About

The FACES Center connects units and organizations, both on-campus and in the community, to create an ecosystem of opportunity and support to build STEAMM confidence, motivation, knowledge, and skills. A top priority for the FACES Center is inclusion, diversity, equity, and access in the various pathways that lead first to comfort and confidence with STEAMM, and then to success in STEAMM majors and careers. Establishing this networked infrastructure will, in turn, broaden access and representation through shared goals and actions.

The FACES Center provides higher education researchers with activities and research opportunities to incorporate into grant proposals. Connections to education experts ensures the age-appropriateness of curriculum design. Campus-community partnerships provide environments for community-engaged, participatory research in STEAMM education and workforce development. By building NSF/NIH broadening participation proposals around an existing infrastructure, proposals have an increased likelihood of acceptance and projects are more likely to be sustainable beyond the life of the grant. The FACES Center also serves as a longitudinal testbed for studying informal and cross-generational STEAMM teaching and learning.

Lastly, the FACES Center enables experiential learning for undergraduate and graduate students to strengthen their communication, teamwork, leadership, project planning, and civic-mindedness through STEAMM education, public engagement, and community service efforts. Pre-service and practicing teachers grow their instructional practices and novice engineers think deeply about how to mentor the next generation of researchers, as well as how to present complex ideas to a public audience.