NIMBioS

Meet Education & Outreach Intern Kelsey Bratton

Posted on April 30, 2013 by admin

Kelsey Bratton, NIMBioS Education & Outreach Intern

NIMBioS is pleased to introduce Kelsey Bratton, our education & outreach intern who began her work here in January. A junior in mathematics at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Bratton is enrolled in the VolsTeach program, which enables students to graduate with teaching licensure. She recently accepted a continuation of her position for the summer and fall semesters. In the following interview, learn more about what inspires Bratton, her future plans to teach mathematics, and her work at NIMBioS.

Why did you decide to participate in the VolsTeach program?

At first I was apprehensive about being in the VolsTeach Program. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to be a high school math teacher or an elementary school teacher. I have a passion for both. At my freshman orientation, I met Jada, the VolsTeach recruiter/coach. She encouraged me to consider VolsTeach. I like the idea of being able to graduate in four years with a math degree and a teaching license, but I still was not certain that I didn’t want to teach elementary school. After my freshman year, I decided that I did want to teach high schoolers, so I quickly got myself enrolled in the Step 1 class for VolsTeach. That was the perfect thing for me. VolsTeach has provided and will continue to provide opportunities that are ideal for a teacher-to-be. Everyone is friendly and helpful. It is a great program to be a part of!

What have you been learning so far at NIMBioS?

Since I have been at NIMBioS, I have primarily been working with Biology in a Box materials. I have been looking through the exercises and activities of each unit, and analyzing what math topics are addressed. Then I take those math topics and figure out what Common Core State Math Standards (for Tennessee) apply to each grade level. This way, when teachers use the Biology in a Box program, they have easy access to the Tennessee Common Core Math Standards that apply to each activity. I really enjoy being a member of the the NIMBioS team! Everyone here is helpful and kind. There are great things going on here, and I am thrilled to be a part of all of it!

What drew you to the field of education?

I have always wanted to be a teacher. Like I mentioned before, I wanted to teach elementary school. That was all I ever thought about doing. I do think that I would be a great elementary school teacher; however, I truly feel that I made the right choice in choosing high school math. I like the idea of helping teenagers learn difficult math skills and watching their knowledge in the subject expand. In the summer of 2012, I was an assistant at an algebra camp for incoming high school freshman who needed extra help to be able to be enrolled in algebra 1 that fall. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget. It was also a wonder learning experience for me. Those students were thirsting for someone to believe in them. When I become a teacher, I want to encourage students to pursue a higher education and let them know that they can do anything they put their mind to!

What are your current plans for after graduation?

After I graduate, I plan on becoming a teacher. I can hardly wait to have my own classroom and watch students become brighter, one math problem at a time. I think I would be perfectly happy returning to my hometown to teach if they’ll have me, but I will be happy anywhere.

Do you have anyone who inspired you to pursue education, or who has
inspired you in general?

All my life I have wanted to be a teacher. I believe it was because my mother is a third grade teacher, so the occupation always appealed to me. She always let me dream about being a teacher even though it seemed like everyone around me told me not to because of the pressures and the stress of it all. I appreciate her not discouraging me. Also, when I was in high school, I had a math teacher who inspired me in so many ways. Her name is Pattye Post. I never hated math because it always came easy to me, but her classes challenged me. She somehow, without meaning to, made her class fun. I only hope that someday I will be able to be as great as she is.

Posted in Education/Outreach, high school, STEM, undergraduates | Tagged careers, Education, Education/Outreach, STEM, teachers, undergraduates | Comments Off

Young Scientists Merit NIMBioS Science Fair Prizes for Swimmer Physiology, Mutated DNA

Posted on April 5, 2013 by admin

Kasey Jordan Godwin of Jefferson Middle School and her winning science project, “Swim Like a Fish or a Butterfly.”

