Physicist Carl Wieman’s lecture scheduled for Friday, Feb. 15
TAMPA, Fla. (Feb. 6, 2019) – Nobel Laureate and physicist Carl Wieman will speak to a group of University of South Florida faculty members, higher education colleagues from across Florida, and Tampa Bay area high school teachers on Friday, Feb. 15 in the Marshall Student Center Ballroom on the USF campus in Tampa.
Wieman is the keynote speaker at a one-day, free workshop for Florida educators, designed to explore best practices to modernize science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classrooms. Wieman will address the group at 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.
During the workshop, Wieman plans to share his ideas for helping educators elevate their teaching methods in ways that can better prepare students for success when entering STEM occupational fields. Wieman expects to cover topics relating to learning outcomes, scientifically measuring what students learn, adapting instructional methods and curriculum, and effectively incorporating the use of technology.
The workshop is part of the USF System STEM Collaborative, a strategic initiative launched in 2014 to enhance STEM-related programs across the institution and the region.
“USF believes that collectively STEM educators in the Tampa Bay area can work to nurture and develop the talent needed to build a highly-skilled and diverse workforce for a modern economy. We’re preparing students to develop new cures and treatments for illness and diseases, protect our environment, and improve the quality of life for residents in our region and beyond,” said Ralph Wilcox, USF provost and executive vice president.
Wieman is a champion for reviving undergraduate STEM classrooms, noting that less than 40 percent of students who enter college intending to major in a STEM field actually end up completing a degree in that subject. He says addressing the issue is crucial, considering STEM occupations grew by 10.5 percent from 2009-2015 —nearly double that of non-STEM occupations— and the national average wage for all STEM occupations is nearly double the average of non-STEM occupations.
Wieman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001 for the creation of the world’s first Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). The BEC, an extremely cold state of matter with a temperature close to absolute zero, has proved invaluable to the scientific community at large as it slows atomic speed to an observable level. He’s currently a faculty member in the graduate school of education and a professor of physics at Stanford University.
College-level faculty members or high school teachers interested in attending can register here, or contact USF Assistant Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives Peter Stiling for more information: pstiling@usf.edu.
The University of South Florida, established in 1956 and located in Tampa, is a high-impact global research university dedicated to student success. The USF System includes three separately accredited institutions: USF, USF St. Petersburg and USF Sarasota-Manatee. Serving more than 50,000 students, the USF System has an annual budget of $1.8 billion and an annual economic impact of $4.4 billion. USF ranks in the top 25 nationally for research expenditures among public universities, according to the National Science Foundation. In 2018, the Florida Board of Governors designated USF as a Preeminent State Research University, placing USF in the most elite category among the state’s 12 public universities. USF is a member of the American Athletic Conference.
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