A personalized approach to education 

When Dr. Han-Wei Shih joined the School of STEM’s Division of Biological Sciences at 56�Թ��� Bothell as an assistant professor in autumn 2024, he brought a student-focused approach to his Molecular Biology course. A pre-course survey revealed to him that his students, mostly seniors planning to graduate in a few months, were unaware of the diverse career paths available to them. Instead of merely delivering lectures, he engaged students in discussions about what they already knew and what they hoped to learn. This adaptive teaching method ensured that students were not just checking boxes for graduation but were actively preparing for their future careers.��

“He wanted to go above and beyond and help us prepare not just for our academic lives, but also for our lives onward from that,” Biology Senior Adelle Nolan said. “Whether it’s our career or continuing in academia, whatever it was.”  

Eye-opening field experiences 

To expand his students’ understanding of career possibilities in biology, Shih arranged field trips to and the at the end of autumn quarter. The field trips gave students an inside look at the facilities through guided tours and interactive Q&A panels with professionals working in cross-disciplinary roles. Shih hoped that these tours would provide his students with awareness of the research community in the region and the career opportunities in the fields. Shih also wanted his students to hear from speakers with diverse STEM backgrounds, learning about their personal journeys through academia and industry and how they arrived at their current roles.  

“I strongly believe that academia and industry share a close and mutually beneficial relationship,” Shih said. “This connection is essential not only for advancing academic research but also for fostering industry growth.” 

At Just – Biologics, students explored the intersection of biology and technology, where professionals worked in multidisciplinary teams to develop innovative solutions. Speaker panels highlighted unique backgrounds and specialties and how they come together collaboratively in biotech research. The Allen Institute further reinforced this concept, with researchers from a wide range of backgrounds collaborating on cutting-edge projects across disciplines. 

“It was very interesting to see the types of people that go into this facility and what their roles were, what they did, and how they all interconnected,” said Hannah Heilman, a senior majoring in Biology.����

For Heilman, who’s been involved in genetics research at 56�Թ��� Bothell, the experience was eye-opening to the opportunities available in biology in Seattle and the value that vast research experience brings to the field. 

“Going on the field trip to the Allen Institute and Just – Biologics tied into my research because it made me appreciate the science more,” Heilman said. “It just inspired me to keep going, working at what I love, and to get as much research experience as possible.” 

A well-rounded approach to science and learning 

For many students, these experiences were more than just academic exercises — they were pivotal moments that shifted their outlook on their futures. Nolan, initially uncertain about job opportunities within their niche specialty of human sex diversity, found reassurance in seeing recent graduates working in interdisciplinary roles. 

“I came into this field trip being worried about my future and feeling like I wanted to cling on to my bachelor’s degree — find a way to stay in college forever,” they shared. “But then when I came out of that first field trip, I felt confident. I felt inspired.”��

The field trips reiterated to students that a successful career in biology isn’t confined to a single specialty. The educational journey in the School of STEM is about more than just meeting graduation requirements — it’s about helping students discover their passions, build meaningful connections and step into their future with excitement and purpose. 

“The experience showed us how science thrives on collaboration and innovation,” Shih said. “As we returned to our studies, we carried with us a deeper appreciation for the endless possibilities in scientific discovery.” 

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“We are so grateful to our donors and faculty who know how important it is for our engineering students to work on projects using industry-grade equipment so that they are workforce ready,” Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Sharon Jones said.  

Located in Innovation Hall 015, the Engineering Machine Shop serves as a crucial resource for students in engineering and related fields. 

“A machine shop is a vital organ of an engineering program,” Mechanical Engineering Lab Coordinator Jacob Roth said. “We envisioned a teaching shop that could accommodate up to 18 students at a time, and that’s exactly what we have now.” 

The shop is split between instruction and student-driven work, serving as both a learning space and a hands-on workshop. Roth regularly assists students conducting research, building prototypes and completing capstone projects. 

Expanding access to the machine shop 

In prior years, Roth taught a three-hour hand-tools only course for students to experience some of the shop’s features. With the establishment of the new shop in Innovation Hall, he is planning to revitalize that workshop to expand opportunities in the space. Currently, access to the machine shop is limited to students who have completed the machining fundamentals course for the safety of both students and the equipment. 

However, Roth hopes to make the entire shop more accessible to a broader range of students by expanding the machining fundamentals course to all students. Currently, it has mechanical engineering prerequisites, so it’s typically only engineers taking the class. 