Congratulations to this year’s young recipients of the NIMBioS Prize for Research at the Interface of Mathematics and Biology, awarded at the regional Southern Appalachian Science & Engineering Fair.

Each year NIMBioS presents a junior and senior level award to two projects that focus on a biological question that uses mathematical methods to address.

The Junior Division prize went to Kasey Jordan Godwin of Jefferson Middle School for her project “Swim Like a Fish or a Butterfly.” Godwin studied the physiological response of swimmers to different swim strokes by measuring heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation after the exercise, collecting careful and replicated data to support her conclusions.

Display for James Michael Andress and Albert Joseph Toth's project which won the senior division NIMBioS prize.

Display for the senior division NIMBioS prize.

Two Oak Ridge High School students share the Senior Division prize: James Michael Andress and Albert Joseph Toth. Andress and Toth’s project, “Creating a Higher Efficiency Machine Learning for the Development of Cancer Treatment Drugs,” devised a computational model for accurately and efficiently predicting second-site mutations that reactivate an important cancer-preventing protein.

NIMBioS graduate students Marco Martinez, Gwen Iacona, and Eric Numfor served as judges along with Kelly Sturner, Education & Outreach Coordinator and Suzanne Lenhart, Associate Director for Education & Outreach. The prize winners received certificates and cash awards.

Kelly Sturner, NIMBioS Education and Outreach Coordinator (black shirt) presents the prize to James Michael Andress and Albert Joseph Toth

NIMBioS Education and Outreach Coordinator Kelly Sturner (black shirt) presents the senior NIMBioS prize to James Michael Andress and Albert Joseph Toth of Oak Ridge High School.

Posted in awards, Education/Outreach, GRAs, high school, Middle School, research, STEM | Tagged awards, computing, DNA, Education, Education/Outreach, GRAs, research, science fair, STEM | Comments Off

NIMBioS Spring Hikes: Phacelias and Salamanders in the Mud

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Catherine Crawley

NIMBioS at Porter’s Creek, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

NIMBioS Fearless Leaders Chris Welsh and Lou Gross test the waters. It’s cold!

NIMBioS not only likes to study nature, we also like to experience it. NIMBioS colleagues, friends and their families enjoyed springtime hikes to Porters Creek and White Oak Sinks in March. The full display of wildflowers had not yet begun, but some white-fringed phacelia were starting to bloom on the Porter’s Creek hike. The hike to White Oak Sinks via Schoolhouse Gap trail was a muddy slog but good for spotting salamanders, thanks to the expert eye of NIMBioS postdoctoral fellow Julia Earl. Also spotted was a bat flying out of the caves at the Sinks. If you missed these, join us next time on the trail. Full set of photos on the NIMBioS Flickr page.

Julia teaches Hannah how to find salamanders.

Posted in hikes | Tagged hikes | Comments Off

Carlos Castillo-Chavez Appointed to President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Catherine Crawley

Carlos Castillo-Chavez

Congratulations to past NIMBioS Advisory Board Member Carlos Castillo-Chavez who has been appointed to President Obama’s 2013 Committee on the National Medal of Science.

Castillo-Chavez will be part of a committee of 12 engineers and scientists appointed by the president to evaluate nominees for the award. “I am grateful that these impressive individuals have chosen to dedicate their talents to serving the American people at this important time for our country. I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead,” said Obama in a White House press release today.

The National Medal of Science was established by the 86th Congress in 1959 as a Presidential Award to be given to individuals “deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, or engineering sciences.” In 1980, Congress expanded this recognition to include the social and behavioral sciences. Since its establishment, the National Medal of Science has been awarded to 468 distinguished scientists and engineers whose careers spanned decades of research and development.

Castillo-Chavez, a Regents and a Joaquin Bustoz Jr. Professor of Mathematical Biology at Arizona State University, served on NIMBioS’ Board of Advisors from 2009 to 2011. He was also a co-organizer of the NIMBioS Working Group on Synthesizing and Predicting Infectious Disease (SPIDER). President Obama first appointed him to the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science in 2010.

