New director to unify STEM education

As the new director of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education, Melinda Hamilton will work to orchestrate the University of Idaho’s STEM efforts and serve as the liaison to different state committees.

This is a new position on campus under the guidance of Cori Mantle-Bromley, dean of the College of Education.

Mantle-Bromley said she would like to see Hamilton pull the university’s STEM education work together to present a more unified picture of how UI is doing at the state and national level.

“We have many people on campus who are doing fabulous work in STEM and STEM education research,” Mantle-Bromley said. “We’ve got mathematics projects going on in Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington. We’ve got NSF-funded projects in science education … we’ve got physics education going on … We’ve got Micron funding to do a statewide study that involves different aspects of STEM. We have a ton of projects out there.”

Other aspects of Hamilton’s position include networking, matchmaking and communication, Mantle-Bromley said.

“We’re hoping she can help each college know more about what the others are doing and help us network so that when a grant is going in on one topic, she’ll be the person to say ‘You know, there’s somebody over in engineering that’s doing work that’s similar to that — let’s connect the two,'” Mantle-Bromley said.  “She’ll also help advise different colleges about funding it should aim for.”

Although Hamilton will be housed in the College of Education, Mantle-Bromley said she’ll work with each of the colleges at some point.

“Every college on campus has some aspect of STEM education that they’re doing,” Mantle-Bromley said. “So she will be working in a very interdisciplinary way.”

Hamilton will also be the university’s key contact for STEM-related meetings called by different entities around the state, including the State Board of Education.

“She will essentially represent us at the state and national level with all things STEM education,” Mantle-Bromley said.

Mantle-Bromley said Hamilton is ideal for the position because she has experience in both pieces of the puzzle — science and education.

Hamilton received her bachelor’s degree in biology and master’s degree in botany with an emphasis in plant ecology at the University of Nevada, Reno, and her doctorate in soil science with a microbiology emphasis at Utah State University. For the last four years, Hamilton served as the Idaho National Laboratory’s director of educational programs. She helped launch the i-STEM initiative, a network in Idaho that helps provide students with professional development opportunities and resources in the STEM area.

Mantle-Bromley said STEM plays a major role at UI.

“The STEM fields are critical to the work that the University of Idaho does,” she said. “Without work in those fields and the education in those fields, our university would not have nearly the standing that it does.”

Hamilton said STEM education is broad and brings students 21st century learning skills so they can better integrate science, technology, engineering and math into what they’re doing.

“STEM is a part of almost any job anymore,” Hamilton said.

Mantle-Bromley said there has been talk about creating this position at UI for some time.

“We finally are at the point where we’re ready to launch the position because it’s become so important and because we’re doing so much work in this area,” Mantle-Bromley said. “We really need help coordinating and networking all of it.”

Hamilton said she is passionate about this area, and finds it rewarding to work in education.

The university’s emphasis on STEM is what brought her to UI, Hamilton said.

“This really is the mission of the university,” Hamilton said. “This is what I want to do — I want to work where STEM is a priority — to do what I love.”

Britt Kiser can be reached at [email protected]

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Britt Kiser News editor Junior in Public Relations Can be reached at [email protected] or 208-885-7715

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