“It would be great if I could tell anyone and everyone, ‘take our intro to machining,’” Roth said.  

A hub for innovation & collaboration 

Access to the machine shop allows students to create custom metal parts on short notice and work one-on-one with Roth to refine designs in advanced software.  

“For research students in non-engineering disciplines, who haven’t been trained on any machines, I’ll often work with them to produce engineering drawings and then I’ll make the part for them and give it to them,” Roth said.   

Beyond coursework, the machine shop is also a hub for student clubs. Groups like the Electric Motorsports Club and the TrickFire Robotics Club frequently use the space, helping fund equipment purchases and maintenance through the Student Technology Fee. 

Souri Banerjee, a mechanical engineering graduate from 56�Թ��� Bothell, ran into difficulties using the worn-down equipment in the previous machine shop. The parts he machined for his electric motorsport club wouldn’t turn out exactly as envisioned because the equipment was well used. He reached out to Roth about utilizing the student technology fee for additional equipment since a lot of student clubs used the space. After surveying other engineering clubs to see what equipment they needed for their projects, he and Roth worked together to submit a funding request which was approved.  

“I wish we had that new equipment when we were students, because that would have made our tasks easier,” Banerjee said. “But I am so very glad that the students now and all future students are going to be able to experience machining.” 

With the funding from the Worthington Fund and the Student Technology Fee, the 56�Թ��� Bothell Machine Shop is enhancing hands-on engineering education, supporting student innovation and fostering collaboration across STEM disciplines. 

Available equipment 

• Four lathes 
• Three manual mills��
• Grinder station including chop saw��
• A vertical and horizontal bandsaw��
• Drill press��
• Two Computer Numerical Control (CNC) mills and a forthcoming CNC lathe 

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In response, an interdisciplinary group of data science educators from multiple institutions put together the Data for Good in Education Workshop Series, a collection of intensive day-long workshops that convene data science educators to surface and promote strategies to face the obstacle of grounding data science education in people-centered community-informed practice. The first two workshops have garnered the participation of 75 educators and a third workshop is planned for 2025.  

Dr. Dharma Dailey, assistant teaching professor in the School of STEM, is among the organizers of Data for Good in Education Workshop series leading efforts in teaching data for good and shares highlights from the workshop series. 

The challenges of teaching data ethics 

Attendees gain the opportunity to network with and learn from their peers while workshop organizers map common opportunities and challenges Data for Good educators face. There are different challenges that are surfacing:  

• Instructors teaching technical topics feel pressure to minimize time devoted to ethics or considering societal impacts.����

• Educators don’t feel qualified to broach ethics in their classrooms.����

• Program and resource constraints limit community-engaged experiences and capstone experiences that tie data science to social good.����

• No field-level consensus has emerged yet for specifying learning objectives pertaining to the social and human dimensions related to Data Science, nor for designing relevant learning activities or assessing them.����

Despite these challenges, the workshops showcase the breadth of approaches to teaching data for good that are being spearheaded by Data Science educators.  

Inspiring talks and hands on sessions 

At the most recent workshop held at the in Ann Arbor in October, participants convened for a series of inspiring talks on teaching Data Science with a social good lens, interspersed with interactive sessions. Keynote speaker graduate director of the Master of Science Data Science Program and associate professor of Africana Studies at Howard University, provided insight into designing Howard’s Masters for Data Science and Analytics, an online program that substantively interweaves social good with data science. The program prepares students to engage in real-world data analytics that serve a purpose. For example, one recent student capstone identified analytic discrepancies in air quality assessment in the Mossville community in Louisiana. 

In another talk focused on change-making work within existing degree programs, , research associate at the Human-Robot Interaction Lab and lecturer at Tufts University, related his experience working in human-robot interaction and ethics to lead a one-year project to more systematically integrate ethics into all computer science courses in the Department of Computer Science at Tufts University.  

, director of the at the University of Michigan, reflected on how community-engaged, collaborative projects may be incorporated into data for good education, drawing on case studies from his current book project, Appetite for Data: Race, Neighborhoods, and Digital Recipes for Racial and Class Solidarity.  

Offering insights into what can be done at the course level, assistant professor at the University of Michigan, shared a framework he has devised for conceiving of and executing data-science for-good projects in his courses that help future data science practitioners view the work of data science as a milestone within a social good project, helping students to make clearer connections between the work that comes before and after a more successful data science intervention. 

