Education and Outreach News

On November 6-7, several of iUTAH’s researchers, leaders, educators, and graduate students gathered at the University of Utah for an interactive, hands-on communications workshop. The Becoming EPSCoR Champions workshop, hosted by the National Science Foundation (NSF), was created to help equip professionals with the skills to communicate in their future endeavors, which includes: obtaining grants, communicating with Program Officers, legislators, colleagues, administrators and the public, as well as everyday obligations.

Communications experts Dan Agan—a media strategist, communications counselor, and former PBS executive—and Joe Schreiber—an Emmy Award-winning TV producer and filmmaker—lead the two day workshop, hosted by Susan Mason, head of NSF’s External Affairs. They worked one-on-one with participants, sharing professional approaches and real-world insight to better participant’s messages, presentations, and speaking skills.  

Over the course of two days, the group of thirteen participants focused on preparing and presenting four-minute speeches about iUTAH, as well as practicing their interviewing skills in two different filmed sessions. It was a fantastic opportunity to practice and develop important communication skills, and to interact with other EPSCoR participants.

iUTAH’s new Assistant Director, Andy Leidolf, said, “This was an incredible learning experience, and I feel privileged to have been a part of it. As somebody who has just come on board with iUTAH, I felt this also turned out to be a great team-building exercise. It would have been valuable to see more iUTAH participants take part in this great opportunity.”

The conference was also designed to facilitate better communication habits and provide tips for improvement. Participant and graduate student Yusuf Jameel said, “The EPSCoR workshop was really helpful in improving my presentation skills. The different segments of the workshop helped me improve my different shortcomings immensely. As scientists we tend to focus more on our work and less on how to communicate it. The workshop provided me with useful tips and information to display my work and knowledge to non-scientific audience in a scientific, yet lucid way. It also helped me focus on points that connect personally with my audience, avoiding details that can leave them uninterested and disconnected.”

At the end of the conference, our participants walked away with newfound skills that they can use in their everyday communications. Overall it was a beneficial learning experience that brought members of our team together as “ESPCoR Champions.”

National Public Radio correspondent Joe Palca was the speaker at the Nov. 14 Science Unwrapped event at Utah State University. Palca, NPR’s science correspondent, explored how to present complex topics in a short amount of time. He also spoke about his job with NPR and how one can make any topic informative and entertaining for any audience. 

After Palca’s talk, many children, parents, students, and teachers stayed to enjoy refreshments and a variety of hands-on learning activities, including a booth staffed by iUTAH with the theme “Do You Know Where Your Water Comes From?”  We were able to demonstrate both urban and rural examples of water use via our watershed map and model. The model allows kids to siphon water out of a river and route it through homes, factories, and treatment plants to simulate true water flow. They also used a spray bottle to simulate rain falling over crops and neighborhoods. The iUTAH booth was one of 25 exhibits featuring a range of science topics from the anatomy of an eye to exciting chemistry experiments.

The monthly Friday evening series resumes in January with the first of four lectures carrying a water theme. We plan to staff booths at each event to share the iUTAH message with a diverse group of individuals interested in science.

View more images and get more information about Science UnWrapped...

Since 1999, more than 10,000 organizations worldwide have hosted GIS Day. On Nov. 13, iUTAH participated as the Utah Valley Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Group hosted a GIS Day event at Utah Valley University (UVU). The program included 2 tracks: one for 4-6 graders and one for junior high and high school students. Elementary students had the opportunity to experience hands-on exercises that taught them about maps, GIS, GPS, and remote sensing (aerial, and satellite imagery). The high school students attended a career panel with the opportunity to explore online maps and interact with GIS professionals. Vendors and projects had booths outside the events to continue enhancing the student experience.

Utah Valley University faculty members organized the Utah Valley GIS (UVGIS) Group, composed of academic and private and public agencies in Utah that use GIS to solve a variety of problems including water conservation, resource management, elections, sewer management, population analysis, transportation planning, economic development, urban projections and planning, telecommunication network analysis, and more. Among the founders is UVU Assistant Professor Suzanne Walther (pictured along with iUTAH research associate Samuel Rivera), who hosted the event. The iUTAH booth featured Utah's water map in English and Spanish. We answered questions about iUTAH and Utah’s water from numerous visitors in both the elementary and secondary school groups. 

A new sign that teaches the importance of monitoring the water quality of Utah’s rivers and lakes was recently placed in front of the Stokes Nature Center near the Logan River. The sign was funded by iUTAH as part of the EOD Catalysit Grant program a research project that works to preserve Utah’s water resources. 

Read the following Logan River Sign News Articles:

• New sign at Logan River teaches about water quality - Cache Valley Daily
• Sign Project Seeks To Educate Public On Water Quality - Utah Public Radio
• USU Water Quality Extension, iUTAH, Partners Unveil Logan River Sign - Utah State Universtiy

The National Science Foundation posted the Explore Utah Science series "Follow the Flow" on their Science 360 radio website on October 9, 2014. Make sure you check it out.