A three-year collaborative project between the Turtle Mountain Community College and NDSU.s Department of Civil Engineering and Construction has completed two years of its activities. The project, called gA Reservation Collaboration Initiative for Pre-college Excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (RECIPE), h is funded by NASA. Carol Davis, TMCC vice president for academic affairs, and G. Padmanabhan, NDSU professor of civil engineering, are co-principal investigators for the project.
The project involves a number of middle school teachers who work with selected American Indian middle school students and tribal college and NDSU faculty. The collaborative works to develop and implement science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) after-school enrichment activities. NASA-developed educational resources are integrated in the lesson plans. Participating schools are Turtle Mountain Community Schools, Ojibwa Indian School, Dunseith Day School, St. John Public School, Rolla Public School, Dunseith Public School and Rolette Public School.
The project focuses on five components to increase reservation student participation in STEM disciplines and to encourage them to pursue a college education. The areas include informational activities, instructional activities, interaction with industry, interaction with American Indian STEM professionals and a collaborative framework among university and tribal college faculty and the reservation high schools. Project activities include after-school enrichment sessions, weekend academy, summer camp, development of gateway courses at TMCC, student meetings with American Indian and other STEM and NASA professionals and informational sessions about university and college campuses.
During the program.s first two years, 10 middle school teachers and 30 American Indian middle school students participated in the after-school enrichment activities. According to Padmanabhan, the program expects to have an impact on an additional five teachers and 15 students during its final year.
Wei Lin, associate professor of civil engineering, will direct the project this year. The project team members are Eakalak Khan, assistant professor of civil engineering; Floyd Patterson, associate professor of electrical engineering; William Martin, interim chair of the School of Education and associate professor of mathematics; and Robert Pieri, professor of mechanical engineering.
For additional information, contact Padmanabhan at 1-7043.