In considering activities that can be incorporated into a class session or course module, of Trinity Christian College described how he makes use of ethics case studies in his classes. of Tufts University led participants through an assessment of case studies being curated and distributed through the Methods for Teaching Ethics in Data Science Workshop.��

Workshop organizers & supporters 

Dr. Dharma Dailey of 56�Թ���’s School of STEM and , Technical Education Specialist and Data Science Fellow at the University of Washington’s eScience Institute, are among the organizers of Data for Good in Education Workshop series. Dailey and Alterman draw upon their experience as educators in the University of Washington’s Data Science for Social Good program and Dailey’s prior work through eScience Institute to identify and promote effective strategies for building out Data for Good programs including the Data for Good Growth Map — a resource being used by many educators in this space.  

The Data for Good in Education Workshop series is co-organized with faculty from Emory University, Iowa State University, Michigan State University, Montgomery College, Trinity Christian College, University of Notre Dame, and Washington & Jefferson College. Funding for the Data for Good in Education Workshop series has been provided by the National Science Foundation and the Responsible Computing Challenge, a partnership of Omidyar Network, Mozilla, Schmidt Futures, Craig Newmark Philanthropies and Mellon Foundation. 

Those interested in the 2025 workshop should contact the organizing committee at data4good.workshop@gmail.com.��

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Building on gravitational wave research from the last decade, the European Space Agency (ESA) teamed up with NASA for the upcoming . NASA’s Astrophysics Division selected six U.S. scientists from all over the nation to serve on the joint ESA-NASA LISA Science Team; they will join a team of eleven European scientists along with two interdisciplinary scientists and a representative from the LISA Consortium.

Among the six U.S. scientists chosen is 56�Թ��� Bothell’s Dr. Joey Shapiro Key, associate professor in physics.  

We’re going to be working hard to ensure the success of the mission. But that is something that I want to contribute my time to.

A multi-generational legacy in astronomy 

During her time in graduate school at Montana State University, Key intended to focus on cosmology but was still unsure of her path. She began working on cosmology research with Dr. Neil Cornish but changed to his research group’s focus on gravitational waves.    

“I was an astrophysics major in college and I worked on cosmology in undergrad,” Key said. “But in grad school, I started working on gravitational wave astronomy because that’s what my adviser was working on.”   

Key’s research has contributed to LIGO, LISA and NANOGrav, the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves.    

“These big missions that we do, like LIGO and like LISA, they’re multi-generational,” Key said. “I mean, really human generations, scientific generations and academic generations.”   

Key’s adviser, Cornish, had been working on these missions long before he taught her, and now she is teaching students who will become leaders in this field in 10 to 15 years. Cornish is also one of the six scientists selected to work on the LISA mission, so after many decades of working and researching, Key and Cornish will reunite for the project as peers and colleagues.    

“I trained with him and learned from him,” Key said. “It’s fun and exciting to continue collaborating with him in this new role.”  

Nurturing curiosity and discovery in the classroom 

As an associate professor at 56�Թ��� Bothell, Key incorporates current research and discoveries in her teaching. Because it’s happening in real-time, gravitational wave research makes its way into her physics and cosmology courses, classical mechanics and astronomy 101.    

“It’s natural and timely to include all of this in classes,” Key said.    

56�Թ��� Bothell provides programs and opportunities for students to get involved in cutting-edge gravitational wave research. Last year, Jayron Yucker, a senior pursuing his Bachelor of Science in Physics, received an email from Key offering her mentorship. Yucker became involved in Key’s gravitational wave research group and was encouraged to apply for the Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP). In this program, he worked with simulated LISA data – particularly looking at extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRI), small black holes orbiting supermassive black holes.  

Astronomy is sort of a gateway science. People can get excited even if it doesn’t connect to the details of their everyday life.����

One of the more well-known opportunities at 56�Թ��� Bothell are the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs, which provide students with immersive research experiences over the summer. August Muller, a visiting researcher at 56�Թ��� Bothell, was part of the 2021 Physics REU cohort working with Key on LISA EMRI search techniques. Muller came to 56�Թ��� Bothell because it was one of the only research programs she applied to that would give her hands-on research experience. Even after completing the REU, Muller kept updated on the gravitational wave project and it later became the focus of her bachelor’s thesis. 

“I sort of realized in that moment that I was having more fun in the research that I was doing with Joey,” Muller said. “Trying out different fields and really using that as an opportunity to figure out what one likes and doesn’t like as an academic and as a scientist, I think was very useful to me.” 

