The AugSTEM scholarships will be funded by a nearly $600,000 grant recently received from the National Science Foundation. The grant means that as many as 30 students in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, and physics will receive important financial support as they pursue their academic careers.

“In today’s world, many students balance educational goals, the demands of family responsibilities, and the pressure to support themselves financially,” said Amy Gort, Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Arts and Sciences. “These AugSTEM scholarships will help students maintain focus on their studies and have more time to explore career paths.”

Development of the grant proposal and the AugSTEM program was possible through a collaboration among faculty and staff.

“Science faculty recognized the high talent of our STEM students, and the tensions they balance between school and the rest of their lives,” said Benjamin Stottrup, Associate Professor of Physics. “We worked as a team to seek NSF funding. Our goal is to continue providing a rigorous academic experience that develops critical thinkers while providing additional programmatic support for these scientists as they transition to the workplace.”

About 50 percent of the scholarship recipients will be transfer students, and will further strengthen Augsburg’s partnerships with community colleges.

“We know from investigating the degree process of transfer students at Augsburg that we receive a significant number of transfer students in STEM,” said Rebekah Dupont, coordinator of the College’s Lois Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP). “Through the AugSTEM program, we hope to collaborate with STEM faculty at community colleges to support more seamless transitions for these students and to connect them more quickly with our continuing students.”

Next steps for the AugSTEM program include recruiting students to apply for the scholarships and making final programming decisions for fall. AugSTEM programming will include workshops and seminars, focus on professional development, and support Augsburg students in their transition to the scientific workplace.

The AugSTEM collaboration was led by Stottrup and Dupont, and the joint effort among faculty and staff will continue through the life of the grant.

To learn more about the grant, visit the .

Augsburg College currently has more than $3 million of active NSF funding. The largest individual active award, for more than $1 million, is for the ongoing work of Physics Professor Mark Engebretson for studies of magnetospheric physics.

Partial support for the AugSTEM program is provided by the National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program under Award Number DUE-1154096.

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At the ceremony, Darden was able to network with representatives of many of Minnesota’s leading technology companies and make connections for future internship and career opportunities. “It was like the Academy Awards of the technology industry in Minnesota,” she said. “Everyone was there.”

Darden said she was especially interested in meeting the women working in the industry. “You hear that the science fields are looking for minorities and females,” she said. “I don’t see that issue much here because Augsburg is very diverse, but at the awards, I didn’t see anyone who looks like me. That was my first time seeing how it really is, and that’s motivating me.”

Darden, a McNair, Phillips, and North Star STEM scholar, plans to attend graduate school in mechanical engineering. She said her dream job would be to build a roller coaster.

Watch a about Jazmine Darden and the other scholarship recipients.

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Anthony was one of 700 applicants who were selected to present his research at the Capitol. Mathematics professor John Zobitz, who was Anthony’s research adviser, said that the council chose projects that represented good examples of undergraduate research and also highlighted government support.

Anthony’s project, which was funded through the Undergraduate Research and Graduate Opportunity (URGO) program at Augsburg, involved modeling carbon uptake of a forest in Colorado. He used wavelets (a math function) to understand the relationship between carbon uptake and environmental variables like air temperature.

While at the Capitol, Anthony and Zobitz met with Senators Franken and Klobuchar and with Congressman Ellison. “Congressman Ellison had a background in statistics so we had a really good conversation about my research,” Anthony says. Later in the day, he presented his poster to a large crowd of Washington staffers and other guests.

Zobitz was very pleased with Anthony’s presentation and with all of the people who were interested in hearing about his work. “He represented himself, Augsburg, and the research really well.”

Anthony says conducting research and presenting in Washington helped him solidify his future plans. “Before I did the work I didn’t know what I wanted to do after college. Now I know I really want to go to graduate school, and this is really preparing me for that.”

This summer, Anthony will conduct research at Virginia Tech through the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduate program. Next year he’ll begin applying to graduate programs in mathematical biology.

