CONFERENCE CHAIR of the NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHING ASSOCIATION AREA CONFERENCE

Utah was asked to host the National Science Teaching Association’s Area Conference in the fall of 2019.  As the largest STEM association in the nation this conference was expected to draw approximately 2500 attendees.  I was asked to serve as Conference Chair by the NSTA.  Our planning of the conference at the Salt Palace in SLC, Utah took over two years to complete.  Our committee raised over $25,000 in scholarship money to assist teachers in attending the conference.  It was a labor intensive but wonderful experience.  

PROGRAM CHAIR of the NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHING ASSOCIATION AREA CONFERENCE

Reno Nevada was selected to host the 2018 National Science Teaching Association’s (NSTA) Area Conference.  As the current President of the Utah Science Teachers Association, I was asked to serve as their Program Chair, responsible for leading teams of academic professionals to peer-review all of the submissions and select the program for the conference.

LEAD WRITER for UTAH SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION R470 REVISION

Teddi Safman, Assistant Commissioner for Academic Affairs of USHE tasked me to lead the needed revisions for the R470, the Regents policy that guides the general education programs for Utah colleges and universities.  A year was spent holding open fora at each of the Utah institutions of higher education surveying faculty, asking for ideas, and presenting possible solutions.  The R470 was then revised and presented to the Provosts of each institution.  They gathered feedback and a final draft was passed in March of 2017.

UTAH STATE OFFICE of EDUCATION SCIENCE LEADERSHIP TEAM

I was selected by the USOE to to be the Co-chair of the 8th Grade team tasked with reviewing and rewriting the Utah Science Core Curriculum in light of the Next Generation Science Standards.  My fellow Co-chairs are in the process of gathering our advisory teams, consisting of current educators,  from across the state of Utah.

FACILITATOR for THE PARTNERSHIP FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING (PESTL)

This large multi-year grant aims to provide science content instruction as well as in-depth training in the nature of science to elementary school teachers. The PESTL grant originally covered elementary teachers in Weber, Iron, Washington, and Nebo school Districts, but has expanded in subsequent years. Currently, we provide professional development to over one hundred teachers in these school districts.  

ACOUSTICAL AND MIST-NETTING BAT SURVEYS TO ESTABLISH REGIONAL BASE-LINE DATA:  A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK, CEDAR BREAKS NATIONAL MONUMENT, SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY, AND ZION NATIONAL PARK

In 2011 a $10,000 grant was submitted to complete acoustical and capture survey work in the mentioned national parks.  This grant was awarded and preliminary survey work was completed in the fall of 2013.  The field season of 2013 (March-November) will consist of bi-monthly acoustic and mist-netting events in each of the parks in an effort to clarify existing specie inventories as well as to spot migratory patterns of bats between the parks an bats possibly move up and down the Colorado plateau.  This project employed four SUU undergraduates.

COORDINATOR of the STEM CENTER for TEACHING and LEARNING

Provost Bradley Cook appointed me as the Coordinator of the SUU STEM Center to lay the foundation work and to organize an advisory board that consists of university personnel and key figures from the community.  This center represents a major effort from SUU to involve itself even more with the school districts in the southern half of Utah.

An advisory board has been selected.  Vision, Mission and Core Value statements have been crafted.  We are currently examining our interface with the communities of southern Utah and pursuing funding streams.

DIRECTOR of the TEACHERS AS SCIENTISTS PROGRAM (TASP)

Secondary educators needing endorsements to teach outside of their field of expertise are required to obtain the necessary training to become “highly qualified” under No Child Left Behind standards. TASP is a yearly set of Utah State Office of Education (USOE) grants written by key collegiate science educators to fund and subsidize the cost of offering these courses during the summers. As the director, I handle the registration of all courses, manage the course participants and generally teach a number of these courses. This grant program generally serves close to 200 science teachers throughout the state of Utah each year, offering courses in physics, geology, various biological topics, and chemistry. Over $300k has been run through this program either as registration funds or Math & Science Partnership Grants.

THE VOYAGER PROGRAM: Science in Motion!

