North Carolina

How a unique grant is bringing hands-on STEM learning to North Carolina students

Published

2 years ago

March 13, 2023

How a unique grant is bringing hands-on STEM learning to North Carolina students

As extra life sciences corporations arrange store in North Carolina, it’s crucial to introduce center college and highschool college students to those profession choices.

The Division of Pharmaceutical & Scientific Sciences at Campbell College Faculty of Pharmacy and Well being Sciences is addressing this want via a Burroughs Wellcome Fund grant. Particularly, they are going to use the funds to ascertain and help The Academy for Rising Students Exploring Scientific Analysis & Pharmaceutical Science Careers, which is able to present inquiry-based STEM actions for native and rural highschool college students. With these interactive alternatives, Campbell College hopes to supply a pathway to life science careers for all college students.

The division was shaped on Jan. 1, 2022, when the Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Division of Scientific Analysis merged on the college. By means of its instructional applications, the brand new division goals to be acknowledged nationally for, “supplying premier expertise and scientific data that improves world well being and high quality of life,” mentioned Dr. Charles A. Carter, Chair of the Division of Pharmaceutical & Scientific Sciences.

In regards to the grant

In October 2022, Campbell College introduced that the newly shaped division obtained a grant for $172,422.84 from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund to create The Academy for Rising Students Exploring Scientific Analysis & Pharmaceutical Science Careers.

The funds went to good use virtually instantly. Inside weeks of the announcement, college students from Brunswick County Early Faculty Excessive College and Southeast Magnet Excessive College had been on campus collaborating in scientific analysis escape rooms and studying to make 3D printed toys. Inside a month of the grant announcement, no-cost STEM workshops had been introduced for January via March. These workshops are supplied in-person or nearly via the academy. The plan is to focus on college students in rural areas and traditionally underrepresented populations.

“We have now discovered that college students in these areas are largely unaware of the range and attractiveness of various profession choices in healthcare and STEM disciplines,” mentioned Dr. Tim Marks, Grant Program Director and Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical & Scientific Sciences at Campbell College. “Our purpose is to assist bridge that hole whereas offering new, hands-on actions to those college students. The grant has given us the assets to ramp up our efforts and enhance our outreach.”

The creation of the academy will assist the division educate center and highschool college students on why they need to contemplate coming into the life sciences and provide workshops that embrace hands-on studying in a college setting.

The three-year grant permits for eight highschool visits every fall, 5 on-campus workshops, two digital workshops, and a week-long residential camp, Marks mentioned.

“The varsity visits are hands-on and have been well-received by the lecturers and the scholars,” Marks mentioned. “We’re there for a number of hours and everyone seems to be so engaged, which ends up in a stage of pleasure for studying extra about life sciences.”

The training focuses on areas reminiscent of engineering, pharmaceutical sciences, and scientific analysis.

The academy

At The Academy for Rising Students, college students get the chance to be immersed in cutting-edge STEM actions. They’re additionally given alternatives for on-campus and digital workshops and summer time residential STEM camps.

Carter recalled strolling into one of many workshops and being impressed by the engagement he witnessed.

“I walked right into a room and you’ll see a bunch of scholars working as a crew and shouting and yelling as they had been working to finish it,” he mentioned. “It was spectacular and college students had been saying out loud ‘when can we do that once more?’”

The expertise for the scholars is so distinctive that the division is now receiving requests from excessive colleges to learn how they are often a part of it.

“You may actually see how the STEM camps are serving to college students,” he mentioned. “We at the moment are getting contacted from colleges at an unprecedented stage to speak to those college students about STEM alternatives. We’re doing as many of those talks as we probably can. There’s a dedication to satisfy this want.”

The necessity is twofold. First, the academy hopes to create extra curiosity in life sciences. Then, they hope to assist college students notice that the life sciences might really be a profession path for them. That’s notably essential because the area continues so as to add extra jobs within the life sciences.

“We’re reaching highschool college students to construct consciousness about STEM careers,” mentioned Monica Fanjoy, Departmental Science Training Outreach Coordinator. “Pharmaceutical science and scientific analysis are notably important as a result of there’s a giant demand for these careers in North Carolina and most college students are unfamiliar with these fields.”

