June 1, 2015–July 30, 2015
New Mexico Tech, New Mexico State University, University of New Mexico

The STEM Advancement Program, or STEMAP, is a summer research opportunity created and run by NM EPSCoR. STEMAP takes students attending primarily undergraduate institutions around the state and matches them with NM EPSCoR faculty and students for an 8–10 week hands-on research experience. STEMAP participants work hand-in-hand with EPSCoR teams on cutting-edge research, and gain access to state-ofthe-art equipment and materials directly related to Energize New Mexico projects at the state’s three main research universities.

STEMAP for Year 3 took place in June and July 2015 with the largest cohort to date—14 students! After spending a week together at NM Tech learning the basics of EPSCoR research, the ethics of research, presentation and poster skills, and more, the group went their separate ways with their NM EPSCoR mentors to NMSU in Las Cruces and UNM in Albuquerque, with some staying behind in Socorro at NM Tech. Mentors included faculty and graduate students from the Bioalgal, Solar, Uranium, Geothermal, and Social & Natural Science Nexus components.

On July 30, 2015, the STEMAP students congregated with family, friends, and NM EPSCoR participants to give presentations on their research. At the end of the program, students shared praise of their experience, and their testimonials can be seen on our YouTube page.

New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, National Museum of Nuclear Science & History, ¡Explora! Science Museum

Born from a need to connect informal educators with scientists and their research, NM EPSCoR is proud to sponsor the New Mexico Informal Science Education Network (NM ISE Net) to provide opportunities and resources for informal educators to work together to impact science teaching, science learning, and science awareness throughout the state. Given that we spend 95% of our lives outside the classroom, experiences provided by informal educators inspire and expose students and citizens to the wonder and possibility of science in everyday life.

In Year 3, NM ISE Net sponsored two major programs: ¡Explora! Children’s Museum hosted a “Sharing Science” presentation to faculty from two universities and 9 NM ISE Net organizations; and “Citizen Science: The Power and Potential” by Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Rick Bonney attracted approximately 100 participants, including K–12 teachers, informal science educators, higher education teachers, research communities, and the general public.

NM ISE Net also funded 4 mini-grants to pair researchers with informal science educators to communicate NM EPSCoR research to a public audience. Awarded projects include a Teen STEM Café program at ¡Explora!, a Uranium-related outreach program at Laguna/Acoma Pueblo Schools, and a curriculum unit about energy in ecosystems.

Farmington Museum, Farmington, NM

Science teachers and their students wrestle with energy concepts at nearly every grade level. What is energy? Where does New Mexico’s energy come from? Is energy from the sun different from the energy that powers our daily lives, from our cars to our bodies? The Framework for K–12 Science Education provides a foundation for K–12 teaching and learning about energy as a crosscutting concept across the disciplines. Educators from the New Mexico Informal Science Education Network use the Framework to develop and present the annual Summer Teacher Professional Development Institute.

Educators from seven different New Mexico Informal Science Education Network (NM ISE Net) institutions supported the 2015 Energize New Mexico Teacher Professional Development Institute in Farmington at the beginning of June. The goals of the teacher professional development component of NM ISE Net are two-fold: 1) to provide access to excellent teacher professional development; and 2) to increase the capacity of New Mexico’s science museums to provide teacher professional development.

Twenty-two elementary and middle school teachers representing three school districts gathered at the Farmington Museum for a five-day workshop to learn about energy and connections to literacy and assessment. The course was based on WestEd’s Making Sense of Science Energy course with some additional material about New Mexico’s energy resources. The Farmington Museum is located on the banks of the Animas River which gave participants front row seats to amazing flows during the week.

Four of the Institute’s instructors facilitated additional weeks of Making Sense of Science in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Las Cruces in collaboration with NM Public Education Department. This small investment by NM EPSCoR will have huge impacts on teachers around the state, and on the 4,560+ students they will reach over three years.

New Mexico, North Carolina, Portugal

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis and United Nations, growth in the creative economy is outpacing growth in any other sector, globally. Artistic and cultural entrepreneurs are increasingly recognized as a key component to economic innovation, with education initiatives supporting “STEAM,” or STEM education with an added component of arts. The Creative Startups Accelerator, founded by the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship and supported by NM EPSCoR, is the first startup accelerator in the nation designed by and for creative entrepreneurs, and it capitalizes on STEAMbased entrepreneurial activity to support business development at the intersection of design, technology, and creative expression.

