History of the STEM programs
Several years ago Dr. Susan Brown, Director of STEM Outreach, Education and the associate research deans from engineering and education began coordinating annual STEM summits that provide opportunities for programs to meet and begin to collaborate on activities and grant submission. Beginning in 2005 members of the STEM group began to advocate for STEM education to become one of the ongoing research clusters.
In the Fall of 2006, Provost Flores provided encouragement and some financial support for the STEM to form a working group, develop a database, and create a web-site for STEM. A federal and state initiative for funding for STEM programs was submitted in 2007. Dr. Karin Wiburg, Education and Dr. Ricardo Jacquez, Engineering currently head the STEM working group which includes representatives from all colleges and Ag-Extension. In addition to the co-chairs, these founding members include: Dr. Nancy McMillan and Dr. Doug Kurtz, Arts and Sciences, Dr. Bill McCarthy, Engineering, Dr. Barbara Chamberlin, Agriculture Extension Services, Dr. Susan Brown, Education.
Strong support for this group has been provided by Mr. Harold Smith, Research Analyst in the Education Research & Budgeting Office, Software Developer in the NMSU NASA Digital Media Lab, Matej Danter, and Graduate Research Assistant, Levi Lalla, who once was a member of the Summer PREP program and recently graduated from M.I.T.