Fanjoy mentioned it’s vital the area maintains a management place in STEM.

“We’re the Silicon Valley of pharma,” she mentioned. “And now we have to maintain up with STEM by being a frontrunner and making certain we get at the moment’s college students into these careers. It is an important alternative.”

Carter talked about that their business companions would love nothing greater than to obtain further interns from colleges like Campbell. He mentioned they’re working laborious to achieve college students and oldsters.

“We try to get data to folks about these alternatives so that they’ll encourage their kids to take part in our workshops,” Carter mentioned. “We clarify to college students in our visits about what’s being produced in life sciences so they arrive to know that vaccines are being created right here. It’s opening their eyes.”

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Extra studying alternatives

Campbell College affords three-day STEM day camps in the course of the summer time.

Center college dates: June 27 – 29
Highschool dates: July 18 – 20

Throughout these 1-day periods, college students will be taught concerning the fields of pharmacy, pharmaceutical sciences, scientific analysis, doctor assistant, bodily remedy, and nursing.

Discovery Days: June 21 and July 12

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North Carolina

Key Ole Miss Transfer Target Thaddeus Dixon Chooses North Carolina Over Rebels

Published

4 hours ago

January 19, 2025

Press Room

Key Ole Miss Transfer Target Thaddeus Dixon Chooses North Carolina Over Rebels

The Ole Miss Rebels have made strong moves in the transfer portal this offseason, but the program missed out on a key contributor on Saturday when cornerback Thaddeus Dixon pledged to the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Ole Miss was in the race late for Dixon, but a deciding factor in his decision to join the Tar Heels may have boiled down to Carolina’s hiring of former Washington assistant Armond Hawkins as defensive backs coach. Dixon is a transfer from the Washington Huskies, so familiarity in his new home likely played a role.

BREAKING: Washinton transfer CB Thaddeus Dixon has committed to North Carolina, @Hayesfawcett3 reports🐏https://t.co/pcXs7hjbOS pic.twitter.com/6g5D02NC7V
— Transfer Portal (@TransferPortal_) January 18, 2025

READ MORE: Will Ole Miss QB Austin Simmons Continue Playing Baseball in 2025?

So, where do the Rebels go from here? Ole Miss has already gained some key pieces in its secondary out of the transfer portal (including CB Jaylon Braxton of Arkansas), but Lane Kiffin’s team will probably still be seeking some help in the defensive backfield as the transfer portal continues to move.

According to On3’s current transfer portal class rankings, Ole Miss has the third-best haul in the country, behind Texas Tech and Missouri. The Rebels have seen 23 players transfer into the program so far this offseason, and that number could continue to grow between now and kickoff of the 2025 season.

Ole Miss opens its 2025 campaign on Aug. 30 at home against Georgia State.

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North Carolina

Thaddeus Dixon Joins in Husky Exodus to North Carolina

Published

12 hours ago

January 18, 2025

Press Room

Thaddeus Dixon Joins in Husky Exodus to North Carolina

In a postseason recruitment that was raw and revealing at times, where decorated cornerback Thaddeus Dixon suggested in social media postings that University of Washington football fans wanted him to come back more than the coaches, apparently received all the assurances he needed at North Carolina.

On Saturday, the senior defensive back from Long Beach, California, told On3 he would join the Tar Heels for his final season of college football, adding to a growing list of one-time UW players and coaches headed to Chapel Hill.

So far, the departing group includes linebacker Khmori House, safety Peyton Waters, wide receiver Jason Robinson Jr., defensive coordinator Steve Belichick and defensive analyst Armond Hawkins, all moving from Montlake to the ACC.

The 6-foot-1, 187-pound Dixon would have given the Huskies three highly accredited corners, joining fellow UW starter Ephesians Prysock and Arizona transfer Tacario Davis, to fill out a secondary that could have had few equals this coming season, and still might.

