Education and Outreach News
May 9, 2016
iUTAH Researcher appointed WSU Honors Program Director
Dan Bedford, professor of Geography (WSU), has been selected as the next Honors Program Director at Weber State University. Bedford, who has experience as a teacher and researcher at WSU, has taught in the Honors Program since 2008. He has also served in leadership roles within iUTAH, both receiving and mentoring other researchers connected with the iUTAH Research Catalyst Grant.
“I am looking to build on the excellent work of the previous director, Judy Elsley, by growing a community of scholars who are able to think outside the box,” said Bedford. “Solving today's and tomorrow's problems increasingly requires trans-disciplinary thinking, and I'm looking to foster those interests and skills.” As director, Bedford is committed to an engaged learning environment and impactful research that will benefit the curricular and scholarly interest of faculty and students alike.
Bedford sees the new position as “an opportunity to develop collaborative partnerships across campus, working with faculty from lots of different disciplines to build exciting, engaging, relevant learning experiences for students.” He added that “iUTAH helped prepare me for the job by pushing me out of my comfort zone and into collaborations with other faculty, both within and beyond WSU, exploring new undergraduate research, and giving me and the rest of the WSU iUTAH team a framework in which to hone our student mentoring skills.”
May 2, 2016
Award-Winning Author Coming To SLC
The iUTAH commissioned book Water Runs Through This Book, by Nancy Bo Flood and illustrated by Jan Sonnenmair, has received much recognition and praise from the literary community this year. It has been shortlisted for a Green Earth Book Award, is a finalist in the young adult category for Colorado Author's League 2016 Awards, and winner of the 2015 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award (SONWA) for young adult literature.
Nancy Bo Flood says, “Water creates watersheds - communities that connect us all.” As both a writer and and educator, she has led discussions using Water Runs Through This Book at libraries, classrooms, museums, and teacher workshops in Utah. On a recent trip to the southeastern corner of Utah, one teacher said Ms. Flood’s “energy and passion…. engaged our students in [activities ranging] from an animated read-aloud with a large group of rapt four-year old preschoolers to a writing workshop for all of our sixth graders.” Copies of the book were handed out at each event.
Bo Flood will be in Salt Lake City the week of May 7 – 13, and will be attending various community events including a teacher workshop held at The Leonardo on May 7.
April 29, 2016
Undergrad Research at Westminster College
iUTAH researcher Frank Black shared news on undergraduate research at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. This year two students, Chris Mansfield and Josh Schmidt, received awards and gave presentations while under the mentorship of Dr. Black.
- Chris Mansfield, received the FoGSL Doyle Stevens Award, presented at Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry national conference, and at the annual Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research (UCUR) on the Environmental Influences of Methylmercury Photo-Degradation Rates at the Great Salt Lake. Chris plans to take a year to work in the private sector before applying to grad school.
- Josh Schmidt also presented at UCUR on the Comparison and Trends in Mercury Concentrations in Brine Flies and Spiders at the Great Salt Lake.
In addition to presentations, both Chris and Josh were interviewed live on the Great Salt Lake podcast, which is currently being broadcast once a week on KRCL. Frank Black is an assistant professor of chemistry at Westminster College, and recipient of an iUTAH Research Catalyst Grant in 2014, to identify options for the adaptive management of wetlands to minimize the net production and export of monomethylmercury.
Press: KRCL Radio
Syd Sattler, Jules Jimreivat, Josh Schmidt and Chris Mansfield. Credit: KRCL Radio
April 19, 2016
Educator Workshop at The Leonardo museum in Salt Lake City
iUTAH and The Leonardo museum in Salt Lake City are partnering to offer an educator workshop on Saturday, May 7th , 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. Author Nancy Bo Flood will present information about the beauty, mystery, and power of water with the goal of increasing a love affair between participants and water. Basic concepts about water cycles, conservation, watershed, etc., will be discussed. The heart of this workshop will be a variety of hands-on-activities for educators to bring to their classrooms (STEM + Write).
Activities and information are based on Water Runs Through This Book, and include experiencing “walking for water,” assessing daily water use; developing a home water conservation plan; creating a four-part (poetry, narration, interviews, art) statement about “seven ways of thinking about water,” and finally, assessing individual water footprints. Handouts include additional activities plus an annotated bibliography. Activities are designed for students 4th through high school. Registered teachers may bring one adult guest and up to two children (ages 5-12) for free.
at The Leonardo comes from iUTAH EPSCoR.
April 5, 2016
Festival of Excellence inspires SUU students
iUTAH researcher Fredric Govedich shared news on the Festival of Excellence, held April 4 - 5, 2016 on the Southern Utah University (SUU) campus in Cedar City. For the past four years, SUU has held the Festival of Excellence celebrating the intellectual and artistic pursuits and accomplishments of students. This year, two student posters were based on iUTAH research, and mentored by iUTAH participants Bonnie Bain and Fredric Govedich. Student participants include:
- Josh Matt and Andrew Weber
Water Chemistry and Bacterial Diversity/Abundance of Cedar City Irrigation - Jason Stewart, Matz Indegard, Nayla Rhein, Jacob Preston, Carl Hallows, and Josh Matt,
Biology of Arid Landscape Wetlands
Dr. Bain is a research associate at SUU, and is an adjunct instructor at Dixie State University. Dr. Govedich, an associate professor of biology, was the recipient of an iUTAH Research Catalyst Grant in 2014, examining water chemistry and microbial community composition and diversity in irrigation runoff waters in Cedar City, Utah.
