- SESP Staffs Office to Assist Faculty with Education Outreach
- MPES Welcomes New Cohort
- Scholarship Established in Memory of Adam Roux
- Road Salt Investigation Sparks 'Real-World' Science Learning
- Social Policy Senior Lauren Parnell Wins Awards
SESP Staffs Office to Assist Faculty with Education Outreach
Northwestern researchers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines are increasingly conducting educational activities as an extension of their research. To assist with this educational outreach, the School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) has opened the Office of STEM Education Partnerships (OSEP).
For their grants requiring education activities, STEM researchers now have access to the SESP Learning Sciences program with expertise in learning theory and science education reform. They can also take advantage of SESP's relationships with schools and other education partners.
 SESP is assisting Northwestern University researchers with their education research activities at schools, such as in the science classroom shown here. (PHOTO BY JIM ZIV) |
SESP, with its National Science Foundation-funded Center for Curriculum Materials in Science, its relationships with Chicago and Evanston schools, and its many research and development projects in science education, is in a unique position to assist STEM researchers with planning and implementing education research activities.
Faculty in SESP and the Office of Research Development jointly oversee OSEP. The director is research associate professor Kemi Jona, and the associate director is postdoctoral fellow Dean Grosshandler. SESP associate professor Daniel Edelson and Holly Falk-Krzesinski, director of the Office for Research Development, co-chair the steering committee.
Northwestern's Vice President for Research Brad Moore says, "The coherence that will result from OSEP's coordination of Northwestern's education outreach programs will add greatly to the impact of our work."
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MPES Welcomes New Cohort
The Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences (MPES), a doctoral program for training scholars to conduct reliable research on pressing issues in education, recently expanded with a new cohort: (front row) Aaron Sojourner, Loren Marulis, Heather Mirous, (back row) Michelle Wilkerson, Constance Lindsay and Lisbeth Goble.
 (PHOTO BY MARK SWINDLE) |
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Scholarship Established in Memory of Adam Roux
Friends and family of Adam Roux (BS01), an inspiring alumnus and mentor in the learning and organizational change program, have established an endowed scholarship to honor his memory. Roux died suddenly last year at the age of 27.A statement by family and friends explains, "Adam's time on earth was tragically short, but the lasting influences he had on those with whom he interacted will survive well beyond his years." The statement praises Roux as "effortlessly intelligent, disarmingly charming, insightful, energetic, outgoing, generous, fun-loving and passionate in all of his endeavors."
Roux's friend and Northwestern fraternity brother Michael Gottlieb spearheaded the effort to establish the Adam Roux Memorial Endowed Scholarship, which will be awarded to a SESP undergraduate in Roux's major, learning and organizational change. Anyone who would like information about making a gift to the scholarship fund may contact Laurie Carlin Davidson at 847/467-2630 or l-davidson3@northwestern.edu.
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Road Salt Investigation Sparks 'Real-World' Science Learning
When trucks scatter salt to de-ice highways, how are ecosystems affected? SESP researchers are leading a project for middle schoolers and high schoolers to answer this question by investigating the impact of salt on roadside ecosystems.
"Students are tackling a problem that real-world scientists are researching, and they will engage in a topic that directly affects their community," notes associate professor Daniel Edelson, the project director. "Additionally, we hope that the program's focus on environmental decision-making will prepare students to be more informed citizens and to understand the tricky balance between satisfying environmental concerns and human needs."
 Christina Conroy (left) and Jessica Jankiewicz, both eighth-grade students at St. Monica School in Chicago, take soil samples to measure the effect of road salt on soil as part of a project led by assistant professor Daniel Edelson. (PHOTO BY ZBIGNIEW BZDAK COURTESY OF CHICAGO TRIBUNE) |
Students at 25 schools are collecting data on soil salinity at the same spots during fall, winter and spring. After sharing the data with the other students online, they are analyzing the data using the award-winning My World GIS geographic information system, developed by Edelson. Their work is considered original research since there have been no prior scientific studies of the impact of road salt on soil.
The Geographic Data in Education Initiative at SESP received a BP Leader Award for this project to support the development of innovative instructional materials and teacher training.
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Social Policy Senior Lauren Parnell Wins Awards
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Senior Lauren Parnell, a social policy major, received the Student Laureate Award for 2006 from the Lincoln Academy of Illinois in recognition of her volunteer activities. John Simon, chancellor of the Lincoln Academy, and Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke presented the award. In addition, through SESP's G. Alfred Hess Undergraduate Research Fund and Northwestern University, Parnell received grants for researching her honors thesis on fair trade, which included work in Uganda last summer. |
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