SD EPSCoR Impacts

SD EPSCoR Impacts for the Week of October 4, 2018:

• SD EPSCoR participants recently visited Kalispell, Montana to attend a Native STEM Education Summit. EPSCoR staff, K-12 educators, tribal college faculty, and higher education faculty came together to discuss challenges, present best practices, and co-create potential solutions for engaging Indigenous students in STEM disciplines to prepare them for the workforce. Participants worked to create pathways that will collectively impact the broader participation challenge of Indigenous STEM education and increase involvement in the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) INCLUDES initiative. South Dakota was represented by: Dana Gehring, Sinte Gleska University Science Department Faculty; Jolene New Holy, 1^st Grade Teacher at Wolf Creek School on the Pine Ridge Reservation; Kaelee Krege, 7^th Grade Science Teacher at Todd County Middle School in Mission; Dr. Jennifer Nash, Associate Professor of Science Education at Dakota State University; and Dr. Mel Ustad, SD EPSCoR Director.

• Fostering the growth of a globally competitive and diverse research workforce and advancing the scientific and innovation skills of the Nation is a strategic objective of NSF. The Nation’s global competitiveness depends critically on the readiness of the Nation’s STEM workforce and NSF seeks to continue to invest in programs that directly advance this workforce. As part of this effort, a supplemental funding opportunity is available in fiscal years FY 2019 and FY 2020 to provide support for non-academic research internships for graduate students to support career opportunities in any sector of the U.S. economy. More