Education & Outreach Spotlight
Blogging from NIMBioS Education & Outreach
STEM Group Broadens Participation for Students with Disabilities
Read our blog for more news and happenings related to NIMBioS education and outreach activities.
Explore Our NIMBioS Education Modules!
NEW! Using Linear Regression to Explore Environmental Factors Affecting Vector-borne Diseases
In this activity students will use linear regression to analyze real data on vector-borne diseases and explore how environmental factors, such as climate change or population density, influence the transmission of these diseases. The activities are designed for face-to-face instruction and may be adapted for an online classroom.
Modeling with Math
A new resource for teachers, with examples and exercises to illustrate modeling concepts using mathematics from Algebra I and II is now available on the NIMBioS website. Read Blog Post!
Math Counts: Activities for K–8 Teachers:
Resources from workshops in cooperation with Dr. Lynn Hodge and the Center for Enhancing Education in Math and Sciences (CEEMS)
E & O Events
Webinars for Middle School Students (and their parents)
NIMBioS is cooperating with the GAMES program to host a series of virtual events. The Girls Achieving in Mathematics, Engineering, Science (GAMES) program aims to promote girls' interest and self-efficacy in STEM using chess and other strategy games. We have chosen to focus on strategy games because they are great examples of effective and entertaining tools to teach metacognition, computational thinking, and problem-solving. Webinars are streamed live and recorded for later viewing. NIMBioS hosts a Q&A via Zoom. Viewers are able to submit questions throughout the talk, which were answered at the end of the talk.
Watch recorded webinars online:
- From suburbia to ski bum to succession with Dr. Virginia Dale
- Making the right moves in chess and in life with Dr. Carolina Blanco
- One girl's journey in engineering – Pave your own path! with Dr. Ozlem Kilic
2020 SRE Students Selected
NIMBioS is pleased to announce the 16 undergraduate student participants selected for its highly competitive 2020 Summer Research Experience (SRE) program. Participants were selected from a pool of more than 100 applicants from across the U.S. Due to COVID-19 travel and distancing guidelines, this year's program will be a first, in that it will be conducted remotely and will run for four weeks, from June 1– 30, 2020. Note: now extended through July 10th. Read more...
Eleventh Annual Undergraduate Research Conference at the Interface of Mathematics and Biology
The 11th Annual Undergraduate Research Conference at the Interface of Mathematics and Biology was held Nov 16-17, 2019, at the UT Conference Center, Knoxville. The conference provided opportunities for undergraduates to present their research at the interface of biology and mathematics. Student talks and posters were featured as well as a panel discussion on career opportunities, a graduate school showcase, and networking opportunities. Faculty and students were invited to attend, as well as high school teachers. For more information, click here.
NIMBioS Expanding Your Horizons: STEM Activity Day for Middle School Girls
The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) hosted a STEM Activity Day in conjunction with the Expanding Your Horizons Network (EYH) on November 9, 2019. The Activity Day at NIMBioS engaged middle-school girls (grades 5-8) in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) activities. This event was organized by Suzanne Lenhart and Greg Wiggins at NIMBioS, in consultation with Judith Iriate-Gross, Middle Tennessee State University and EYH Southeast Coordinator. Co-sponsored in cooperation with the Knoxville Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW).
Adventures in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)
Two of UT's largest research centers, CURENT and NIMBioS worked together again to create another fun and educational summer day program for middle school girls. Students were immersed in a week full of hands-on activities, lab visits, and team projects in UT labs and classrooms that explored the exciting challenges of being a scientist or researcher. Overall, the week was geared towards students who are interested in expanding their knowledge of engineering, math, and biology. Click here for details.
2019 Summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates
NIMBioS hosted SRE 2019, held Jun 4–July 26 on the campus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Undergrads in math, biology and related fields conducted research in teams with UT professors and NIMBioS researchers on projects at the interface of math and biology. Stipend and housing were provided along with some funding for travel. Click here for full details, including 2019 projects. Descriptive flyer
Tenth Annual Undergraduate Research Conference at the Interface of Mathematics and Biology
The 10th Annual Undergraduate Research Conference at the Interface of Mathematics and Biology was held Oct 27-28, 2018, at the UT Conference Center, Knoxville. The conference provides opportunities for undergraduates to present their research at the interface of biology and mathematics. Student talks and posters were featured as well as a panel discussion on career opportunities, a graduate school showcase, and networking opportunities. Faculty and students were invited to attend, as well as high school teachers. For more information, click here.