Posted in awards, Board | Tagged awards, board | Comments Off

Women Researchers Share Their Stories with Aspiring Girls

Posted on March 22, 2013 by admin

(From L to R): Maud Lelu, Julia Earl, A. Michelle Lawing, and Alison Buchan

With less than 25 percent of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) jobs in the United States currently held by women, women researchers and faculty from NIMBioS hoped to change that sobering statistic and inspire young girls from the L&N STEM Academy at the first ever STEM Breakfast held there on Wednesday.

NIMBioS postdoctoral fellows Julia Earl, Anna Michelle Lawing, and Maud Lelu, along with NIMBioS Associate Director for Graduate Education Alison Buchan, were among the 48 local women in STEM careers who were invited to shared their science stories and career advice with the high school girls. After breakfast, the high schoolers rotated among tables to conduct “speed interviewing” of the STEM professionals, who started with 90-second elevator talks about themselves and their careers. Then, the girls asked questions and engaged in conversations to network with the women.

A. Michelle Lawing (left) interacts with high school students during “speed interviewing.”

The event, which was attended by about 50 female students at the STEM Academy, was designed to “start the awareness of what’s out there” for STEM careers, said organizer Mark Smith, Dean of STEM at the high school.

A 2011 U.S. Commerce Department report said that American companies urgently need professionals trained in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, but there are not enough workers with the necessary skills and too few Americans earn post-secondary STEM credentials. And although women fill close to half of all jobs in the U.S. economy, they hold less than 25 percent of STEM jobs.

Not only is there a dearth of women in STEM jobs, more than half — 52 percent — leave when they hit the “mid-level” point in their careers, more than double the quit rate for men, according to a 2008 Center for Work-Life Policy study. The researchers cite factors that they call “antigens” that repel women, including hostile macho cultures, isolation, lack of mentors, poor work-life balance, and financial as the reasons. The ever-present income gap doesn’t help: In 2008, women in tech fields earned an average salary of $70,370.21. Over the same time period, men’s salaries averaged $80,357.

“I really wanted the high school girls to see that there are women out there doing all kinds of math and science for their jobs and that we are really excited and passionate about our work,” said Earl in explaining why she participated in the event. “The media often portrays science in a very narrow way. It was great to see so many women working in many different disciplines and at the interfaces between those disciplines sharing what they do with high school students.”

Earl echoed what other women in STEM fields are saying — there is a noticeable lack of mentors, especially role models who have successfully navigated their careers while raising children. “I’ve never seen a woman with small children obtain tenure at a research university, a challenge I will be undertaking in just a few years. I think it’s hard to be sure you can accomplish something without having seen at least one person go through the same type of challenge,” she said.

The L&N STEM Academy, located in the restored historic L&N train station and depot in downtown Knoxville, is a public magnet school that opened in 2011. High school students from throughout Knox County are eligible to enter a lottery to attend. STEM permeates the school’s curriculum, even into English classes where students read and discuss Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

For more pictures from the Girls in STEM breakfast, check out the NIMBioS Flickr photostream.

Maud Lelu (right, facing) tells her story to a group of high school girls at one of many tables during this big event.

Posted in Diversity, Education/Outreach, gender diversity, high school, Leadership, postdocs, STEM | Tagged careers, diversity, Education, Education/Outreach, leadership, postdocs, STEM | Comments Off

Kids Discover Birds with Math

Posted on March 15, 2013 by admin

Two fun math activities for kids from the exciting world of birds are now available to download from our website. Both activities were designed at NIMBioS and recently published in Discover Birds, a 36-page activity book with fun facts about our feathered friends for elementary school-aged children.

NIMBioS Deputy Director Chris Welsh and NIMBioS Education & Outreach Coordinator Kelly Sturner worked together on the project. Welsh is a past president of the Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society (KTOS) and studied forest-bird habitats for his PhD. Sturner also enjoys bird watching as a hobby.

