Dean Livelybrooks, PhD

Co-Director, UO STEM CORE

Senior Instructor II with Tenure, Physics Department

dlivelyb@uoregon.edu

 

Juliet Baxter, PhD

Co-Director, UO STEM CORE

Associate Professor, Education Studies

jabaxter@uoregon.edu

 

Bryan Rebar, PhD

Associate Director, UO STEM CORE

brebar@uoregon.edu
(541) 346-4773

BRYAN REBAR is the Associate Director for the University of Oregon center for STEM Careers through Outreach, Research, and Education (STEM CORE). Dr. Rebar received his Ph.D. in Environmental Science with a specialty in Science Education from Oregon State University. Throughout his career Dr. Rebar has always been interested in teaching that at once captivates learners and portrays authentic science. As such, his research explores teaching and learning and the relationships between formal and informal settings. Dr. Rebar studies both how teachers take advantage of visits to museums to create learning opportunities for their students and how teachers make use of personal research experiences to create a research environment in the classroom. Dr. Rebar has considerable experience working to support teachers through professional development. Notable among this experience is his role while at Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo) as director for the STEM Teacher and Researcher (STAR) Program, a teacher research experience program supporting preservice and early career science and math teachers to participate in original cutting edge studies at leading national laboratories.

In his current role at University of Oregon, Dr. Rebar manages a portfolio of grant-funded projects including scholarships programs, undergraduate research opportunities and initiatives involving broader impacts activities, that is, activities to promote STEM education related to current research. Broader impacts include efforts to advance undergraduate research, science teacher recruitment, teacher professional development, and science communication. These initiatives aim to leverage the resources and expertise of the university in order to promote connections among students, faculty, educators, administrators, and representatives of industry, public agencies, and other educational programs. All of these efforts are part of a larger vision to enhance the quality and quantity of students excelling in STEM and pursuing STEM-related careers. For example, current projects include science and math teacher recruitment, preparation, and scholarship programs (Noyce Scholarships) known as Experiencing Science Practices through Research to Inspire Teaching (ESPRIT) and Mathematics and Science Teachers Engaging in Research to Inspire Teaching (MaSTERIt), the Summer Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR), a community support program for STEM teachers across a 14-state region known as the Western Regional Noyce Network (WRNN), a community college to STEM career recruitment, support, and scholarships program for low-income students known as Oregon Pathways to Industrial Research Careers (OPIRC), a graduate and postdoctoral scholar training program known as Navigating Educational Trajectories in Neuroscience (NET Neuro), and partnerships with numerous faculty across the natural sciences to carry out broader impacts activities.

Previous to his graduate studies, Dr. Rebar supported teachers in the role of program director for the Desert Sun Science Center-Astrocamp, a residential science education center for visiting school children in California. Dr. Rebar began his career in education as a naturalist at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center, a residential school in northern Minnesota, where he taught visiting school age students in an outdoor setting. Consequently, Dr. Rebar believes teaching and learning should take place in context, involve social interactions and, most of all, involve elements of play and fun! Contact Dr. Bryan Rebar at brebar at uoregon.edu or (541) 346-4773.

 

Julia McMorran,

Outreach Coordinator, UO STEM CORE

julia@uoregon.edu
(541) 346-5862

Julia McMorran comes to STEM CORE after working with another fantastic UO Science program, COACh, which connects professional women in STEM fields with career training and mentorship. Julia believes that building a bridge between research-science happening at the University of Oregon and the community and state is vital.  Programs such as elementary school science demonstrations and the SOS II Summer Science camp are fantastic ways to reach out to students who may not be otherwise exposed to all the very cool things happening on campus.

Julia has a BS in Sociology from Oregon State University and a Masters in Library Science from University of Arizona.  Connecting people with information has long been her passion and she is excited to be working with STEM CORE at University of Oregon.