2018 NIMBioS Summer Research Experiences (SRE) for Undergraduates
The 2018 NIMBioS SRE Program was held May 29-July 2, 2018 at NIMBioS on the campus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Fifteen participants from all over the country worked in teams with NIMBioS postdocs and UT faculty on research at the interface of mathematics and biology. Participants received free university apartment-style housing, a stipend of $4000, and up to $650 of support for travel to/from Knoxville. For more information, click here.
Ninth Annual Undergraduate Research Conference
The 9th Annual Undergraduate Research Conference at the Interface of Mathematics and Biology was held Nov 11-12, 2017, at the University of Tennessee Conference Center, Knoxville, TN. The conference provided opportunities for undergraduates to present their research at the interface of biology and mathematics. Student talks and posters were featured as well as a panel discussion on career opportunities, a graduate school showcase, and networking opportunities. Faculty and students were invited to attend, as well as high school teachers.
2017 NIMBioS Summer Research Experiences (SRE) for Undergraduates and Teachers
The 2017 NIMBioS SRE Program was held June 5-July 28, 2017 at NIMBioS on the campus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Participants from all over the country worked in teams with NIMBioS postdocs and UT faculty on research at the interface of mathematics and biology. Undergraduates received free university apartment-style housing, a stipend of $4000, and up to $650 of support for travel to/from Knoxville. For more information, click here.
New NIMBioS Education Module: 3-D Printing Models of Cell Organelles and Flowers
Access to 3D printing has been a growing trend in K-12 schools. This hands-on module features active learning using 3-D printing technology to teach middle school students about physical scientific models and cell organelles. This activity has already proven a success at NIMBioS' "Adventures in STEM Camp" for middle school girls. In this curriculum module, aligned with Next Generation Science Standards, students learn about physical models and how they are used in science, then design and print their own representations of different cell organelles or flowers. For a Blog article about this module click here.
New NIMBioS Education Module: Fossil Finder!
Dig for fossils and learn about geologic time with a new computer game developed by undergraduate students at NIMBioS. Fossil Finder! teaches the fundamentals of scientific notation and exponents as well as the concepts of geological time scales and the increasing complexity of life over time. Developed as a part of NIMBioS' SRE2016 project Developing Computer Games for Teaching Biology, Fossil Finder! was inspired by and adapted from the Biology in a Box Fossil Unit. For a feature article about Fossil Finder! click here.
2016 Summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates
Sixteen undergraduates, selected from a pool of more than 100 applicants, participated in the eight-week 2016 NIMBioS Summer Research Experience program. The program ran for eight weeks from June 6-July 29. Participants from all over the country worked in teams with NIMBioS postdocs and UT faculty on research at the interface of mathematics and biology. For information about the 2016 projects and the complete roster of participants. click here.
7th Annual Undergraduate Research Conference
The 7th Annual Undergraduate Research Conference at the Interface of Biology and Mathematics was held Nov. 21-22, 2015, in Knoxville. The conference featured talks by mathematicians and biologists, student presentations and posters, career panel discussion, graduate school showcase, and networking opportunities. The plenary speaker was Robert Smith?, University of Ottawa. Smith? gave a plenary talk on his research gave a short talk on modeling of zombies. The featured speaker was Rachel Lenhart, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Lenhart discussed her biomedical engineering research on the influence of surgery on musculoskeletal mechanics in children. She also shared advice about applying to medical school. Faculty, students and local teachers were invited to attend. For more information about the conference, click here.
Congratulations to the New Participants of SRE 2015!
NIMBioS announced the 17 participants selected for its highly competitive 2015 Summer Research Experience (SRE) program for undergraduates and teachers. Participants were selected from a pool of more than 150 applicants. The program runs for eight weeks, from June 8-July 31. SRE participants come to NIMBioS on the Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, campus to work in teams with NIMBioS postdocs and UT faculty on research at the interface of mathematics and biology. For more information about the 2015 program, click here.
6th Annual Undergraduate Research Conference
The 6th Annual Undergraduate Research Conference at the Interface of Biology and Mathematics was held Nov. 1-2, 2014, in Knoxville. The conference featured student talks, posters, a career panel discussion, graduate school showcase, and networking opportunities. Plenary speakers were Joseph Tien, Associate Professor of Mathematics at The Ohio State University, and Jeremy Smith, Governor's Chair at the University of Tennessee and Director of the University of Tennessee/Oak Ridge National Lab Center for Molecular Biophysics. Faculty, students and local teachers were invited to attend. For more information about the conference, click here.
