On April 16, Charlotte STEM researchers engaged with business and professional leaders at the Science in Community event held in the Dubois Center.
The event featured opportunities to meet key leaders, participate in roundtable discussions, and view poster presentations on current STEM research underway. Toye Watson, Community Impact Director for urbanCORE, delivered the keynote presentation.
Focused on the theme of communication, roundtable discussions examined how participants can garner public trust, sustainable city growth, and engage the community in open discourse regarding scientific issues and developments.
Organizations represented at the event included SchermCo, Universal Evolution, and the City of Charlotte.
Poster presentations by Charlotte researchers included:
- Influences on the Global Mobility of Black American Workers
- US Foreign Aid and Poverty in Africa
- Advancements in Concrete Technology
- Telomerase Regulation in Parasitic Protozoans
The Science in Community event was made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation Innovations in Graduate Education to explore effective communication practices for STEM graduate students to present their research to non-specialist audiences. The project, “Applying Cognitive Theories of Learning to Improve Graduate Training in STEM Communication,” is led by PI Dr. Jill Huerta, Assistant Dean and Director of the Thomas L. Reynolds Center for Graduate Life and Learning (CGLL), along with co-PIs Elise Demeter, Director of Academic Research and Assessment, Adam Reitzel, Ph.D, Professor of Biological Sciences, and Dr. Aura Young, Associate Director of the Reynolds CGLL.