Broadening the participation of and strengthening the K-20 STEM pipeline and increasing STEM literacy, is the critical, overarching goal of POETS’ educational and workforce development efforts. To achieve this goal, POETS recruits and engages learners from diverse backgrounds across the K-20 education ladder, leveraging the relevance and high-impact application domains of the center’s research.
Education Initiatives
Bolstering stem k-20 pipeline & broadening participation
Pre-College
Formal & informal engagement with cycles of scientific inquiry & engineering design. Anchored in Next Generation Science Standards.
Undergraduate
Cross-disciplinary, project-based learning. Engagement with K-12 education.
Graduate
T-type preparation (breadth-depth-leadership). Engagement with undergraduate and K-12 education.
our organizing principles & cross-cutting themes
- Long-term engagement of learners and their instructors from middle school all the way to doctoral programs.
- Design-based challenges with cycles of refinement and improvement, which provide opportunities to engage learner and instructors in cycles of scientific inquiry and engineering design.
- Engagement with meaningful context in which design-based challenges draw from strong societal interest that include electric transportation, high-performance mobile devices, and fundamental energy conversation.
- Inter-generational communities of learners with interlocking circles of mentoring and collaboration team activities at both formal (e.g. middle school science classrooms, undergraduate courses) and informal learning setting (e.g., after-school engineering clubs, RET programs).
Highlights for Y1-y4
Pre-College
The Pre-College Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program is a valuable initiative that has had a direct outreach of 4,000 and an indirect outreach of 40,000. This program is designed to provide pre-college teachers with hands-on research experience to enhance their teaching and promote STEM education.
Our Pre-College RET team has been hard at work, hosting a total of 70 outreach events that have impacted over 3,000 individuals. We are proud to have been able to make a positive impact on so many young minds and to have helped inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.
Undergraduate
Our undergraduate program has a long-standing commitment to fostering strong partnerships with Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). These institutions play a crucial role in providing access to higher education for underrepresented communities, and we believe that by working together, we can create a more diverse and inclusive academic community through points such as:
- Improved Hispanic engagement
- Developing university transfer programs
- New collaborations opportunities
Graduate
Our graduate SLC (Student Learning Community) program is designed to provide students with a multi-disciplinary technical training and professional development opportunities. We understand that the job market is evolving, and employers are looking for individuals who are equipped with a diverse skill set. Therefore, our program is tailored to meet these demands by offering our students a unique educational experience.
Education portfolio development
This Education Portfolio Development resource is a tool and schedule for students, researchers, and professionals in the field of electro-thermal systems. This schedule shows everything each student level will go through in their education.