NSF Awards: 1547229
iDigBio (Integrated Digitized Biocollections) and the Office of Academic Support (OAS) and Student Support Services (SSS)/TRIO Program at University of Florida (UF) co-organized a free Biology Career Conference and Fair on February 1-2, 2019. The event was targeted to SSS and TRIO students but was open to all undergraduates.
About the collaborators:
TRIO Student Support Services is one of eight federally funded grant programs to help first generation students, low income students and students with disabilities navigate and succeed in their undergraduate careers and beyond.
Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio), is the National Resource for Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections (ADBC) funded by the National Science Foundation. Through ADBC, data and images for millions of biological specimens are being made available in electronic format for the research community, government agencies, students, educators, and the general public.
Molly Phillips
iDigBio Education, Outreach and Diversity Coordinator
Welcome to our video! We are a new collaboration between the iDigBio project and the Student Support Services TRIO program located at the University of Florida. We are just starting out, but we have a lot planned for the upcoming years. We would love to hear from other people from the Natural History Collections/Biological Sciences and/or SSS and other TRIO programs. Are you engaged in something similar? Would you be interested in collaborating with us or expanding this network? Thank you so much for taking a look.
Deb Cole
HI DeKendrick and Molly - What an awesome program for students to learn and grow. I noted that this program is just starting but you are looking to connect with other networks. The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) community may be a good connection as we have similar types of professional development opportunities (and needs) for students. We would be happy to promote your 2020 conference on our website and social media. How do you see TRIO and LSAMP working together?
Dekendrick Murray
Molly Phillips
Molly Phillips
iDigBio Education, Outreach and Diversity Coordinator
Hello Deb thanks so much for the comment. We would love to connect with LSAMP through shared events and/or beyond. I could see a couple ways we could do that from the ADBC end by adding to your biodiversity science resources. I will let Dekendrick speak to what he could see through TRIO though obviously a lot of synergy between LSAMP and TRIO. Happy to keep this conversation going through email or a virtual meeting as well.
Dekendrick Murray
Assistant Director
LSAMP sounds like a great opportunity to connect! I see that there is one in our area at Santa Fe College! We could definitely invite them to some our regional meetings. We could also try to bridge some gaps with our State Association. Would love to get more insight on what you think too Deb! Thanks for your insight!
Steven McGee
It's great to see a wonderful program to support first-generation students to be successful in STEM disciplines. Our outreach program in Puerto Rico is developing STEM skills for students that may be future candidates for your program at the University of Florida (https://stemforall2019.videohall.com/presentations/1554.html).
Molly Phillips
iDigBio Education, Outreach and Diversity Coordinator
Definitely! We would love to have students from Puerto Rico involved!
Jay Labov
Senior Advisor for Educaition and Communication (Retired
As others have already noted, this collaboration looks like a great opportunity for students to learn about biological collections specifically and careers in the life sciences more generally, in addition to meeting people who could serve as advisors and mentors. An additional suggestion for another important audience who could benefit from this conference is to reach out to teachers of biology to give them the opportunity. They also are looking for ways to interest their own students in career opportunities and this conference could provide valuable information and connections for them as well. You might contact the National Association of Biology Teachers to see if they can provide information from their database about biology teachers around the University or more broadly across the state. I also see that there is a Florida Association of Science Teachers, who also might help you identify biology teachers. I wish you success with this important project!
Molly Phillips
iDigBio Education, Outreach and Diversity Coordinator
Hi Jay,
Thanks so much for your thoughtful comment. We have done teacher professional development in the past, but it had never occurred to me to include teachers in these events, and I think they would be a great addition to the program both as participants and possible presenters and mentors.
Ivory Toldson
President and CEO
Hello All! My name is Ivory Toldson, professor at Howard University, president of Quality Education for Minorities, and one of the facilitators for the STEM for All Video Showcase. The conversation is off to a great start and I will be chiming in with my own input this afternoon and over the next few days. I'm excited about what we can achieve for the next generation of STEM learners!
Molly Phillips
iDigBio Education, Outreach and Diversity Coordinator
Thank you so much for coming by and commenting!
Judith Dilts
Professor Emerita of Biology and Retired Associate Dean, College of Science and Mathematics
Great idea to pool your information and resources and make them available in one event for students who may not know what to look for or where or even to look. You noted that students outside your target groups could also attend -- do you have an idea of how many did or the breakdown of student attendance? Also, following on Jay Labov's comment about teachers of biology, you might contact those involved at UF in the Noyce program.
Molly Phillips
iDigBio Education, Outreach and Diversity Coordinator
Hi Judith! Thank you for taking a look at our video. We have data from both our application and post-event survey so we know that we had a majority of students from our targeted groups and then a smaller subset from the general student population. I agree Noyce we would be another excellent program to leverage in our community!
Ivory Toldson
President and CEO
Thank you for this video, this was a very impressive event! In response to your note that the program specifically targeted first generation students, low income students and students with disabilities, I have the following questions:
How many students attended the event?
Did you find that the students engaged with the resources and opportunities you provided?
What strategies did you impart to reach these audiences?
What strategies were successful and what new strategies will you utilize as you attempt to increase participation for your next event.
Molly Phillips
iDigBio Education, Outreach and Diversity Coordinator
Hi Ivory! To answer your questions we had about 50 students attend our event, and through our event survey we could tell that students were very satisfied and engaged overall, but we have a few ideas on how to increase engagement such as having more hands-on activities like a mini CV writing workshop. For this first event we really relied heavily on the TRIO and SSS student networks. We are hoping to grow the event for next year by engaging more departments and programs around campus. We are also hoping to present at a couple TRIO program meetings to raise awareness and engagement with neighboring schools and programs.
Ivory Toldson
Further posting is closed as the showcase has ended.