2014 Summer Research Experiences at NIMBioS
Eighteen undergraduates and two high school teachers participated in the eight-week 2014 Summer Research Experiences (SRE) at NIMBioS. The program ran for eight weeks from June 9-August 1, 2014. Participants from all over the country worked in teams with NIMBioS postdocs and UT faculty on research at the interface of mathematics and biology. For more information about the 2014 projects and a complete roster of participants, click here.
Adventures in STEM Summer Camp
Adventures in STEM, a summer camp in engineering, math and biology for middle school girls, was co-hosted by CURENT and NIMBioS, June 23-27, 2014. The program included hands-on activities, lab visits, team projects and culminates in a poster presentation – all geared toward exposing the student to the exciting challenges of being a scientist or engineer. For more details, click here.
Workshop for Women in the Mathematical Sciences
"Spring Opportunities Workshop for Women in the Mathematical Sciences" was held April 9-11, 2014, at NIMBioS. This workshop familiarized women in the mathematical sciences with professional opportunities in academics, industry and government labs to help them thrive in mathematics-related fields. For more information about the workshop click here.
5th Annual Undergraduate Research Conference
The 5th Annual Undergraduate Research Conference at the Interface of Biology and Mathematics took place Nov. 16-17, 2013, in Knoxville. The conference featured student talks and posters and a career panel. The plenary speaker was Mariel Vazquez. For more information, click here.
Wildlife Disease Modeling
NIMBioS led a student workshop for the 62nd International Conference of the Wildlife Disease Association July 27-Aug. 2, 2013, at the University of Tennessee. "Introduction to Population Wildlife Disease Modeling" Workshop was held July 28 and focused on population scale epidemiological models with examples from wildlife diseases in North America. Instructors were Shigetoshi Eda, Andrew Kanarek, Cristina Lanzas, Suzanne Lenhart, René Salinas and Greg Wiggins.
Research Experiences for Undergraduates
NIMBioS' 2013 REU included 19 of the country's top undergraduates in mathematics and biology. Participants conducted research at the interface of mathematics and biology. Read more about these brainy participants and the projects that they worked on here.
Summer STEM Camp
Middle school-aged girls interested in STEM participated in the Adventures in STEM day camp, held June 3-7, 2013, on the UTK campus. Students were immersed in a week of hands-on activities, lab visits, and team projects in labs and classrooms that exposed the exciting challenges of being a scientist or researcher. For more information about the day camp, click here.
2013 REU Program
NIMBioS' eight-week summer research program for undergraduates (REU) interested in research at the interface between mathematics and biology took place June 10 - August 2, 2013, on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, campus. For more information about this year's program and a full description of the projects, click here.
Undergraduate Research Conference
More than 100 students from 44 different institutions in 19 U.S. states, Washington D.C., and two Canadian provinces converged on Knoxville on Nov. 17-18 to present their research at the fourth annual Undergraduate Research Conference at the Interface of Mathematics and Biology, hosted by NIMBioS. A lively stream of "tweets" took place on Twitter with the hashtag #urc12. All tweets from the conference are curated on NIMBioS' Storify page. A full set of photos from the conference can be viewed here. More information is available on the conference webpage.
Modern Math Workshop
The eight NSF math institutes and NIMBioS were pleased to offer three concurrent sessions immediately preceding the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) annual meeting, Oct. 11-14, 2012, in Seattle, WA. The sessions – one for graduate students and recent PhDs, and two for undergraduate students – aimed to invigorate the research careers of minority mathematicians and mathematics faculty at minority-serving institutions.
Adventures in STEM Camp
NIMBioS and CURENT at UT co-hosted a fun and educational day camp from June 4-8, 2012, for rising 7-8th grade girls interested in expanding their knowledge of engineering, math and biology. Students at the Adventures in STEM camp spent the day with faculty and staff from NIMBioS and CURENT, UT's new Engineering Research Center. Students worked on a variety of projects related to electricity, renewable energy, and engineering concepts, and they visited various laboratories on campus. For more information, click here.
Undergrads Present Research at the Interface
More than a hundred undergraduates from around the country gathered Oct. 21-22 to present their research at the third annual Undergraduate Research Conference at the Interface of Mathematics and Biology. In addition to talks and posters, participants played a fun networking game using their name tags and listened to a panel discussion on careers. Click here for more information.
