NIH SciEd Conference

To build a workforce that meets the nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs, the NIH invests in projects that provide science and health-related educational activities at the precollege level. These projects focus on students, teachers and families at the pre-kindergarten to grade 12 (P-12) level. The annual NIH SciEd Conference brings together individuals involved in these health and biomedical science-focused P-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) projects. These projects take place in formal education settings as well as informal science education (ISE) settings. This conference, which originally was the PI meeting for the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program, has been held annually since 1991. In 2012, the conference expanded to include awardees and staff from all NIH-funded P-12 STEM programs. Each year 200-250 individuals participate in the conference, including PIs and Co-PIs, project staff and evaluators, P-12 teachers who participate in projects, NIH staff, and representatives of other federal agencies involved in P-12 STEM education, including ED, NASA, NOAA and NSF. The annual NIH SciEd Conference is the only federally-funded P-12 STEM meeting that includes all of the key STEM agency programs. It thus plays an important role in interagency communication and building synergistic interactions among projects funded by different agencies. The goal of each NIH SciEd conference is to provide a forum for learning, sharing, dialogue, and networking among conference participants. This is accomplished via plenary, breakout, poster, and networking sessions. The outcomes of the conferences include higher quality projects and project evaluations, a reduced incidence of projects “reinventing the wheel,” and the development of collaborations between NIH-funded projects as well as synergistic interactions with P-12 projects and programs funded by the other federal STEM agencies. Specific Aims for the NIH SciEd Conference are: SPECIFIC AIM 1: Provide updates on trends, issues and challenges in P-12 STEM and ISE education that are relevant to NIH awardees. SPECIFIC AIM 2: Inform and educate the NIH P-12 STEM community about rigorous evaluation methods and instruments. SPECIFIC AIM 3: Provide opportunities for awardees to share information, best practices and challenges; provide mentoring for new projects; and support the formation of collaborations. The conferences may be held in person or virtually. They are planned by an Organizing Committee of NIH SciEd PIs and staff, which changes each year. An annual conference report is disseminated to participants, federal P-12 STEM staff, and senior NIH officials. The conferences will be organized by a University of Utah grantee team that has planned and hosted the NIH SciEd conferences since 2008.