Utah State University’s new College of Science Dean, Dr. Michelle Baker, is a scientist with 23 years experience as a USU faculty member. She served the last 18 months as interim dean.
She said now is a great opportunity to bring some of the college’s curriculum into the 20th century.
“We’ve started to provide authentic research experiences to students in our laboratory classes, especially in introductory biology and chemistry labs,” Dr. Martin explained, “and I would like to see that move through the rest of the college going forward.
“I think it gives students real world skills that they can take into the work force and it gives them a sense of what science really is, by doing science rather than just reading about facts.”
In preparation for the new academic year she wanted to use the faculty positions the college was searching for, to establish a JEDI Collaboratory.
“A collaboratory (is) related to Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in STEM disciplines,” she said. “So, we established that as a cluster hire and we were successful in recruiting five faculty with diverse identities to the college and I’ll be working with them this academic year to help the college promote diversity in science.”
Dr. Baker’s research history has been focused on the physical, chemical and biological processes that affect water quality.
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