Dr. Faith Yarberry, an instructor in the Department of Chemistry, participated in a Summer 2010 Institute for Teachers funded through a grant obtained by the Arkansas Center for Mathematics and Science Education. The grant, “MSP-Science Lead Teacher Institute,” was funded by the U.S. Department of Education through Arkansas Department of Education. Yarberry met with groups of teachers from grades 7 – 11 during the weeks of July 7- July 25. The goal of the institute was to show teachers how to emphasize similarities between the sciences so that students could focus on new concepts realizing how they build on the foundations from previous classes.
Marc Hirrel, a lecturer II in the Department of Biology, and retired UA environmental specialist Suzanne Hirrel, conducted two workshops at the national Leopold Education Project conference near Baraboo, WI in June along with Treva Breuch, LEP state coordinator for Wisconsin. Marc and Suzanne Hirrel are both state coordinators for the Leopold Education Project. The workshops introduced the new LEP curriculum to 23 conservation educators. The Hirrels also assisted in teaching a college credit course in conservation education similar to the new proposed UCA course at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center in Minona, WI. Besides the 13 classroom teachers getting professional development, there were more than 80 children (K-6) attending day camp.
Donations Needed for Kids Club
The STEM Residential College is planning science/math-themed activities for the Kids Club at each home football game. The residential college needs the following items: cardboard paper towel rolls, 20 oz water bottles, 2L bottles, and film canisters, magnetic numbers and a hard plastic baby pool.
UCA’s First Dedicated Research Computing Cluster Online
Through funding from the University Research Council, the Office of the President and the Office of the Dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, UCA’s first high performance computing cluster dedicated to research and educational endeavors has been purchased. Five collaborators — Drs. Clarence Burg, R. B. Lenin, Patrick Carmack and Sinan Kockara of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Scott Meador of the College of Fine Arts and Communications — wrote a successful internal proposal to procure the funds for this cluster with the goal of establishing a vibrant computational community at UCA. The five collaborators will use the computational power of the Callisto cluster in their research efforts, in new and reorganized classes, and in student research efforts.