Entries by jessgregg

UCLA Climate Scientists Aradhna Tripati and Alex Hall featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Watch the video here (warning: includes bleeped profanity!) Tripati and Hall were among 6 climate scientists featured in Kimmel’s late night show. Jimmy takes a moment to talk about climate change and the confusing political argument that has emerged around it. NASA says that 97 percent of climate scientists agree that the warming we are experiencing is…

New Report: Building a Better Future STEM Faculty: How Teaching Development Programs Can Improve Undergraduate Education

View Full Report View a summary article with key take-aways The Longitudinal Study of Future STEM Scholars was conducted by a team led by Dr. Mark Connolly at the University of Wisconsin. It examined the effects of teaching-focused professional development programs used by STEM doctoral students with academic aspirations (future STEM faculty). Over 2,000 doctoral…

Tama Hasson and Michael Alfaro Among the Winners for the 2016 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Awards

The Academic Senate and its Committee on Diversity and Equal Opportunity (CODEO) have announced the recipients of the 2015-2016 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Awards. Each year, CODEO honors one undergraduate student, one graduate student, one staff and four faculty members for their contributions to furthering a diverse, impartial, and inclusive environment at UCLA.  …

A Nobel Laureate’s Education Plea: Revolutionize Teaching

by NPRed This short audio piece discusses the efforts of Professor of Physics at Stanford University, Carl Weiman to raise awareness of the importance of using a scientific and data-driven approach to understanding the impact of different styles of teaching, specifically traditional lecture compared to more active learning classroom pedagogies. The story also touches on…

Communicating Chemistry: Framework for Sharing Science: A Practical Evidence-Based Guide

View and Download Free PDF A growing body of evidence indicates that, increasingly, the public is engaging with science in a wide range of informal environments, which can be any setting outside of school such as community-based programs, festivals, libraries, or home. Yet undergraduate and graduate schools often don’t prepare scientists for public communication. This…

Climate Confusion Among US Teachers, Plutzer et al.

Published in Science This study collected data from 1500 public middle- and high-school science teachers from all 50 U.S. states, representative of the population of science teachers in terms of school size, student socioeconomic status, and community economic and political characteristics. The resulting data showed gaps in teacher knowledge and resources. The paper additionally discusses social…

HBCUs: An Unheralded Role in STEM Majors and a Model for Other Colleges

Published in The Chronicle of Higher Education In this article by Ken Leichter, he outlines the benefits and successes that historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have achieved for supporting African American students in completing majors that lead to higher paying jobs – particularly in the STEM disciplines. He contrasts this success with research evidencing…