About the new STEM Network

The New STEM Faculty Network was formed in 2005 for new faculty members in STEM disciplines--science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is funded by the Office of Faculty Development and the deans of Engineering, Natural Resources and the Environment, and Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and is coordinated by the Academic Liaison in Research Liaison & Development, with guidance and advice from Sandy Petersen, Associate Graduate Dean.

The idea for the group emerged from the Biology Mentoring Committee (Abbie Jensen, Randy Phillis, and Sandy Petersen), and it subsequently evolved. Approximately monthly there is an informal event that includes a light, pizza-type meal and a time for learning about research interests of others in the group. Childcare subsidies are available for the meetings. The goal of this event is to facilitate networking with STEM peers across all the colleges, and possibly establish new cross-disciplinary research/teaching collaborations.

A couple of points of definition: Faculty are officially “new” for the first two years of their appointment at UMass. After that, they are welcome to join the meetings for as long as they want as part of the “steering committee.”

Faculty are considered “STEM” if they work in one of the fields designated by NSF. With one syllable, the term refers to all the fields that are not humanities, social sciences, or health services--generally these categories:

• biological sciences (except medicine and other clinical fields), and exercise science;

• physical sciences, including physics, chemistry, astronomy, and materials science;

• mathematical sciences;

• computer and information sciences;

• geosciences;

• engineering;

• technology areas associated with the preceding fields (for example, biotechnology, chemical technology, engineering technology, information technology, etc.)

So far, the schedule for the dinners has been set on a month-to-month basis. If you would like to receive notification, please contact bpearson@research.umass.edu

This website is being created and maintained with the help of STEM undergraduate, Erik Karey and David Limero . Double click on someone's picture or use our search function on the sidebar.

bpearson
Jan 2008

Background / What is "STEM"?
 

[The program] was established by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in accordance with the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-277) as modified by P.L. 106-313 and P.L.108-447 in 2004. The Act reflects the national need to increase substantially the number of American scientists and engineers.

NSF's fields of science and engineering to corresponding codes defined by the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in A Classification of Instructional Programs.

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/cip2000/

... transcripts were assigned 6-digit codes using the College Course Map (CCM), which is a modification of the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP). ...
nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2004/supnotes/n06.asp

http://nces.ed.gov/statprog/2002/std1_4.asp