Archive for category: Announcements

If you are engaged in a federally-funded project to improve Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) and computer science education, STEM invite you to submit a video and discuss it with researchers, practitioners, policy makers and the public during an interactive week long event.

Videos will address:

• Strategies to broaden participation & increase access for all
• Research informing STEM and CS teaching and learning
• Challenges and strategies in the implementation of STEM + CS programs
• Measuring impact of innovative programs
• Partnerships fostering innovation

Those who wish to present need to register by February 19th.

Visit website for more information

Professor Beth Lazazzera, Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics (MIMG), has accepted the position of Chair for the Life Sciences Core. Beth has extensive experience in curriculum development, teaching pedagogy, and administration that will provide an excellent foundation for the position. Her position is effective July 1, 2019, and she will be vice chair of the LS Core working with the current chair, Professor Frank Laski, effective April 1, to help with the transition. The LS Core recognizes Professor Frank Laski’s ten years of dedicated and exemplary leadership as chair of the LS Core, leading to significant pedagogical and administrative advancements in the LS Core program.

Beth Lazazzera received her Ph.D. in Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT. She arrived at UCLA in 1999 and joined MIMG.  She has participated in numerous instructional activities at UCLA and has taught the “Introduction to Microbiology”, MIMG101, course since 2001. This course has grown to ~300 enrollments per quarter, and she has been proactive in applying new pedagogical strategies to improve the education experience of her students. She has been participating in workshops offered by the Center for Education Innovation and Learning in the Sciences (CEILS) since its inception and was a Scientific Teaching Fellow at the Mobile Summer Institute at UCLA.  She also participated in the committee that led to the successful restructuring of the LS 1-4 series to the new LS 7 series within the LS Core. Beyond her teaching at UCLA, she concurrently spent 5 years as one of the lead instructors for the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Advanced Bacterial Genetics Course. Dr. Lazazzera is currently the Vice Chair of Undergraduate Education in MIMG and is a past-Chair of the Academic Senate Undergraduate Council.

Welcome, Beth!

Jenessa Shapiro, Associate Professor with appointments in UCLA’s Psychology Department and the Anderson School of Management, and an expert in stereotype threat, discrimination and prejudices, died Dec. 6 after a long illness. She was 38.

Shapiro was an award-winning scholar of stereotype threat and prejudice in intergroup relations and she had a reputation as a rigorous and creative researcher. She sought to understand prejudice and discrimination from the perspective of those who hold them as well as those targeted by them. It was not easy work, as she often conducted research within hard-to-recruit populations, including women in traditionally male-dominated fields and underserved minority populations. We here in CEILS were privileged to work with Professor Shapiro and appreciate her expert contributions to our workshops for faculty and graduate student teaching assistants. Our sincere condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues. We are grateful for the positive impact she made during her time with us.

Learn more about Janessa’s work and impact from UCLA newsroom.

• R for DBER: Apply by December 7, 2018
• Making The Case: Using Case Studies to Increase Quantitative Biology Skills: Apply by December 7, 2018
• NEON Data Education Fellows Faculty Mentoring Network: Apply by December 14, 2018
• Serenity Now: Apply by December 15, 2018

• Gain mentorship from leaders in undergraduate biology teaching and learning
• Learn best practices in teaching and in assessing active learning
• Create an original teaching module that engages students in active learning
• Join a community of scientists dedicated to active teaching and learning, and share ideas and support
• Participate in Fellow-mentor journal clubs, meetings, and networking opportunities
• Obtain invaluable career development for faculty careers