2020 Cottrell Scholar Conference addresses ‘new normal’ in higher ed
Disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic present an opportunity to “remake STEM education into a more equitable and inclusive enterprise,” keynote speaker Jordan Gerton said as more than 150 teacher-scholars gathered online for the 26th Annual Cottrell Scholar Conference.
Gerton, director of the Center for Science and Mathematics Education at the University of Utah and a 2007 Cottrell Scholar, urged the “vibrant collaborative community” of Cottrell Scholars to embrace their role as agents of change at their institutions.
“We are never going back to ‘normal,’” he said, because it has become clear that normal was not serving all students well. Gerton said the challenges of online education have thrown a spotlight on longstanding issues of access and inclusion, creating an impetus for faculty to engage in conversation, reflection and community building around instructional practices and the inequities inherent in the educational system.
As with in-person conferences, the three-day gathering began by welcoming a new class of scholars. In what could become a new tradition, 2020’s 25 Cottrell Scholars and two Fulbright-Cottrell Scholars prepared short videos before the conference to introduce themselves and their goals in research and education. Several of the videos incorporated virtual or augmented reality technologies the educators use to help their students visualize abstract concepts.
Winners of this year’s Cottrell Plus Awards were also recognized and gave acceptance talks about the work their awards is supporting.
2019 FRED Award winner Sarah Reisman, California Institute of Technology, described her pioneering work using machine learning to accelerate the rate of discovery of new nickel catalysts. 2020 STAR Award winner Helen Blackwell, University of Wisconsin, Madison, described how she is investigating interspecies quorum sensing among bacteria and its role in co-infection. 2020 STAR Award winner Julio de Paula, Lewis & Clark College, showed how his students are using pigment analysis to determine when and if restorations have been done to historical artifacts. IMPACT award winner Rigoberto Hernandez, Johns Hopkins University, presented evidence that engaging department chairs in workshops on increasing inclusive excellence among faculty produces positive results.
On the second day of the conference, leaders of numerous Cottrell Collaborative projects that RCSA has funded told the group how their work is progressing.
Several of these projects are actively working to increase diversity and inclusion. One of those is the Cottrell Emerging Scholars Program, led by Keivan Stassun, Vanderbilt University, which matches postdocs from underrepresented backgrounds with institutions for mock faculty job interviews and feedback, enhancing their successful transition into the professoriate. Another project led by Kathryn Hass, Saint Mary’s College, is using an array of communications tools and techniques to increase visibility of scientific breakthroughs made by 12 living scientists from underrepresented groups. Another team headed by Lisa Manning, Syracuse University, is building partnerships between minority-serving institutions and primarily white institutions through Scialog-inspired workshops and facilitated proposal writing.
Facilitated breakout discussions on the conference’s third day centered on the challenges and opportunities of online education, including virtual lectures and labs, equity, and the assessment of teaching and learning objectives. A spirited discussion about the post-pandemic future of higher education followed as teams began to coalesce around ideas for collaborative projects.
Following the conference, RCSA will fund up to four $25,000 team proposals with the potential for national impact relevant to online education.
Creative approaches are needed as universities and colleges faced with dramatic revenue reductions struggle to deliver quality education online, said RCSA President & CEO Daniel Linzer.
“For that, we look to the Cottrell Scholar community,” he said. “It is through you that I retain my optimism about the future of academia.”