One activity titled “Changing Populations” features real data from the North American Breeding Bird Surveys, where students explore how populations of Eastern Bluebird, Northern Bobwhite, and Wild Turkey have changed in Tennessee over time. The other activity, “Bird Champions,” is a simple math puzzle where kids solve arithmetic to break a code to learn about the fastest, smallest, largest, and tallest North American birds as well as the migrant with the greatest annual mileage in the world.

The book is a project of the Discover Birds program sponsored by the Tennessee Ornithological Society. Written and illustrated by artist Vickie Henderson, the book also contains other activities contributed by local naturalists and educators as well as organizations, such as the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont.

The book is available for purchase for a limited time at Henderson’s website. Most of the books have already been donated to classrooms and educators. Currently, only 170 of the 1,000 copies of the first printing are left. A second printing of the book may be considered by the society in the April.

Posted in ecology, Education/Outreach, Leadership, publication, STEM, Wildlife | Tagged birds, ecology, Education, Education/Outreach, STEM, teachers, wildlife | 1 Comment

Congratulations to REU Participants for 2013

Posted on March 14, 2013 by admin

Some students from the 2012 REU show off their research at the symposium.

Some students from the 2012 REU show off their final projects.

NIMBioS is pleased to announce the 19 participants selected for the 2013 Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. The program will run for eight weeks this summer from June 10-August 2. Participants will live on campus and work in teams with NIMBioS postdocs and UT faculty on research at the interface of mathematics and biology. To read more about this year’s REU projects and participating mentors, click here. The roster for this year’s class of REU participants is as follows (with their majors and institutions):

Robert Adams (Biochemistry and Mathematics, Maryville College)
Conrad Beckmann (Biological Sciences and Applied Mathematics, University of Vermont)
Nicole Bender (Applied Mathematics, Marist College)
Judy Bloom (Biology, Eastern Connecticut State University)
Samuel Estes (Mathematics (honors), University of Tennessee-Knoxville)
Brittany Hale (Biochemistry and Mathematics, University of Tennessee-Knoxville)
Kevin Hoang (Biology and Chemistry, Emory University)
Erick Kalobwe (Biology, LeMoyne-Owen College)
Jocelyn Keung (Mathematical Decision Science and Environmental Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Jacob Lambert (Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Tennessee-Knoxville)
Christian Mason (Mathematical and Computational Biology, Harvey Mudd College)
Monica Napoles (Environmental Resources Engineering, Humboldt State University)
Christopher Oballe (Mathematics and Biochemistry, The University of Texas at Austin)
Natasha Rudy (Biology and Mathematics, Wofford College)
Kathryn Schaber (Mathematics, University of Dayton)
Sunil Shahi (Mathematics and Computer Science, Southeastern Louisiana University)
Kiersten Utsey (Mathematics and Biology, Carroll College)
Michael Vella (Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, University of Notre Dame)
Rachael Ward (Mathematics, Rhodes College)

Posted in Education/Outreach, research, REU/REV, undergraduates | Tagged Education, Education/Outreach, postdocs, research, REU/REV, undergraduates | Comments Off

Postdoc Wins F1000 Travel Grant

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Catherine Crawley

Jiang Jiang
NIMBioS Postdoctoral Fellow

Congratulations to NIMBioS postdoctoral fellow Jiang Jiang who was recently awarded a 2013 F1000Prime Travel Grant in the Ecology category.

F1000Prime is an in-depth directory to the top articles in biology and medicine. Articles are selected by a peer-nominated global “Faculty” of the world’s leading scientists and clinicians who then rate them and explain their importance. Faculty Members and article recommendations are organized into over 40 Faculties (subjects), which are further subdivided into over 300 Sections. On average, 1500 new recommendations are contributed by the Faculty each month.

