​Please join us in congratulating our very own Program Specialist, Jessica McLaughlin, who is now a published educational researcher! In her two-year undergraduate research assistantship in Tim Shipley’s Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center (SILC) in the College of Liberal Arts, she participated in interdisciplinary collaboration with Doug Lombardi in the College of Education to develop a high school lab activity that supported students spatial reasoning in Earth science. This lab activity was tested in the classroom during her undergrad research, and the resulting manuscript “What’s Hidden Beneath: Understanding spatial sketching to deepen understanding of Earth’s subsurface” was developed in the year between her undergraduate and graduate education. In Spring 2018 it was accepted for the November/December issue of the National Science Teacher's Association's high school practitioner journal: The Science Teacher. As a part of the STEM Ed Network she continues support for interdisciplinary collaboration by not only supporting our many programs, but also contributing to a follow up spatial reasoning activity for Earth science teachers and working with the Earth and Environmental Science department on reaching their education goals. As a first year Science Education PhD student, this publication is an excellent achievement and a preview of her research career.

It is also worth while to see this issue for the shout out in the 'Freebies' section for the STEM Ed Network's very own FunSciDemos network operated by Dr. George Mehler!