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CENI Newsletter — January 2023

January 9, 2023

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Welcome back! We hope everyone had a restful and rejuvenating winter break. Here at CENI we are gearing up for another semester of research and grant-writing, teaching and mentoring, and educational outreach. Before we do, we have hearty congratulations for Julee Farley and Davia Wiley! Don't forget to register for Hokie for a Day spring field trips and save the date for the Nutshell Games, monthly Science on Tap Events, weekly ICAT Playdates, and ICAT Day. As always, be sure to check out our Liaison Corner for field trip and educational outreach highlights facilitated with the help of CENI's Educator Liaison Network!

Chelsea & Phyllis

Chelsea Haines, Associate Director of Broader Impacts
Phyllis Newbill, Associate Director of Educational Networks

Last Call for 2023 Hokie for a Day Exhibitors!

CENI invites Virginia Tech faculty, students, and student organizations to participate in a Hokie for a Day Expo. Hokie for a Day offers fifth-grade students a unique opportunity to experience college life. The visit includes a discussion of college majors, a conversation about how to get to college, an expo with hands-on academic experiences from Virginia Tech faculty and students, lunch at an on-campus dining hall, and a chat with a student-athlete.

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Davia Wiley Named internEXP Intern of the Month

CENI would like to congratulate Davia Wiley, Marketing and Outreach Intern, for being named the Intern of the Month for Career and Professional Development's Campus internEXP program for November 2022. The program launched in fall 2021 to increase experiential learning opportunities for Virginia Tech students. 

"Davia has gone above and beyond in the areas of professionalism, leadership, and teamwork several times over the past month at key educational outreach events. She comes into work every day with an upbeat attitude and a willingness to complete any task assigned."

Julee Farley Named Director of Science Outreach Initatives

CENI would like to congratulate Julee Farley on being named the Director of the Science Outreach Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania. Julee is the former Virginia Tech-Montgomery County Public Schools liaison, part of CENI's Educator Liaison Network. In her new role, Julee will work to expand access to science and STEM education and careers. Julee is excited to continue the work she began at Virginia Tech to increase representation, fairness in access, and belonging of diverse identities in STEM at the University of Pennsylvania. You can reach Julee via email at jpfarley@sas.upenn.edu.

Meet the Campus Engagement Network

Victoria Corbin

This month’s featured member is Victoria Corbin, who is the Assistant Dean for Outreach and Student Engagement within the Virginia Tech College of Science. She is also an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. 

Dr. Vicki Corbin studied the molecular underpinnings of cell-cell communication and its role in animal development and disease as a postdoc at Rockefeller University and as a professor at the University of Kansas. Since 2013 she has focused on science outreach, first at Clemson University as Director of the CU Life Sciences Outreach Center, and now at Virginia Tech as Assistant Dean for Outreach and Student Engagement for the College of Science. Dr. Corbin runs science camps for middle school and high-school students to help students experience science as meaningful and relevant to them, to see that they belong in science, and to introduce them to a wide range of possible careers. Dr. Corbin also runs professional development workshops for secondary school science teachers. Fun fact… she loves to hike and has trekked in the Himalayas.

Spring 2023 Course

ENGE 2524: Exploring Service Learning Through STEM/STEAM Educational Outreach
Date/Time: Tuesday/Thursday 9:30-10:45 am
Location: RAND 211
Meets Pathways Concepts 3 and 7

Explore volunteerism, traditional service learning, critical service learning, and social change. Develop intercultural competence by examining social identities, power, and privilege with a focus on preK-12 education systems in the United States. Develop Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) and STEM educational outreach experiences that meet needs identified by community members in teams. Demonstrate career readiness through experiential learning. Pre: Sophomore standing.

Contact: Dr. Chelsea Haines (cehaines@vt.edu) 

CENI and Partners in the News

CENI Educator Liaison Corner

Floyd County Schools

In the past twelve months students from Dr. Chelsea Haines’ service learning class offered through the Department of Engineering Education have implemented outreach at all schools in Floyd County. We are looking forward to welcoming more groups to our community in 2023!

Second and third-graders division-wide attended field trips at the Science Museum of Western Virginia (SMWV) fulfilling a grant-associated goal of expanding knowledge of computer science fundamentals through a targeted in-museum program. The SMWV, University Libraries and VT-CENI partnered with FCPS in the Why CS? Accelerating Computer Science in Education Grant from the Virginia Department of Education. 

