Center for STEM Education

The Center for STEM Education at Northeastern University seeks to build and support a community of educators, researchers, and students with the collective goal of strengthening the K-20 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) educational ecosystem.

The Center’s vision to:

  • Build, support and sustain a community of individual, institutional and organizational support in STEM engagement, enrichment and persistence.
  • Impact advancement in STEM education through expanded collaboration, mentoring and training to increase access and diversity in STEM.
  • Increase student involvement with STEM subjects and careers by designing, implementing and supporting academic and extracurricular programs in STEM fields.
STEM
The sky is the limit! Local elementary school students attending a field trip offered by the Center for STEM Education at Northeastern wrap up the day on campus in Boston launching their rockets.
“The more young people we can reach, and the more moments of discovery we can create, the greater the chances that a future STEM professional will find his or her place in the world.” Claire Duggan, director, Center for STEM Education

Center Initiatives

STEM Field Trips are offered throughout the academic year for upper elementary and middle school students. Teachers bring their students to Northeastern’s campus for a day of STEM lessons and activities, hosted by the Center. Assisted by our undergraduate and graduate students, these offerings provide an early college experience and engineering exploration. Approximately 1500 students annually spend a full day on our campus supported by a cohort of 90+ undergraduate students.

NUTRONS seeks to inspire young people to be leaders by engaging them in mentor-based learning experiences that build STEM skills and inspire innovation and self-confidence. NUTRON high school students mentor and train 40 Lego Robotics Teams , 3 Middle School Teams, and have given technical seminars to help over 80 high school teams in New England.

The Center for STEM currently offers four summer programs for middle and high school students. We reach approximately 120 students annually through these initiatives. Approximately 1200 students to date have participated in one of our summer program offerings. Each is offered free of charge to program participants.

NUSS, the Northeastern University Summer STEM program, is a two-week academic day program that takes an active role in shaping STEM education in students entering grades 6, 7 and 8. It seeks to improve students’ mathematics/science skills, introduce them to college life, and stimulate their interest in science and engineering as potential career paths.

GE Girls provides rising 7th and 8th grade girls from Boston the opportunity to engage in a variety of STEM activities, meet practicing scientists and engineers, and visit a number of GE facilities in greater Boston.

The Young Scholars Program offers future scientists and engineers a unique opportunity for a hands-on, paid, research experience while still in high school. The program is open to Boston area applicants who have completed either their sophomore or junior year of high school.

Summer Research Experience for Secondary STEM teachers and Community College faculty.

Affiliated Grant Efforts

The Student Pathways Opening World Energy Resources (SPOWER) program is a five year NSF S-STEM initiative that seeks to increase workforce diversity in STEM fields and the energy sector. The program will provide transfer scholarships for up to 160 undergraduate and graduate students from Clark Atlanta University, Hampton University, Mass Bay, Middlesex and Northern Essex Community Colleges. (NSF #1564653 P.I. B. Lehman, Co-PI, C. Duggan, R. Harris, M. Minus)

Northeastern University and MassBay Community College are collaboratively implementing an innovative TRANSFORM model to retool the skill set of liberal arts college graduates to prepare them for careers in manufacturing. (NSF # 1407160 P.I. I. Zeid, Co-PI, C.Duggan, S.Kamarthi)