To date, startup companies that were part of the first two Creative Startups Accelerator cohorts have raised nearly $3 million in private investment and created over 140 jobs in New Mexico. Nearly 90% of these startups are women or minority-owned. Companies that straddle the creative and technology spheres have been leading success stories. Meow Wolf—a collaborative working to revolutionize interactive gaming, art, technology, and entertainment—participated in the Creative Startups Accelerator and then attracted over $1,500,000 from private investors; it now employs 45 full-time artists and 35 part-time employees and is planning to file a number of patents. Another Creative Startups education technology company, Bright Bot, doubled its revenues in one year to reach $120,000 in sales for its interactive apps that are designed to help with child literacy and reading comprehension. Bright Bot’s My Story app, available on iTunes, has been downloaded over 800,000 times and was featured as a top three education app on the iPad App Store rankings. Bright Bot has collaborated with Synapse Apps, another Creative Startups company, to develop a version of My Story for children with speech and language challenges.

2015–2016 School Year, northern New Mexico

Growing Up Thinking Computationally (GUTC) has a very specific strategic priority: to increase student access to and engagement in computer science, STEM education, and research in K–12. This year, GUTC developed two new curricular units: one to introduce students to computer science and simulations, and a second that focused on climate change and agriculture. Within each 12-week unit, students investigate a local problem, gather data, build a computer model, an run experiments using the model as a virtual testbed. With NM EPSCoR funding, GUTC engaged over 385 students between grade 4 and grade 9 during the 2015–2016 school year, 37% in afterschool clubs and 63% through classes integrated with GUTC curricular units. 59% of students were underrepresented minorities, and 45% of the students were female. A Fall Roundtable brought 65 GUTC club members together to demonstrate their projects and share ideas before an audience of STEM professionals, community members, and friends and family.

Also in Year 3, GUTC held a Career Connections Conference, which engaged 70 middle school students and 10 teachers with STEM professionals involved in algal biofuels research, aquaponics, energy efficiency, and composting.

New Mexico Tech, New Mexico State University, Trevi Systems

The EPSCoR Externship Program is a research exchange program that allows New Mexico graduate students (with an existing assistantship) to spend a semester or summer doing research at a partnering New Mexico university or research facility. Externships provide opportunities to conduct research in a host lab, take courses at the host institution, and interact within the host’s laboratory and institution. Year 3 was the first year in the program, and three students participated—two in summer 2015 and one in fall 2015. These students presented their work at the fall New Mexico Academy of Science Research Symposium and wrote blog posts for the NM EPSCoR website.

John Roesgen, a UNM PhD student, learned techniques to analyze metabolomics at Dr. Omar Holgin’s NMSU lab. Metabolomics is the study of unique chemical fingerprints that cells can leave behind, and John measured the metabolic response of algae grown in silica gels. Of the experience, John said, “I doubt that I would have been able to expand my knowledge to include metabolomic assays or incorporated them into my research without the assistance provided through this externship.”

Xu Wang, a Masters student at NMHU, worked at Dr. Frank Huang’s NM Tech osmotic power lab. Xu worked closely with Dr. Huang’s team, and helped develop a thin, water-stable membrane that can be used to produce clean water from wastewater. “Here at NM Tech people enjoy sharing their ideas on every aspects with you,” Xu said. “I am really grateful for this opportunity.”

Adam Martinez, a NM Tech Masters student under Dr. Huang, worked at Trevi Systems in Petaluma, CA, during the fall 2015 semester. Under the direction of Osmotic co-lead Qiang Wei from NMHU, Adam developed hollow fiber membranes that can be used in removing salt from sea water. He says Trevi employees treated him as if he were part of their team. “Working at Trevi was an incredible experience. I genuinely felt as though I were part of a team working towards a common goal.”

Primarily Undergraduate Institutions across New Mexico

Interdisciplinary Innovation Working Groups (I-IWG) provide a venue for researchers, educators, and nationally recognized experts to address grand challenges that require an interdisciplinary approach to transform science. I-IWG support is aimed at groups that emphasize the collaborative development and testing of important ideas and theories, cutting-edge analysis of recent or existing data and information, the use of sound science policy and management decisions, and investigation of social issues that pertain to energy development that minimizes impacts on water and the environment. In Year 3, we awarded three I-IWGs: Linking Desalinization Technologies to Geothermal Greenhouse Operations; In-situ Leaching of Uranium: Methodology and Environmental Aspects; and Developing Effective Communication Techniques to Relate Graduate-Level Research toward Informal Educational Audiences.

The Infrastructure Seed Award (ISA) program increase the access of undergraduate students, especially women and members of underrepresented groups, to research experiences by increasing non-PhD granting institutions’ capacity to provide research experiences for students. Faculty members at any public 2 or 4-year New Mexico institution of higher education that does not offer STEM PhD degree programs are eligible to apply for these awards. In Year 3, NM EPSCoR funded three ISAs: A Storage Area Network to Enhance the Capacity of Northern’s Undergraduate STEM Research and Training Experiences at NNMC under Jorge Crichingo; Growth of Heat/Salinity-Tolerant Microalgal Strains from Cheese Whey Wastewater in Photobioreactors at ENMU under Juchao Yan; and Optimization of Algal Culture and Lipid Extraction Techniques for Use in Biodiesel Production at WNMU under Shawn White.