Fifth-grade students at Check Elementary had first-hand experiences with visible light thanks to the Science Museum of Western Virginia’s lending library. Exploring how light impacts animals at the deepest depths of the ocean completely captured students’ attention!

Montgomery County Public Schools

Students in the Oceanography class at Blacksburg High School learned about oil spills and their impacts when Amy Guerin, MCPS University Liaison visited their class.  Students were given the chance to design their own clean-up methods and calculate the cost of their extraction technique.  

Interested in partnering with MCPS? Contact me!

Amy Guerin (amyguerin@mcps.org)

Radford City Public Schools

Virginia Tech Dining Services hosted Radford High School culinary arts students in a behind-the-scenes tour of three of their major facilities. The students toured the Southgate Center, Owens Food Court, and ended the day at D2 in Dietrick Hall for a final tour and lunch.  

Radford 3rd-5th grade gifted students visited Virginia Tech as part of a Space unit and to learn about solving problem-based challenges. Students visited the Ware Lab, the Space Lab, and – after rain doused plans to visit the Drone Park and thanks to a quick-thinking parent who works at Virginia Tech – the Hume Center.

Craig Arthur with VT Diggin’ in the Crates and several of his students visited the Radford High School campus to help set up a new studio space for the RHS hip hop club.  Arthur and RHS hip hop club coach plan to co-sponsor regular meetings and workshops with VT and RHS students beginning in the new year. 

Science Museum of Western Virginia

SMWV hosted Floyd County second and third graders in December for field trips concentrating on computer science. Students explored the museum and learned about how NASA engineers code and communicate with rovers on Mars, and learned how to code Dash & Dot robots to move, make sound, light up, and dance. 

Highlights from the Campus Engagement Network 

Nutshell Games
Date/Time: Wednesday, February 8, 5:30 pm
Location: Moss Arts Center

Where can you hear about 30 Virginia Tech research projects in 45 minutes? At the Nutshell Games! Hosted by Virginia Tech’s Center for Communicating Science, the Nutshell Games will take place at the Moss Arts Center on Wednesday, February 8, at 5:30 pm. This friendly research presentation competition features 30 graduate students from departments and programs across campus, each of whom has a mere 90 seconds to explain their work to a public audience. Come cheer them on!

Science on Tap - New River Valley
Date/Time: Wednesday, January 25, 5:30 pm
Location: Rising Silo Brewery (2351 Glade Road, Blacksburg)

Join Gretchen Matthews at for "Defending Against Hackers of the Quantum Future." Dr. Matthews is a professor of mathematics at Virginia Tech and director of the southwest section of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative. Hosted by the Center for Communicating Science and the Virginia Tech chapter of Sigma Xi, this event is open to the public free of charge.

Wonder Universe

Wonder Universe hosts weekly Toddler Time on Wednesdays, bi-weekly Story Time events, and monthly Tiny Explorers sensory art programming. Check our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/WonderUniverseCM) for all the latest information on upcoming programming.

Wonder Universe continues to seek STEM Saturday volunteers for the winter and beyond. Please email hello@wonderuniverse.org if interested in volunteering to host a Saturday morning STEM exploration activity at the museum.

Kids' Tech University

Spread the word and get excited: the Virginia Tech Kids' Tech University program registration is open! Kids' Tech University (KTU) is a spring program developed by the Fralin Life Sciences Institute at Virginia Tech and Virginia 4-H, that puts scientists and engineers in front of children to encourage the exploration of intriguing topics in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

This year we are offering 2 concurrent programs on Jan. 28, Feb. 18, March 18 and April 1, 2023. The In-Person Program will be held at the Virginia Tech campus (Blacksburg, VA) and will include up to 250 kids (ages 9-12 by Sept. 30, 2022) and their parents. Kids and parents will watch interactive sessions presented by renowned research scientists and participate in hands-on activities led by undergraduate students and VT faculty/staff. Each day's events will center on common themes related to everyday life. The Virtual Program will be offered on the same dates as the In-Person program. The interactive sessions will be live-streamed via zoom and materials for hands-on activities will be mailed home to each Virtual participant.

Register for either the In-Person Program (Registration fee of $75) OR the Virtual Program ($50). Scholarships are available.

Upcoming Deadlines and Events