Now, Muller’s beginning a 10-month Fulbright fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics where she will be continuing her gravitational wave research.   

“That’s how the undergraduate research goes,” Key said. “They’re long-term projects that students come on and learn about the project and contribute and then sort of pass it along.”   

Due to the generational longevity of this field, K-12 outreach efforts are crucial for engaging high school students in gravitational wave research. Initiatives like the aim to make complex scientific concepts accessible and exciting for younger audiences.   

Through outreach and research opportunities, educators like Key are cultivating the next generation of scholars in this relatively young field.    

“Astronomy is sort of a gateway science,” Key said. “People can get excited even if it doesn’t connect to the details of their everyday life.”  

LISA’s unique design: A space-based revolution 

Set to launch in 2035, LISA’s design consists of three spacecraft arranged in an equilateral triangle, with laser beams extending approximately 2.5 million miles on each side measuring the distance between them. When an astronomical event occurs, the gravitational waves will cause the spacecrafts to shift slightly. The lasers will measure that distance and send the signal to scientists down on Earth to analyze – which is the role Key is assisting with.    

Designing this mission to be in space is more complicated according to Key, but it holds a lot of advantages. Because it will operate in space, LISA will span larger than the Earth and be incredibly sensitive to gravitational waves — resulting in LISA collecting a lot of data for scientists. One of the key objectives of the mission is to learn more about supermassive black holes. Located at the center of almost every large galaxy, a supermassive black hole has a mass of hundreds of thousands to billions of times the Sun’s mass, according to NASA. But scientists know very little about them. 

“LISA is our only prospect for observing those kinds of systems,” Key said.    

This ability to capture the subtle shifts caused by gravitational waves will revolutionize our understanding of the fundamental nature of gravity, black holes and galaxies.  

Key’s commitment to advancing gravitational wave research 

Due to its incredible sensitivity, LISA will collect a lot of overlapping signals which will need to be analyzed so they aren’t contaminating each other. Key’s role in the mission is to analyze simulated LISA data since the mission has not yet launched.  

“It makes it an interesting data analysis problem,” Key said. “Right now, I use simulated LISA data to demonstrate our analysis techniques – that’s what I do with students here at 56�Թ��� Bothell.”   

Key’s role in the mission is essential because her work enables LISA’s gravitational wave data to identify the properties of different astrophysical sources. Key’s term on the LISA science team will last three years; collaborating with the other scientists selected and learning more about the data that LISA will collect on its 4.5-year mission orbiting around the Sun. 

“It’s a great honor to be selected,” Key said. “Our field is full of smart, talented, motivated scientists working to answer these kinds of questions, this new kind of astronomy and this new way to observe the cosmos and black holes and other kinds of sources. We’re going to be working hard to ensure the success of the mission. But that is something that I want to contribute my time to.” 

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Konpal Ali

Assistant Professor

Division of Engineering & Mathematics – Electrical Engineering

Dr. Konpal Ali earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Before joining the 56�Թ���, she was a postdoc at the University of Manitoba and then at New York University (NYU) Abu Dhabi.

Research focus:
Performance analysis, optimization and design of large wireless networks that accurately model real-world networks.

Courses:
EE 341A Discrete Time Linear Systems
EE 517A Wireless Communications I
EE 235A Continuous Time Linear Systems
EE 518A Wireless Communications II

Miguel Balzan

Assistant Teaching Professor

Division of Engineering & Mathematics – Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Miguel Balzan is a mechanical engineer with a Ph.D. from the University of Alberta, specializing in fluid dynamics. With over 15 years of teaching and industry experience, he has collaborated with energy companies on improving fluid handling processes.

Research focus:
Complex fluid behaviors, including effervescent atomization and drop impacts.

Courses:
B ME 331 Thermodynamics
B ME 435 HVAC
B ME 223 Engineering Dynamics
B ENGR 321 & B ME 334 Laboratories in Mechanical Engineering

Dharma Dailey

Assistant Teaching Professor

Division of Computing & Software Systems

Dr. Dailey earned her Ph.D. in Human Centered Design & Engineering from the University of Washington College of Engineering. She has taught part-time in the School of STEM since 2021. Having mentored over 20 data science teams, she emphasizes the integration of human-centered practices to improve processes and results.

Research focus:
Investigating collaborations between professional software engineers and scientists at the Scientific Software Engineer Center at 56�Թ���, while also organizing workshops for data science educators to exchange strategies for teaching Data for Good. Additionally, she supports digital equity projects in Washington state.

