Organizing Partnerships

Hello again!

I wanted to take a moment to update everyone on my partnerships with organizations. The past weeks have been filled with meetings, conferences, and a whole lot of paperwork. For my research, I've decided to focus on two different organizations--the Science Hut's Imhotep Academy as well as the PURPOSE Institute.

Imhotep Academy is a program that focuses largely underrepresented students (usually in middle school) and introduces them to science, math, and technology. By using many engaging methods, from field trips to experiments, the program opens students up to STEM studies. As fun as the program is on the surface, there's a lot of work that's fueling the program. By taking part in the winter session, I plan to learn more about the Academy's model and what makes it work.

PURPOSE Institute, on the other hand, mainly focuses on faculty development in STEM research. However, when I met with the directors of the program, I learned that they also have many events focused on girls in STEM. Although these programs are still in the works, many of the trial runs have been enormously successful. In the future, I plan on meeting with past participants, to get their own view of these programs.

Now that I've established these partnerships, I plan to see where their models and data will take me, and I can't wait to see how it impacts the research I've already acquired.

Until next time!
Alex