Travel Grants are awarded to Associate Faculty Prime (AFPs) members of F1000Prime whose academic articles have had six or more recommendations published in a calendar year. The recommendations are examined by judges, and AFPs who, in the opinion of the judges, have submitted the most noteworthy recommendations are awarded a Travel Grant. Only three such awards were given in the Ecology category. The value of each travel grant is $250.

Jiang develops models that couple ecological-hypdrologic processes to understand vegetation regime shifts associated with climate change. He recently won first prize in the MCED Award for Innovative Contributions to Ecological Modelling competition for his mathematical model used to understand coastal vegetation changes in storm surges.

Posted in awards, ecology, postdocs | Tagged awards, ecology, postdocs | Comments Off

Students Model Rabies at Wildlife Disease Association Meeting

Posted on March 5, 2013 by admin

Suzanne Lenhart (right) and Loius Gross (center, back) lead a modeling workshop for the UTK student chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association at NIMBioS

Suzanne Lenhart (right) and Louis Gross (center, back) lead a modeling workshop for the UTK student chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association at NIMBioS

The University of Tennessee student chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association met at NIMBioS last week for an introduction to mathematical modeling of wildlife diseases including rabies.

Participants learned about the value of mathematical models for describing and understanding biological phenomena and interacted with a MATLAB model on vaccination for rabies in raccoons. They were also introduced to agent-based modeling of infectious disease with Netlogo. NIMBioS Associate Director of Education & Outreach Suzanne Lenhart and Director Louis Gross led the event with Education & Outreach Coordinator Kelly Sturner assisting.

The chapter is preparing to help host the 62nd International Conference of the Wildlife Disease Association to be held in Knoxville, July 27-Aug. 2, 2013. NIMBioS will give a full day workshop to students on July 28 called Introduction to Population Wildlife Disease Modeling, which will be offered to graduate and advanced undergraduate students attending the conference.

Founded in 1951, the Wildlife Disease Association is an international society of wildlife professionals, veterinarians, epidemiologists, biologists, ecologists, research scientists, and other individuals involved with wildlife health and related disciplines, promoting research, management, education, communication, consultation and collaboration.

Posted in conference, ecology, Education/Outreach, graduates, rabies, Wildlife | Tagged ecology, Education, Education/Outreach, leadership, Veterinary Science, wildlife | Comments Off

NIMBioS Postdocs Share Research With Partner Institutions

Posted on February 27, 2013 by admin

NIMBioS postdoctoral fellow Gesham Magombedze (fifth from the left side) with guests to his colloqium talk at Howard University.

NIMBioS postdoctoral fellow Gesham Magombedze (fifth from left) with guests at his Howard University colloquium talk.

Two NIMBioS researchers traveled across the country in February to NIMBioS minority-serving institution partners to share their enthusiasm about research at the interface of mathematics and biology

NIMBioS postdoctoral fellow Gesham Magombedze spoke on “Transmission and persistence of Johne’s disease: “The ‘Iceberg phenomenon’ and prediction of disease prevalence” in a colloquium talk to the mathematics department at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He also visited and spoke to an undergraduate class.

NIMBioS postdoctoral fellow Amiyaal Ilany traveled to University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP) to give a talk, “Modeling animal social networks,” to a graduate class. Amiyaal also visited with students and faculty during his stay.

The researchers let those they talked to know about the many opportunities for research, education and collaboration at NIMBioS. NIMBioS enjoys partnerships with both UTEP and Howard, as well as three other minority-serving institutions. NIMBioS has signed joint agreements with these institutions to foster collaboration in areas of research, science and education. The partnerships’ primary goal is to cultivate a more diverse group of researchers capable of conducting research at the math/biology interface.

Posted in Diversity, Education/Outreach, MSIs, postdocs, research, seminars | Tagged diversity, Education, Education/Outreach, Howard University, postdocs, research, seminars, University of Texas-El Paso | Comments Off