BREAKING: Washington star transfer CB Thaddeus Dixon has Committed to North Carolina, he tells @on3sports
The 6’1 195 CB totaled 69 Tackles, 16 PD, 1 FF, & 2 INT in 2 seasons with the Huskies
Ranked as a Top 10 Player in the Portal (No. 2 CB) per On3https://t.co/RlUbB6EMhS pic.twitter.com/bePHJU7wP7
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) January 18, 2025

Dixon reportedly took recruiting visits to Mississippi and North Carolina, and fielded overtures from Michigan, before settling on the Tar Heels.

The disconnect for Dixon appeared to show up when the Huskies landed a portal commitment from the 6-foot-4, 190-pound Davis, a second-team All-Big 12 pick this past season, presumably to take his vacated spot.

The 6-foot-4, 193-pound Prysock and Davis teamed together at Arizona in 2023, with both earning All-Pac-12 honorable-mention accolades.

Dixon originally was supposed to run out of college eligibility when the season ended, hence the Huskies went looking for cornerback help, but the NCAA gave the veteran an extra year when it changed the rules governing players with junior-college backgrounds. He came to the UW from Long Beach Community College.

One of the Huskies’ top individual success stories this past season, Dixon went from a back-up player in 2023 to unseat returning starter Elijah Jackson, who opened all 15 games for the national runner-up team.

Thaddeus Dixon soaks up the moment after an Apple Cup interception. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Moving into the lineup, Dixon started 12 of 13 games and received All-Big Ten honorable-mention honors for Jedd Fisch’s coaching staff. He had a team-best 10 pass break-ups, an Apple Cup interception and several textbook tackles in the open field. He’s easily made himself into an NFL prospect.

With three accomplished cornerbacks, the Huskies could have picked two starters and put the odd man out at nickelback.

Dixon clearly wasn’t going to go that route at the UW, likely figuring his past performance should have provided him with more cornerback guarantees.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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North Carolina

Bill Belichick's girlfriend seemingly shuts down rumors coach will leave North Carolina for NFL

Published

20 hours ago

January 18, 2025

Press Room

Bill Belichick's girlfriend seemingly shuts down rumors coach will leave North Carolina for NFL

Bill Belichick’s girlfriend on Thursday seemingly shut down any talk of her boyfriend leaving the North Carolina Tar Heels football program for a job in the NFL.

Jordon Hudson responded to rumors that suggested Belichick had one foot out the door when it came to his Tar Heels gig. Belichick had been rumored to be interest in coaching the Dallas Cowboys, but the head coaching job wasn’t open until he had already committed to North Carolina. CBS Sports reported that Belichick didn’t sign his contract with the school.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Oct. 26, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey: Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and girlfriend Jordon Hudson enter the field before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Navy Midshipmen at MetLife Stadium. (Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images)

She posted a photo on her Instagram showing the two posing with a football and Belichick dressed in Carolina blue.

“Pictured: two people who are overtly committed to @uncfootball,” she wrote as the caption.

Michael Lombardi, who is the general manager of the North Carolina football program, also threw cold water on the rumors of Belichick jumping back to the pros.

EX-NFL COACH JON GRUDEN RIPS STATE OF COLLEGE SPORTS

Dec. 12, 2024; Chapel Hill, NC: Jordon Hudson, the girlfriend of Bill Belichick, in attendance at Loudermilk Center for Excellence. (Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images)

“Bill is recruiting in DC today, and Baltimore tomorrow. His focus is on North Carolina football, hiring staff members and developing the team. The NFL isnt a option so please stop making it one. Thank you,” he wrote on X in response to the CBS Sports report.

“The reception towards UNC and Coach Belichick has been amazing from every school we visit. We are going to fight to keep North Carolina players here and bring the best to Chapel Hill,” he added.

Belichick was hired as the Tar Heels’ coach in December. He called the job a “dream come true.”

Bill Belichick fields questions from media

The North Carolina Tar Heels’ new head coach Bill Belichick speaks to the media at Loudermilk Center for Excellence. (Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images)

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“I’ve always wanted to coach in college football,” Belichick said in his introductory press conference. “It just never really worked out. Had some good years in the NFL, so that was OK. But this is really a dream come true.”

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