Courses:
CSS 142 Intro to Computer Programming I
CSS 478 Usability and User-Centered Design

Elizabeth Field

Assistant Professor

Division of Engineering & Mathematics – Mathematics

Dr. Elizabeth Field received her Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She went on to work at the University of Utah where she was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Scholar.

Research focus:
Geometric group theory, geometric topology, and low-dimensional topology.

Courses:
MATH 300 Foundations of Modern Math
MATH 441 Topology

Elizabeth Ostrowski

Assistant Professor

Division of Biological Sciences

Dr. Ostrowski received her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Michigan State University. Ostrowski will join 56�Թ��� Bothell in December from the University of Auckland, where she was a senior research fellow at the Liggins Institute. Ostrowski’s research background is in microbiology, evolutionary genetics and genomics. Her research combines studies of natural populations with laboratory evolution experiments that identify genetic changes in real-time.

Research focus:
Microbiology, evolutionary genetics and genomics.

Courses:
B BIO 375 Molecular Biology
B BIO 495 Investigative Biology

Han-Wei Shih

Assistant Professor

Division of Biological Sciences

Dr. Han-Wei Shih earned his Ph.D. in cell biology from Pennsylvania State University in 2015, focusing on cellular ion signaling in mechanosensing and gravity-sensing within the field of space biology. His postdoctoral research at the University of Washington Seattle explored signal sensing and transduction in cell differentiation and antibiotic resistance, specifically in the protozoan parasite Giardia.

Research focus:
Molecular mechanisms regulating encystation and antibiotic resistance.

Courses:
B BIO 375 Molecular Biology
B BIO 495 Investigative Biology

Jeff Stride

Assistant Teaching Professor

Division of Computing & Software Systems

Jeff Stride earned his M.S. in computer science from University of California Santa Barbara. began his career at Microsoft, where he spent 22 years in various roles. He contributed to notable products like Microsoft Bob, which introduced Clippy, and spent eight years at MSN, where his teams launched the Home Page for 500 million users and revamped the Entertainment channel. After his time in industry, Jeff transitioned to education, teaching AP Computer Science through the TEALS program. In 2017, he joined North Creek High School, where he taught until the 2023-24 school year.

Courses:
CSS 143 Computer Programming II
CSS 360 Software Engineering

Madhava Vemuri

Assistant Professor

Division of Engineering & Mathematics – Electrical Engineering

Dr. Madhava Vemuri completed his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Dakota State University in 2024. During his Ph.D., he worked on developing frameworks and methodologies for studying the newer generation of chip design using beyond Moore technologies. He also investigated various circuit design and optimization techniques for advanced process nodes.

Research focus:
Monolithic Integration, Beyond Moore Technologies, On-chip Power Delivery, Edge Computing, Artificial Intelligence for IC design, Biomedical and Agricultural projects.

Courses:
EE 528 Computer Organization
EE 425 Microprocessor System Design
EE 525 Embedded System Design

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Every year, Rodríguez Hidalgo’s students organize the event as an opportunity to teach the public and their peers on campus about basic astronomy topics — topics the students in the intro class themselves only just learned.

The students each must sign up for at least two hours of teaching in collaboration with a community partner as well.

Through these quarter-long projects, Rodríguez Hidalgo, assistant professor in the School of STEM, employs a model for teaching often referred to as “learning by teaching.” The method involves students first learning to gain a comprehensive understanding of a topic and then teaching that same topic to peers or others through a presentation or similar project that can deepen their learning even further.

Tackling even hard topics

Rodríguez Hidalgo first came across this teaching method while working as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Toronto. When she attended a teaching and learning symposium at York University, she heard about dance students going into middle schools in the area at the end of their class to instruct kids on the same moves they had just learned.

“I thought it was a great idea, but several faculty members told me it would be an impossible endeavor in astronomy classes,” she said.

Undeterred, she pursued the idea and, through the university’s Centre for Community Partnerships, connected with program managers at after-school programs in low-income areas around Toronto.

“The rest is history,” she said. “I have been doing this since then and been involved with every service-learning and community-engagement center at every university I have been to. I love it.”

Practicing makes perfect

At the beginning of the quarter, Rodríguez Hidalgo’s students — most in their first year of college — learn about a wide range of astronomy basics. They are then invited to choose a topic previously talked about in class for their own presentations. They’re also told to choose a second topic outside of class to research on their own and incorporate it into a supplementary presentation.

