Wild Basin Welcomes Marissa Faris – Environmental Education Coordinator

The Wild Basin Creative Research Center is excited to announce the hiring of Marissa Faris as our new Environmental Education Coordinator! Marissa’s first day was July 14th and she is quickly getting up to speed on Wild Basin educational programming and activities, as well as SEU policies and systems. We will work to make opportunities for many of you to meet with Marissa – to discuss your ideas, experiences, questions, and dreams for the Wild Basin Environmental Education Program. Stay tuned for announcements regarding meeting opportunities and other events. In the meantime, please help us welcome Marissa Faris (mfaris@stedwards.edu) to the Wild Basin Creative Research Team!

Bio describing Marissa’s training and experience:

Marissa Faris joined the Wild Basin Creative Research Center team in July 2017 as the Environmental Education Coordinator. We are excited to welcome her and to benefit from her wealth of experience in environmental and outdoor education. Marissa has a Master’s of Agriculture in Horticulture from Texas A&M University and is a certified Texas educator with four years of full-time classroom teaching experience. At A&M, she served as the inaugural Program Coordinator for Experiential Education in the Department of Horticultural Sciences, where she was responsible for increasing participation in undergraduate research, internships, study abroad programs, and service learning. Her teaching experience includes working with students in kindergarten through middle school, college students, and mentoring new teachers. She also has experience training volunteers at the Chicago Botanical Garden, developing curriculum and creating an outdoor learning program for K-5 students, and producing interpretive garden literature for visitors of all ages.

Chemistry Faculty Member Attends IUPAC

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Raychelle Burks was invited to attend the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) 2017 49th General Assembly in Sao Paolo, Brazil 9 – 14 July 2017 as one of the Young Observers selected by the U.S. National Committee of the National Academy of Science for IUPAC.  Dr. Burks was one of only 8 young scientists selected as part of a national competition.

Dr. Burks also secured travel funding to support her attendance from the Central Texas Chapter of the American Chemical Society and from the ACS International Activities office.

Congratulations to Dr. Burks.  We look forward to hearing about your travels and what you learned at the conference!

Final Day of Go-for-Launch! Austin – Presentations

It’s been a fantastic first 2 days of our second annual Go For Launch! Austin at St. Edward’s University. We are excited to hear all the brilliant ideas the students who participated this year will present and want to invite you to join us for this!

You are welcome to join us for any, or all, of the following TODAY in Carter Auditorium (JBWS):

1:30-2:15   Talk From Astronaut Don Thomas

2:15-3:50   Student presentations of their experiment ideas

3:50 – 4:00  Overview of St. Edward’s University

4:00-4:30   Break with refreshments

4:30-5:00   Award Ceremony