitations for admission to the MSP. This Certificate program is a unique, interdisciplinary graduate program in museum studies that trains students in the theoretical and practical implications of working with and from "objects" and in the places in which they reside. Several SI students have participated in the program, and several others will be offered invitations for admission this term.

LSA / LIGO Science education Center (SEC)
It has been almost five years since I first assisted with LIGO leaders at Caltech and MIT to submit the successful LIGO SEC proposal to create and build a Science Education Center in Livingston, Louisiana. A successful organizational structure, coupled with active committees that provide oversight and strategic direction will sustain LIGO SEC beyond the life of the current NSF grant. I greatly enjoyed working on this project, and the time has come to officially hand it off to LIGO leaders. To appreciate this exemplary outreach effort, visit the LIGO SEC website.


Summary / % Effort
SI: Faculty Development & Funded Work = 57%
CoE: K12 schools, Diversity Blueprints, Diversity & Outreach Council = 35%
LSA: Museum Studies Program, LIGO = 8%

Weeks of 01/21-27, 01/28-02/03/2007

School of Information: Funded Work
Interested in how university outreach is done? Registration is now open for the upcoming Fifth National Science Foundation Research Center Educators’ Network (NRCEN) Workshop, Creating Positive Influence: Innovative Approaches to Research-based Education and Outreach, which takes place here in Ann Arbor April 12-15, 2007. To date, we have fifty people registered! The workshop will be conducted by and for education and human resource (EHR) professionals within NSF science and engineering research Centers as well as participants from graduated Centers, representatives of university-wide outreach programs, and educators from NSF-supported science centers and/or museums. For more information, visit the workshop website.

SI Proposals.
I met with Steve Jackson, Assistant Professor, School of Information, to discuss broader impacts ideas for his and Associate Professor of Information Paul Edwards’ NSF proposal with the working title "Toward a Science of Cyberinfrastructure: Monitoring, Modeling, and Memory.” The project proposes national and international comparative studies in order to lay the basis for a rigorous social scientific understanding of organizational changes for scientists.

CoE Outreach.
I met with CoE research investigator David Chesney regarding a new outreach initiative, NNIN Technical Manager Sandrine Martin to discuss the education and outreach activities of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, and with Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering Dawn Tilbury regarding NSF Engineering Research Center proposal development.

I researched and prepared a series of recommendations to the Outreach and Engagement Subcommittee of the Diversity Blueprints Task Force, attended the Diversity and Outreach Council biweekly meeting, and participated in the Associate Dean, Academic Affairs group monthly meeting.

CoE / Ypsilanti Public School District (YPSD) Partnership.
I met and worked with Maurice Telesford and Joy Oguntebi on the YPSD / CoE Partnership Development Plan. We interviewed via telecon leaders of the Young Scientists Program to gather information in preparation for designing the pilot mentoring program with Ypsilanti Public School District.


Summary / % Effort
SI =11%
NRCEN = 28%
CoE = 21%
LSA = 5%
Paid leave =39%