Measuring a Forest
NIMBioS helped put the 'M' in mathematics during the day-long "Gadget Girls: Adventures in STEM" event held at the University of Tennessee. NIMBioS hosted all of the math-related activities for the 150 middle school girls who attended. In "Measuring a Forest," participants learned why it's important to measure and monitor forests, and in the "Calculating Biodiversity" lesson, participants learned how to apply probability to measure biodiversity. Another lesson, "Fun with Triangles," taught the math behind shapes. For more information, click here.
Biology in a Box Reaches 80 School Districts
With activities for a brand new Biology in a Box K-12 unit on STEM under development, several members of the Biology in a Box team traveled to Nashville to the Area Conference for the National Science Teacher’s Association to gauge teachers’ reactions to the new activities. Biology in a Box is a hands-on, inquiry-based program now in 80 school districts in Tennessee and several surrounding states. If you are interested in having Biology in a Box in your classroom, click here.
Undergraduate Research Conference 2010
More than 100 undergraduates from around the country attended the second annual Undergraduate Research Conference at the Interface of Biology and Mathematics, Nov. 19-20, 2010, at the University of Tennessee Conference Center. Students presented their research in talks and posters. The keynote speaker was Abdul-Aziz Yakubu, Professor and Chair of the Department of Mathematics, Howard University.
Ecology Education Webinar
An EcoEd Webinar: Math, Computing, Undergraduate Ecology Education and Large Datasets: An Example from a Citizen Science Program, sponsored by NIMBioS and the Ecological Society of America (ESA), was held Sept. 8, 2010, at NIMBioS. The webinar focused on math and computational education for ecology undergrads and illustrated how a large field dataset can be used to motivate hypothesis formulation and assessment by undergraduates.
You can view the archived webinar in its entirety by clicking the links below:
Audio only (.wav format)
PDF version of the slideset presented
Summer Research Program Called "Life Changing"
Thirteen undergraduates, three veterinary students and two high school teachers from 16 different institutions across the United States recently completed the 2010 summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates and Research Experiences for Veterinary Students. Participants lived on campus at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT), and worked in teams with UT faculty to conduct research at the interface of mathematics and biology. Click here to read about participants' experiences.
2010 NIMBioS/UBM Award Winners Chosen
Nine undergraduate students from across the nation have been selected to receive a 2010 NIMBioS/UBM award to attend the Beyond BIO2010 Celebrations and Opportunities Symposium, May 21-22, in Washington, DC. The conference focuses on initiatives underway at the nation's colleges and universities to transform the way biology is taught at the undergraduate level. The award covers transportation to and from the conference, where students will present their research.
NIMBioS Undergrad Wins Research Award
Steve Fassino, who participated in the 2009 Research Experiences for Undergraduates at NIMBioS, has won an undergraduate research award from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT). Fassino, a junior majoring in mathematics at UT, won a EURēCA award in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources division. Photo/Office of Research
NIMBioS Undergrad Wins Goldwater Scholarship
Nathan Stebbins, a biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology major at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has been named a 2010 Barry M. Goldwater Scholar. Stebbins, who is currently conducting research on cancer biology as an undergraduate, was nominated by NIMBioS to attend the Transforming Undergraduate Biology Education: Mobilizing the Community for Change conference held in Washington, DC, in July.
NIMBioS Hosts Undergraduates at National Research Conference
Nearly 200 undergraduates and faculty from more than 40 academic institutions in North America gathered Oct. 23-24, 2009, in Knoxville for the first annual Undergraduate Research Conference at the Interface of Biology and Mathematics sponsored by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS).
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UT Undergraduates Selected for National Education Conference
Two undergraduates from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, were invited to share their views on how to improve biology education at a national conference held in Washington, DC, July 15-17. Jonathan Lockhart (top photo), a senior majoring in chemistry and biochemistry, cellular, and molecular biology, and Nathan Stebbins (bottom photo), a junior majoring in biochemistry, cellular, and molecular biology, were among 12 undergraduate students from universities across the country who were selected for the Transforming Undergraduate Biology Education: Mobilizing the Community for Change conference organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Read more about the NIMBioS Education and Outreach Program.
NIMBioS
1122 Volunteer Blvd., Suite 106
University of Tennessee
Knoxville,
TN 37996-3410
PH: (865) 974-9334
FAX: (865) 974-9461
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