From left: Sharon Cooper, Jon Lewis, Shondricka Burrell, and Lisa White
Jonathan Lewis, professor of Geosciences, was granted a National Science Foundation award for a third STEM Student Experiences Aboard Ships (STEMSEAS) project. Lewis and co-principal investigator Sharon Cooper (Columbia University) partnered with two new PIs to propose an expanded version of the impactful project. Bringing new talents and vision to the project are Lisa White (UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology) and Shondricka Burrell (Morgan State University).
STEMSEAS takes advantage of available capacity on ships of the US academic fleet during non-research transits between port calls. To date, STEMSEAS has sailed more than 240 undergraduate students from across the nation on these impressive research vessels. This includes three students from IUP: Katie Jo Campbell ’19, Marisol Gonzales-Flores ’25, and Maddie Stankus ’26. You can read blog posts from our participants by searching for STEMSEAS at WordPress.
To grow the number of student applicants from two-year colleges and minority-serving institutions, STEMSEAS will provide opportunities for faculty members from these campuses to go to sea. We’re also looking for opportunities to use vessels beyond the US academic fleet, including those operated by the Ocean Exploration Trust and the Schmidt Ocean Institute. We’ll also broaden our impact by leveraging White’s efforts in the realm of science communication and Burrell’s research on transformative learning in geoscience. Most importantly, we will continue offering very powerful seagoing experiences to undergraduates from across the country!
Consider applying, sharing the project, or sending someone who you know who is STEM curious in our direction. The project covers the expenses.