2022 SEISMIC Scholars, SEISMIC Collaboration

Overview

The SEISMIC Scholars opportunity is a new, paid, remote summer research internship to connect undergraduate students with SEISMIC members who are developing educational tools and conducting research to understand how to enhance equity and inclusion in large, STEM introductory courses. SEISMIC Scholars will engage in various activities over the course of the summer, including data collection and analysis, weekly professional development seminars, engaging with other SEISMIC collaborators through the SEISMIC Summer Meeting, and presenting their work.

This program will enable undergraduate students to build interdisciplinary networks with fellow students, graduate students, faculty, staff, and post-docs across SEISMIC institutions. SEISMIC Scholars will receive mentorship from the Scholar team during weekly live remote meetings and their SEISMIC advisor as they work on specific projects. The program will support students’ professional development and further the goals of current SEISMIC projects to foster a diverse STEM environment.

2022 SEISMIC Scholars

Abigail Buckle

University of California, Irvine

Junior

Major(s): Biological Sciences
Summer hobbies: Reading, Hiking, Studying for the MCAT, Soccer, Spending time with my cats
SEISMIC Project: Experiments Working Group (WG 2) – Backchannel

SEISMIC Project Description: “This project will use the summer to evaluate educational technologies that support anonymous backchannels in the classroom. The SEISMIC Scholar will attend weekly whole team meetings and will be assigned to work within a specialized team that will meet at least weekly. The SEISMIC Scholar will become familiar with the platform to create training for students. A plan for appropriate deliverables will be created depending on the student’s skill set and interests.” – Perry Samson

Ashley Huynh

University of California, Santa Barbara

Sophomore

Major(s): Biopsychology
Summer hobbies: Drawing, hanging out with my dog

SEISMIC Project: Constructs Working Group (WG 4) – Mapping Institutional Resources

SEISMIC Project Description: “This project is focused on (1) developing an inventory that catalogs the different resources, programs, projects, and offices related to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in STEM at SEISMIC institutions and (b) analyzing this catalogue with the purpose of uncovering underlying constructs/definitions of DEI, its outcomes and the true impact on DEI in STEM at SEISMIC institutions. The SEISMIC Scholar will aid the primary researcher in building this inventory, analyzing the various aspects of DEI programs in the inventory and join the weekly project meetings to discuss work done and next steps. The SEISMIC scholar will be introduced to literature and research methods often used in critical education research. This weekly meeting will also be the students’ opportunity to connect with their project mentor (& other scholars if present).” – Nikeetha Farfan D’Souza

Clayton Osborne

University of Pittsburgh

Junior

Major(s): Biological Sciences
Summer Hobbies: Exercising, listening to music, spending time with friends and family

SEISMIC Project: Measurement Working Group (WG 1)- In-Class Experiences Influencing Outcomes

SEISMIC Project Description: “I want to understand the impact of students’ experiences in large lecture courses that predict: whether they choose to go on in later courses in that department, how well they do in those later courses, whether they stay at the university. I have a large dataset of student survey responses and also access to their later outcomes. The work of the summer is to analyze the data, exploring what predicts and for which student groups. No prior experience with statistics is required, but they should be interested in quantitative work.” – Chris Schunn

Christine Sung

University of Michigan

Junior

Major(s): Electrical Engineering
Summer Hobbies: Dance, Yoga, Cooking

SEISMIC Project: Constructs Working group (WG 4) – Framework Analysis

SEISMIC Project Description: “The purpose of this project is to compare the ways that constructs related to diversity, equity, and inclusion are defined and used in and across disciplines outside of STEM education. The SEISMIC Scholar will meet with the project lead weekly and will participate in biweekly project team meetings. The Scholar will select a theory they are interested in and work alongside other project group members to complete a literature review and primer document. They will complete a short presentation capturing the goals of the overall project and how their project maps onto those goals.” – Nita Tarchinski, Nikeetha Farfan D’Souza

Freddy Camacho Oviedo

University of California, Davis

Junior

Major(s): Psychology and Chicano Studies
Summer hobbies: I have taken up to gardening and am currently cultivating a dwarf cypress tree. When I am not gardening, you can find me reading poetry or theory.

SEISMIC Project: Experiments Working Group (WG 2) – Office Hours

SEISMIC Project Description: “The project will have biweekly meetings with the SEISMIC Scholars, and will have the students work on data coding and literature reviews.” – Lalo Gonzalez

Marina Butitova

University of California, Santa Barbara

Sophomore

Major(s): Environment Studies and Statistics & Data Science
Summer hobbies: Painting, playing guitar and reading

SEISMIC Project: Experiments Working Group (WG 2) – CLUES

SEISMIC Project Description: “This project is building a system that helps student help-seeking. Lectures are indexed so students can search for specific moments in class videos and study guides are automatically created based on what was discussed in class. Strong programming skills will benefit participants in this project. The SEISMIC Scholar will attend weekly whole team meetings and will be assigned to work within a specialized team that will meet at least weekly. The SEISMIC Scholar will become familiar with the platform to create training for students. A plan for appropriate deliverables will be created depending on the student’s skill set and interests.” – Perry Samson

Logan Geivet

University of California, Santa Barbara

Junior

Major(s): Computer Engineering
Summer hobbies: Playing basketball, playing video games, and hanging with my friends!

SEISMIC Project: Experiments Working Group (WG 2) – Access to Practice

SEISMIC Project Description: “SEISMIC Scholars will meet weekly over the summer (time TBD).
One Scholar will download, organize, and code the peer review data from an OChem class at Indiana University. The second Scholar will work with us to develop a protocol for interviews with underserved students in large STEM courses and the focus of the protocol will be to develop a holistic understanding of students’ disciplinary belonging.” – Vanessa Woods, Maggie Safronova

Kaitlyn Mateychuk

University of Minnesota

Senior

Major(s): Biology
Summer hobbies: In the summer I enjoy hiking, using my hammock, swimming, and walking my dogs!
SEISMIC Project: Implementing Change Working Group (WG) – Bright spots Proposal

SEISMIC Project Description: Coming soon

Amy Travis

University of Pittsburgh

Senior

Major(s): Molecular Biology
Summer hobbies: Reading in my hammock, spending time with friends, and swimming

SEISMIC Project: Experiments Working Group (WG 2) – Office Hours

SEISMIC Project Description: “The project will have biweekly meetings with the SEISMIC Scholars, and will have the students work on data coding and literature reviews.” – Lalo Gonzalez