The Voyager Program was created and implemented in 2008, though its full potential is just now being realized. Originally funded by two federal grants ($150k) the program has blossomed as the central feature to changing the way SUU trains undergraduate pre-service elementary majors. Research resoundingly shows that elementary teachers are not teaching the sciences because they do not know how. The Voyager Program seeks to change this. As Pre-Service teachers move through their college courses they often do not experience them in the proper context. To address this, pre-service teachers taking science courses to fulfill their General Education requirements now take a newly created lab which builds on the concepts they learn in their science classes. They are also paired with practicing master teachers to witness great science teaching in the lower grades. They get to create lessons, assist in delivering science content to kids, and use cutting-edge technology to accomplish this. Most importantly, they are involved in every facet of their future careers at a very early stage of their development (Freshman/Sophomore).

As part of this program, pre-service teachers also travel to elementary schools throughout the state of Utah to provide, what we have labelled, a Kid’s College. During a Kid’s College, SUU professors and pre-service teachers provide science instruction for the entire school for one day. Topics include typical science topics (biology, chemistry, geology, and physics) as well as engineering and technology activities. The Voyager provides 3 or 4 Kid’s College activities per semester, reaching thousands of kids, grades K-6, each year. Last year alone we serviced over 5000 children in schools from Price, Hurricane, Enoch, St. George, and others.

PIPE SPRINGS NATIONAL MONUMENT BAT SURVEY

This project is a two-year, $40,000 project using acoustical and net-capture techniques to survey the bats that use Pipe Spring National Monument as a water source. This project includes monthly capturing events and bi-monthly acoustical recordings. Throughout the summer, the public are invited to join us in the Monument for an evening of education. I teach participants about bats, the principle of echolocation and the technology used to record and analyze the sound. In just its first year, SUU undergraduate researchers have detected the presence of bats previously unknown to the area.  This project has been completed and we are currently publishing our finding and creating a short movie for the NPS to use on it’s website.

BAT HABITAT INVENTORY & POPULATION MONITORING PROJECT (Summer 2011)

The Bureau of Land Management (Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystems Study Unit) awarded this grant ($20k) to investigate bat populations that could be using proposed wind energy sites for roosting or foraging.  Two SUU undergraduates were employed throughout the summer gathering acoustic data using two  Pettersen D240X bat detectors.  The sites were located in Beaver, Millard and Iron counties.  A technical report has been submitted.

SCIENCE TEACHING ALLIANCE OF SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN UTAH (CO-PI)  Submitted 2013

This NSF Noyce Scholar grant application was written by myself and Adam Johnston from Weber State University.  Its intent to was develop and recruit more science teachers over the next five years in the secondary education programs of both schools.  We asked for $1.2 million, to be split between the two institutions.  The grant was not funded, but was generally well received.  We intend on taking the feedback received and to resubmit the grant this year.

STEM Content Courses for Elementary Educators      Submitted 2013          

I wrote this grant and submitted it through John Meisner at the Iron County School District to provide funds for STEM courses and training for elementary teachers in Iron and Washington counties.  This Math and Science Partnership grant was not funded due to budget cuts.  It was suggested by the reviewers that we resubmit the grant the following year.

DISTRIBUTION AND RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF CHIROPTERA IN WESTERN IRON COUNTY, UTAH (2005)

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and the Endangered Species Mitigation Fund requested bat surveys in key developed water sources in the west desert areas of Iron County.  Four SUU undergraduates were used to complete the netting and video surveys ($40k).  Technical Report submitted in 2005.

DISTRIBUTION AND RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF CHIROPTERA IN BEAVER AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES. UTAH  (2005-2006)

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and the Endangered Species Mitigation Fund requested bat surveys in key developed water sources in the west desert areas of Beaver and Washington counties.  Four SUU undergraduates were used to complete the netting and video surveys ($40k).  Technical Report submitted in 2006.

EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BAT COMPATIBLE GATES (1997-2006)

This ongoing project was started by the Utah Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining and Mark Mesch.  During the nine years SUU coordinated this yearly grant over $300k was spent in equipment and summer stipends for SUU undergraduate students.  Any given year we typically had 4-6 research students who explored abandoned mines searching for bats.  This program pioneered the use of infrared data loggers to monitor the bat activity of mines, both before and after they were outfitted with bat compatible gates.  Three posters were submitted and accepted for presentation at national bat research meetings (1999,2003, and 2004).  Oral presentations and posters were also give n numerous times in regional Wildlife Society meetings, Western Bat Working Group meetings and Abandoned Mine and Land conferences.  Technical Reports were submitted every year.