Overview
Project Kaleidoscope is AAC&U's STEM Center of Higher Education reform initiatives dedicated to empowering all STEM faculty and administrators to graduate more students who are competitively trained in STEM disciplines and liberally educated for an increasingly technologically-based world. The PKAL Regional Networks provide low-cost, effective professional development opportunities for STEM faculty and administrators to foster a caring community, explore and advance modern undergraduate STEM pedagogies, disseminate findings from undergraduate STEM research and practice, and promote STEM faculty career advancement.

Call for Proposals
On April 12, 2025, Ohio Project Kaleidoscope (OH-PKAL) will host its ninth annual conference together with the Ohio Academy of Sciences (OAS) at Miami University. The conference theme is “Workforce development: Connecting college to careers through STEM education”. At this joint meeting, STEM students (graduate and undergraduate) and STEM professionals (faculty and staff) can present at a regional conference and network with scientists, engineers, educators, employers, and students across Ohio. The agenda will include a panel discussion, concurrent oral sessions, and poster presentations. The featured keynote speaker is Dr. Mary Crowe, program officer at the Technology Innovation Partnerships (TIP) directorate of the National Science Foundation.

Ohio Project Kaleidoscope (OH-PKAL) promotes the enhancement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in Ohio & surrounding states. A regional affiliate of AACU’s Project Kaleidoscope, OH-PKAL is a network of STEM faculty and graduate students promoting and enhancing evidence-based, learner-centered STEM undergraduate education.

Ohio PKAL invites your proposals to showcase evidence-based practices aligned with the conference theme, and that are poised for immediate uptake and adaptation in a wide range of institution types, including community colleges and minority serving institutions. Of particular interest are proposals that address one or more of the following themes:

THEME I: Innovative teaching approaches that prepare students for the STEM workforce.
THEME II: The role of liberal arts education in workforce development
THEME III: Curricular and co-curricular perspectives on the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE) Competencies.
THEME IV: Institutional strategies/programs/models to develop the STEM workforce.

Proposals will be accepted through midnight December 20, 2024. Click here to submit a proposal. [Undergraduate students interested in presenting the findings of their STEM research projects are encouraged to submit an abstract through the OAS website].

Please forward this message to others who may be interested in participating. Conversely, if you prefer not to receive OH-PKAL communications (5-8 communications per year), please e-mail [email protected] to be removed from our lists.

Questions about the conference or submission process can be directed to the conference co-chairs at [email protected] or [email protected].

We look forward to reading your proposals!

Sincerely,

2025 OH-PKAL Conference Committee

Joyce Fernandes (co-chair), Miami University

Jennifer Quinn (co-chair), Miami University

Paul Wendel, Otterbein University

James McCargar, Baldwin Wallace University

Carrie Davis Todd, Baldwin Wallace University

Workforce Development: Connecting College to Careers Through STEM Education