STEM Education
Be Worlds Ahead You and your classmates will create the future. What will be your contribution? Worlds Ahead is an attitude, one that commands each of us to think differently, exceed expectations and create new possibilities. It’s what we challenge you to become. At FIU, you will be surrounded by the educational and career opportunities needed to achieve your dreams. Award-winning faculty. State-of-the-art research facilities. A diverse student body. An incomparable location in one of America’s most exciting cities.
Here education doesn’t stop at the edge of campus. South Florida is a living laboratory. Immerse yourself in the lessons of our local communities. From the seagrass of the Atlantic Ocean to the sawgrass of the Everglades, from the boardrooms of downtown Miami to the operating rooms of area hospitals, get ready to explore a breathtaking array of real-life opportunities inside and outside the classroom. Think differently. Go beyond what is expected. Take the opportunity you’re given and do something great with it. Prepare to Be Worlds Ahead.
STEM Education at FIU Graduates of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)-related programs are in high demand. In fact, a 2010 report by the U.S. Department of Labor identified STEM-related careers as some of the highest paying and reported they have the greatest potential for job growth through 2018. With this in mind, we’ve built upon our current research excellence in STEM-related disciplines and expanded our university-industry partnerships.
Today FIU researchers are working together in record numbers, using a multifaceted approach to solve society’s most important and complex problems. Our faculty engage in life-altering research and mentor students who go on to conduct their own. The smaller class size in many of our STEM-related programs will allow you to build a lasting sense of community with other students and your teachers. Together you will create your own unforgettable undergraduate experience, one that will leave you well positioned for the next phase of your education and career.
At FIU, education doesn’t stop at the edge of campus. South Florida is a living laboratory. Immerse yourself in the lessons of our local communities.
Florida International University offers inspiring undergraduate research experiences in STEM-related disciplines. The time you spend conducting research will be the most exhilarating of your undergraduate career. It will open your eyes and mind to opportunities and careers you didn’t know existed. It will change your life and your view of the world. And you’ll graduate knowing you can contribute in your own unique way to the solving of the world’s greatest challenges and deepest mysteries. Learn about our faculty’s groundbreaking research and imagine yourself working alongside them and other students in the lab and in the field. At FIU, it’s not just about what we teach, but how we teach. For more information, visit go.fiu.edu/stem.
engineering for the future. The goal of engineering is to improve our quality of life, whether it’s creating newer, more resilient materials or re-imagining the way we commute. FIU faculty in biomedical engineering and nanotechnology are pushing the boundaries of discovery through interdisciplinary research to improve medical tools for diagnostics and treatment. Students in the College of Engineering and Computing are working with students from the College of Architecture + The Arts to compete in the 2011 Solar Decathlon, a competition that challenges students to design the best solar-powered house. FIU is one of only 20 universities invited to compete in the prestigious event.
modeling instruction. First applied in the Department of Physics, modeling instruction abandons traditional lecture and assigned reading approaches to teaching. Instead, the classroom becomes a working laboratory where students learn theory, techniques and applications by hands-on activities. Students at FIU don’t memorize the momentum equation. They collide model cars and collect data to understand it. They don’t take notes about electricity. They use magnets to generate voltage and study it. Modeling instruction is a teaching method being expanded in other sciences at FIU, teaching science by students acting as scientists.
holistic education. QBIC (Quantifying Biology in the Classroom) is transforming the way FIU prepares future researchers. This highly selective undergraduate premedical and biology scholarship program develops critically minded, holistic students. It was created through a collaboration of faculty in the biological sciences, mathematics, chemistry, statistics, physics, computer sciences and biomedical engineering, to equip students with non-biological tools to make them better researchers. QBIC students become more than scientists, they become scholars.
technology. FIU equips students with the latest technologies to conduct research and explore their fields of study. Creators of the Wall of Wind have invented a device that simulates hurricane-force winds. The most powerful device of its kind in the world, the machine is helping engineers design safer homes and giving students hands-on research opportunities. Astronomy
community health. FIU’s College of Medicine has embraced an educational philosophy that reflects an innovative, 21st Century approach to health care and medical education. The highlight of its curriculum is the Green Family Foundation NeighborhoodHELP (Health Education Learning Program), an immersion program that sends interdisciplinary teams of FIU students into communities of need. Students track and monitor the health of a number of families throughout the tenure of their education. The program brings greater access to health services, personalized health education and a distinctly personal touch to South Florida’s most vulnerable communities. NeighborhoodHELP is revolutionizing the way medical students are taught.
students have access to telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, allowing them to explore both northern and southern hemisphere skies without ever having to leave Miami. Students interested in forensic science utilize the latest technologies in explosives detection, DNA profiling, drug analysis, forensic anthropology and much more. FIU’s earth scientists are deploying state-of-the-art equipment for better weather forecasting, to explore and improve groundwater supplies, and to effect global climate change. Geosciences students work in fully equipped labs with on-site analytical facilities. In every field of study, FIU provides the best technologies for all students to experience a hands-on education.
living laboratories. Students in our marine sciences, biology, chemistry, biochemistry, and earth and environment programs benefit from the unique geography of South Florida, which provides living laboratories literally in our backyard. This includes the Florida Everglades, Florida Bay and Biscayne Bay. Students also are given the opportunity to take what they learn in unique ecosystems and become globally engaged in projects all across the world including the Shark Bay Ecosystem Project in Australia, coral reef research in the Caribbean and the Global Water for Sustainability Program, which is bringing clean, freshwater to the most needy places in Africa, Asia and South America.
real world assistantships. The Center for Children and Families at FIU is a premiere facility for children with mental health problems and learning disabilities. Undergraduate students can work in a true clinical setting, gaining experience in the field of child clinical psychology in exchange for class credit. The handson, real world opportunities go beyond reading about research, allowing undergraduate students to be contributing members of our research teams. Opportunities like this are available throughout the university. At FIU, the goal is to provide hands-on research opportunities and community engagement experiences from the outset of your education. This approach empowers our students to be Worlds Ahead.
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For general information, visit www.fiu.edu Florida International University is an Equal Opportunity/Access Employer and Institution.
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