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The idea for a Jeopardy tournament was the idea of mathematics professor Katy Micek, who wanted to create a tradition of friendly competition among the ACTC mathematics clubs. With funding support from the dean’s office, Augsburg Student Government, and the participating schools, the tournament became possible and will feature a gameboard and buzzer-and-light system, just as on TV.

Logistics for the jeopardy tournament including game rules, questions, participants were created primarily by Micek and department chair Matt Haines. The questions (or “answers”) have been created by the Augsburg math faculty and are a mixture of trivia, history, and calculation. Teams of four students will compete in two rounds of Jeopardy.

Unbounded, Augsburg’s Mathematics Club, has helped make the tournament a reality. Treasurer Austin Wagner and Brian Love designed t-shirts, which all participants will receive. Vice-president Jeremy Anthony put together the grant request that secured Student Government funding.

Augsburg’s team members are Austin Wagner, Nou Xiong, Emma Wineagar, Andrew Witte, Megan Sutherland, Carl Benson, Brian Love, and Jeremy Anthony. It’s reported that Professor Micek will be the Alex Trebek of ACTC Math Jeopardy.

The ACTC Math Jeopardy tournament begins at 7 p.m. Friday evening, April 1, in Sateren Auditorium. The Auggie team would love to have fans cheering them on to victory past St. Thomas and Macalester.

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“You learn what a career would be like,” she says. “You can’t sleep until noon because you have to be at work, and it helps you realize what you want to do.”

Darden was one of more than 60 students who conducted research this summer through several different programs. Her project, which was conducted with mathematics professor John Zobitz, was funded through the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, or LSAMP. The program provides research opportunities through the Northstar STEM Alliance for first-year students of color who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—the STEM disciplines.

Darden and five other Northstar STEM researchers worked this summer and also met regularly to discuss their projects and learn about other aspects of the graduate school application process. “What did my friends at the U do?” she says. “Worked at Target. There are so many more opportunities here.”

She adds that Rebekah Dupont’s leadership and support was a very important part of her summer project. Dupont is the LSAMP site coordinator working with the STEM program. “She really took us under her wing and helped us find a bunch of opportunities,” Darden says.

In addition to helping her explore a career in mathematics, Darden says conducting research allowed her to apply principles she learned from the classroom to the real world.

“In Calculus class, you do a bunch of math problems and say, ‘When am I ever going to use this?’ And we were using it,” she says.

In August, Darden and three other students attended a national mathematics conference with Zobitz to present their research. Pictured above [left to right] are Darden, Nana Owusu (LSAMP), John Zobitz, Nghiep Huynh (McNair), and Jeremy Anthony (URGO).

“I was proud of our group’s presentations because we worked hard to make them eye-catching and interesting,” Darden says. “Overall the conference was a great experience and I would recommend it to next year’s researchers.”

When asked about her plans after graduation, Darden confidently answers that she will be going to graduate school for engineering. Not only will she be the first college graduate in her family and the first to earn an advanced degree, she is the first to attend college.

“I don’t know where, but I just know I am going to go,” she says. “I have two older sisters who didn’t go to college, so I feel like they are living the college experience through me. And I know my nieces and nephew are looking up to me, too.”

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Garver, a mathematics major and religion and economics minor from Madison, Wisc., was recently awarded the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. He joins Brian Krohn ’08, who will study environmental change and management at Oxford, and Victor Acosta ’04, who is earning his doctorate in physics at Berkeley.

“I was really surprised to get this award in some ways,” Garver says. “I have worked very hard, but this award isn’t just about me. It’s a testament to the faculty…I think the faculty here are really outstanding.”

Garver says Augsburg faculty have encouraged and inspired him in many ways, particularly to pursue graduate school, something he only recently imagined himself doing. “I’ve had incredible faculty in every department where I’ve taken courses. They are passionate people who are willing to help students…very inspiring.”