“At the beginning, they are shocked and doubtful that they will be able to teach astronomy after learning it for only one month,” she said. “By the end, it builds up their confidence in public speaking and delivery of knowledge, as they themselves tell me in the post-action reflections we ask them to complete.”

Before presenting to the community, the students have multiple opportunities to present in class and to others outside the class to help learn the material through oral repetition.

“Creating these projects and having to present them over and over really solidifies all the information,” said student Liliana Flores “One of our professor’s key tips is to go around explaining to everyone everything we learn. So, I’ll walk around at home and tell my mom ‘This is what I’ve learned, let me tell you all about it.’

“In doing that, we’ve really got this down pat.”

Engaging with the community

Students also have shared ownership in selecting and working with community partners to arrange educational events. This year’s class presented at one of three venues: Skyview Middle School, Franklin High School and a library in the City of Bothell.

The students who presented at the library gave a preview presentation to the staff there who provided feedback, including ways the students could adapt their presentation for younger library visitors. About 45 people, including young children and their parents, joined in the event on Saturday, June 3.

“It was nice to be able to offer an interactive STEM program for families on Saturday — and we were able to introduce the public library to the 56�Թ��� Bothell students. Many of them said they hadn’t been here before and really liked the space,” said Katie Boyes, librarian and information services manager. “We enjoyed the partnership.”

At Skyview Middle School, the 56�Թ��� Bothell students attended two after-school programs. The school provided support by encouraging the middle school students to sign up for the presentations. In total, more than 25 signed up to learn about astronomy during their own time after school.

One of Rodríguez Hidalgo’s students who graduated from Franklin High School arranged the presentation there, partnering with his former science teacher and connecting with students through the school’s science club.

As Rodríguez Hidalgo prepared her students to give their own presentations, she not only taught them about astronomy but also gave them important tips on how to teach and present to different audiences.

Shaping young minds

“We started out with the young kids in mind,” said student Gregory Palmer, “so that’s what we shaped our presentation around.”

Students noted that one of the more challenging topics to present was the Big Freeze, a theory on how the universe will die. “It’s a little hard talking to them about how our universe will end. Their eyes will just get really big, and they’re kind of shocked,” said student Angela Duarte Valencia. “But it’s so cute listening to them just ask questions and be interested in this stuff.”

56�Թ��� Bothell Student Gowiria Yousif said that asking the younger students questions to encourage them to think about the information and try to find the answer is instrumental to teaching children. Many of the presentations incorporated interactive components and opportunities to earn small prizes.

“I liked teaching to different people and different age groups,” Flores said. “At Astronomy Day, we taught college students — people our own age — and at the Bothell Library we taught mostly younger kids. It’s just very different but also a cool difference to see.”

The students from Rodríguez Hidalgo’s intro course also appreciated the collaborative nature of teaching as parents eagerly jumped in to help their children grasp what was being presented, said student Aidan Riffle. And oftentimes, younger space enthusiasts knew more about a certain topic than their parents.

A transformative experience

This kind of community-based learning is a passion for Rodríguez Hidalgo and one of the reasons she moved from California to join the 56�Թ��� Bothell faculty.

“It involves a large amount of effort on many fronts,” she said, “but it is completely transformative and removes the ivory tower concept that universities typically portray in our society.”

Over the many years she has used the model of learning through teaching, Rodríguez Hidalgo said she’s seen her students really benefit. In their interactions with younger audiences in the community, for example, her students are surprised to find themselves as role models for younger people.

She recalls one student from her time in Toronto who shared an experience in her post-action reflection about teaching moon phases to a young girl. When the child asked if a woman had walked on the moon, the college student looked it up and told her that, no, there have not been any female astronauts on the moon. The young girl then declared that she would become the first.

“My student wrote that the moment changed the way she saw the power of education — and the influence a student like her could have in her community,” Rodríguez Hidalgo said. “You never know the seeds you might be planting when you do these activities.”

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CBIT, envisioned by physical sciences professors Hyung Kim and Lori Robins with Leslie Cornick, Dean of the School of STEM, is a collaborative partnership including support from computing & software systems faculty Mark Kochanski and David Socha, along with Surya Pathak from the School of Business. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray were instrumental in ensuring the funding of this initiative. Cantwell said, “The Puget Sound region is a national hub for biotech research and development…56�Թ��� Bothell’s new Center of Biotech Training and Innovation will provide high-tech training for tomorrow’s biotech workers and help develop the next biotech breakthroughs.” (“”)

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