This September and October, over 430 K-12 students and 50 teachers participated in Clarkson STEM programs across the North Country to the lower Hudson Valley. Programs covered a variety of STEM fields, including robotics, health sciences, environmental science, engineering, physics, and mathematics. Many of these initiatives receive support from state and national funding organizations. All of these interdisciplinary programs rely on talented Clarkson undergraduate student interns who take their excitement for STEM and spark interest into the next generation.
This Fall the Institute for STEM Education and the Lewis School of Health Sciences launched an afterschool neuroscience enrichment program as part of their 5-year, $1.32M Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In October, students came to campus for the kick-off event which included making brains out of play dough to identify the key parts impacted by addiction and starting to formulate research questions about the health care treatment of addiction. Seven Clarkson undergraduates and one graduate student serve as near-peer mentors for the high school students and will be visiting with them weekly throughout the year. Roughly 40 students from five different school districts are already engaged in hands-on, challenge-based curriculum focused on neuroscience, how drugs impact the brain, and healthcare professions and pathways. The program culminates in a clinical simulation experience taking place in the Spring.
Clarkson University’s STEM Education K-12 Robotics Outreach kicked off the annual FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) season on September 7th with the “DIVE IN: Into the Deep” Season Kickoff event, hosting 23 students and coaches from teams in northern New York and Ontario, Canada. The event was made possible by the efforts of 21 current Clarkson undergraduate students, including 18 members of the FIRST Living Learning Community and three Robotics Outreach interns.
From October 10–14, Clarkson also held its inaugural FTC Academy, welcoming seven K-12 educators. The FTC Academy is a certified 40-hour professional development course designed to give participants an in-depth understanding of the FTC season and how to implement the program to meet STEM learning objectives. This year’s training was funded by the Arconic Foundation and led by a certified FIRST Education trainer. Event setup and teardown were led by the five FIRST Living Learning Community members and one Robotics Outreach intern. Food services were provided by Sodexo.
A hands-on, three-hour workshop focused on advancing STEM education through an innovative traffic garden was hosted at Hammond Central School on September 13th, where thirty district educators participated, led by Clarkson faculty members Melissa Richards, Mahesh Banavar, and Erik Backus, along with C3G CEM intern Malvern Dongo, and Richard Holt, Co-Founder of the Early Childhood Mobility Coalition. As part of the Clarkson University TEAM Science-funded research project CODE-TrafficWISE, the workshop introduced educators to traffic gardens—outdoor spaces with pavement markings that simulate miniature street networks—designed to teach about traffic rules and safety in a controlled environment. Educators were equipped with the knowledge of traffic gardens, and the potential educational benefits of integrating AI-guided smart design, sensor-embedded environments, and generative AI chatbots to create an interactive, technology-driven learning experience. Educators also collaborated on developing STEM lesson plans and designed traffic garden layouts for their schools, bringing real-world safety education to life.
Hudson Valley area programs in participatory environmental science began their 8th year, launching with field experiences for 3 public high schools in September and October 2024. 50 students in A.P. Environmental Science courses joined water quality and ecosystem data collection and analysis efforts on the Hudson River and its freshwater tributary Fishkill Creek. On October 10th, “Day in the Life of the Hudson River”, 16 students waded in the river at Denning’s Point as part of a statewide effort coordinated by NYS DEC and Columbia University. Students used seine nets to collect and identify over a dozen species of fish, and analyzed chemical parameters in water samples. Data from the event will be shared with NYS and partners.
34 students joined Clarkson’s ongoing study of microplastics fate and transport in New York freshwater systems, by conducting research at 2 sites on Fishkill Creek. Students followed data collection protocols approved by Clarkson environmental engineering faculty Dr. Abul Baki and his research team, using plankton nets to collect water column samples and glass pipettes with rubber bulbs to collect suspended sediments. An article from this ongoing project, that includes microplastics data collected in 2022 and 2023 by Hudson Valley area high school students and public volunteers, will be published soon in the Journal of Environmental Engineering Science. The project has received significant funding from the NYS Center of Excellence in Healthy Water Solutions.
Asher Pacht, Director of Environmental Programs said, “We are thrilled to have proven the efficacy of our participatory science model which, in providing experiential STEM learning for high school students, also supports faculty-led, publishable research to benefit New York waterways.”
For the 18th year, the New York State Education Department Science and Technology Entry Program continues to support students in grades 7-12 across four counties. This program incorporates STEM challenges for students in an afterschool program with monthly campus workshops that bring together roughly 80 kids from seven schools. Overall, we have over 250 students engaging in this curriculum with two schools in the Hudson area. In October, students learned about the scientific method and applied statistics and probability to analyze the distribution of colors in bags of M&Ms. After the experiment, students brainstormed on their own interests and how to use guiding research principles to pose a project that they can work on throughout the year as part of our Clarkson Discovery Challenge. Teams of students were supported by our three graduate student fellows and six volunteer students from The Clarkson School (three current students and three alumni).
Six undergraduate and three graduate students are participating as Clarkson University mentors in our extended day program, visiting four school districts weekly to mentor students in 4th through 8th grade. Roughly 80 students have begun working through coding, robotics, science and engineering activities. These hands-on experiments are designed to allow students to explore STEM concepts in a fun way while incorporating digital fluency skills.
On October 18, the Institute for STEM Education also partnered with Clarkson’s Ignite Office to host 60+ students for the Clarkson Tech Expo. Here, students learned about the software and career opportunities behind readily available tech such as Augmented and Virtual Reality gaming, 3D Printing, vinyl cutting and application, and laser engraving. Students enjoyed creating items they designed after learning about the tech and explored Clarkson’s campus to see what college is like.
The success of these programs were made possible by over 40 Clarkson student volunteers and interns. The mission of Clarkson’s Institute for STEM Education is to bridge units across campus to create innovative, impactful learning experiences. For more information about how you can get involved, contact Clarkson University’s Manager of K12 Outreach, Leigha Burkhalter.