As a math tutor, Lilly Scholar, Honors student, co-president of the Mathematics Club, and member of the StepUP program, Garver says he has enjoyed being involved on campus. “I like the idea feeling a part of an academic community.”

Garver currently conducts research in dynamical systems with associate professor Jody Sorensen. He is considering studying at a mathematics program in Budapest next spring and hopes to continue his education in graduate school.

The Goldwater Scholarship is a national academic prize for undergraduate work in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. Applicants must be nominated by their school in order to apply.

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The Academy is comprised of nine regional teacher centers, each including at least one K-12 school district or education service cooperative and one higher education institution. Augsburg is partnering with Resource Training & Solutions in St. Cloud to provide training for 19 districts in Region 7. Approximately 140 teachers will participate in the program, which begins with a summer institute to be held August 11-15, 2008 at Apollo High School in St. Cloud.

Rebecca Koelln ’76 and ’91 MAL is the director of school improvement services at Resource Training & Solutions. She is excited to be working with Augsburg math professors Tracy Bibelnieks and Matt Haines as well as Education professor Linda Stevens to conduct the training for the St. Cloud area. Koelln sees the program as a way for teachers to expand their content knowledge and to refine pedagogical approaches that promote student engagement. She also hopes students will become interested in studying math and the sciences after high school.

The initial goal of the program is to prepare teachers to implement new math and science standards, which will be used beginning with the class of 2015. These standards involve introducing algebra into elementary school lessons. The centers provide training and technical assistance to help teachers implement Minnesota’s content standards, master the use of multiple instructional approaches, and improve skills to diagnose student learning needs using assessment of student performance.

Throughout the year, training will provide a continued focus on algebraic thinking with teachers involved in ongoing professional learning communities, full-day workshops, and implementation of new instructional practice. All of the activities are geared toward providing resources for teachers as they prepare their students for taking algebra in the eighth grade.

The topic for the math in-service is algebraic thinking, a recent addition in the elementary and middle school math curriculum. Leading this program gives the Augsburg faculty an opportunity to learn more about recent research on the development of children’s algebraic thinking. Stevens said, “We can then use this information in our mathematics content and methods courses for Augsburg’s students to prepare them for their future as teachers.”

Bibelnieks said, “One of the powerful pieces of the Academy is the opportunity for ‘algebra’ to become a term that no longer strikes fear into the heart of some parents and many students.” She added that the elementary mathematics curriculum includes algebraic thinking, but teachers and students don’t often recognize the skills as related to what they experience in middle school or high school as algebra. “Identifying and making algebraic thinking explicit to students can help them see the connections to what they are doing in the lower and upper primary grades and what they will do later,” she said.

“I’m not sure that you would see a significant difference if you sat in on a math class before and after the academy,” Bibelnieks added. “The mathematics content isn’t going to change. The language of the instruction, however, will be a bit different. Stevens added, “Our intent is to help the teachers recognize that deep understanding occurs when the learners are actively engaged. We will be modeling and discussion effective lesson plan structures that encourage students to develop mathematical thinking and will focus on a classroom environment that encourages students to problem solve and discuss their thinking process.”

One anticipated outcome from the learning communities is continued and sustained professional development for teachers within a school or a district. During the school year teachers will be encouraged to form teams as they prepare and study their teaching. Stevens said, “United States teachers have limited time to collaborate with others about their teaching. The principals of the teachers attending this course have committed time during the school day for the teachers to discuss the instruction and the students’ understanding.

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Augsburg students, as well as former GEMS students, serve as mentors. These opportunities not only give the younger students valuable opportunities, but the Augsburg students valuable teaching experience while building their own confidence and knowledge in math and science.

Students in the program will work on a variety of projects, including a robotics class along with sessions with names like “eMusik,” “Mighty Mississippi,” and “Backyard Ballistics.”

Students in the program work on a variety of projects, including a robotics class, in which they are building a replica of a space capsule and a “Make Up Your Mind” class, where the students make their own cosmetics.

GEMS and GISE runs through August.

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