University of Kentucky College of Education
and I believe it will pay off in the long run. Also, having a
mentor there to critique you and assist you with the lowstakes environment this opportunity provides will give me
the experience I need to one day conduct my own research
confidently.”
STEM Education undergraduate research fellows
presenting at the conference included:
A Summer in STEM: Increasing Middle School Students’
Interest and Engagement in STEM Through a One-week
Summer Camp
Shelby Albers and Mollie Williams
Faculty Mentor: Margaret Mohr-Schroeder
Graduate Student Mentor: Maureen Cavalcanti
Correlating Professional Noticing and Attitudes Towards
Mathematics
Mallory Bickett and Meredith Davis
Faculty Mentors: Molly Fisher, Jonathan Thomas, Cindy
Jong
Professional Noticing of Middle and Secondary Science
Teachers
Fallon Olexa and Kelly Corrigan
Faculty Mentors: Rebecca Krall and Brett Criswell
Sixth-grade Students’ Chemistry Understandings Prior to
Formal Instruction
Dakota Yates and Brittany Guido
Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Wilhelm
Graduate Student Mentor: Merryn Cole
WOMEN & STEM
UK Group Working to Bring Equality Into Field
STEM EDUCATION
RESEARCH EXPERIENCES
College of Education Undergraduate Research Fellows
Present Work at National Conference
The University of Kentucky College of Education’s STEM
Education Department was recently a host site for the
National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for
Undergraduates (REU) program.
Principal investigator associate professor and director
of graduate studies Molly Fisher and co-PI professor and
department chair Jennifer Wilhelm received funding for the
project to help undergraduates explore and participate in
research projects in STEM Education.
As an REU site, the STEM Education Department hosts a
cohort of undergraduates who work in its research projects.
Each student is associated with a specific research project
and works closely with faculty mentors and other researchers
16 |
COE COMMUNICATOR | OCTOBER 2016
throughout the academic year.
As one of their culminating projects for this year’s cohort,
Fisher recently took the students to the National Council of
Undergraduate Research (NCUR) Conference in Asheville,
North Carolina, where each undergraduate research team
presented their work from this past year.
“Being involved in undergrad research has helped me not
only add great experience to my resume, but also given me
an opportunity to see what graduate work could be like so I
can plan my future,” said student Meredith Davis, a special
education major.
“Getting an early start on resume building experiences
and research has helped me get a step ahead of my peers,
Female students are less likely than their male
counterparts to pursue careers in the fields of
science, technology, engineering and math (also
known as STEM), but a group of women at the
University of Kentucky are trying to change that.
In