BUSINESS PROF’S COMMUNITY KEEPS HER CONNECTED TO STUDENTS

When students in Dina Abdelzaher’s class say they know she cares about them and their success, they mean it. It’s not just because of her commitment to their achievement inside the classroom. It’s because they know her supportive nature and generous spirit extends far beyond the confines of the university’s walls.

Abdelzaher, an associate professor of management in UHCL’s College of Business, is the founder and director of Youth for a Better Houston, a nonprofit organization aimed at helping teenagers become happy, productive adults through mentorship, community service projects, and leadership opportunities.

“I feel compelled to do service outside my classroom,” Abdelzaher said. “I see kids in the teenage years as being underserved. There are opportunities for college students, but there’s an unmet need for those in the 12-18-year age group.”

She said during those years, teens could be doing great things, but that’s often not the case. “This is a time when they can go the wrong way because they don’t have a way to fill their time productively and make friends,” she said. “This really can affect their mental health. Without positive influences, they can make poor choices. Making friends through service helps a lot. Every weekend there’s something to do in Youth for a Better Houston.”

Although the group is not directly tied to the Arab community, Abdelzaher, a practicing Muslim, said that many kids in the group are Muslim. “They know everyone is always welcome, and anyone can contribute,” she said. “The group is run by the youth themselves.”

Abdelzaher built the group on a rotating mentorship model, in which kids can rise to leadership by taking charge of service projects. “This is work they can put on a resume or on scholarship applications,” she said. “Every month, they play games with senior citizens, they participate in sandwich drives for the homeless in the Fifth Ward, and many other activities to serve the community. It’s important to see kids be productive, happy and accepted.”

From a management perspective, Abdelzaher said she applies the same theories that she teaches in her classes at UHCL. “These kids are rising to become the leaders and future managers in our community,” she said. “I see this as developing the same things I’m teaching my college students in kids at a younger age. This is when we teach kids to be team players and not just the boss. This is when we help kids learn public speaking and how to present themselves in a job interview.”

As a professor, Abdelzaher said she believes her service grounds her and helps her remain connected to the community. “We often end up teaching in our own silos,” she said. “Our research can be a form of a silo because we can only talk about it with other academics.”

Now with a group of over 100 kids, Abdelzaher said Youth for a Better Houston’s next project is a carnival for local refugee children. “People say they wish someone else would do these things, but it ended up needing to be me who does them,” she said. “Part of this is about my faith. As a Muslim, you’re taught to give back to your own community—that is core.”

Organizing people to serve together serves her identity as a contributor and as a professor. “You cannot be a good leader without being a good team player,” she said. “If you are not supportive and kind, how can you be a leader? Learning to talk to people who are not like you and understand you must stay focused on the goal and be able to work with people you don’t know is part of management. In time, everyone can become friends and they know they can come together.”

PROF RECEIVES BASU FELLOWSHIP TO SUPPORT UNDERREPRESENTED STEM SCHOLARS: ‘MY HEART HAS ALWAYS BEEN WITH GIRLS IN STEM’

Women make up a quarter or fewer of workers in computing and engineering, and Hispanic and Black workers continue to be underrepresented in the STEM workforce. Assistant Professor of STEM Education Carol Waters is passionate about narrowing that gap. As the recipient of the Basu Fellowship, awarded by the Equity and Ethics Committee of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, she’s committed to helping young scholars, doctoral students and junior university faculty from underrepresented communities develop as education science researchers.

“The aim is to create an emergent scholars’ program,” she explained. “The fellowship will support us as researchers, so that we can go out and support other researchers and students.”

“I represent women who come from a lowerincome background who never thought they could find a place in a STEM-related field,” Waters said. “In our family, we did not have much money. But we were raised to believe that poverty was a state of mind. We were rich with family relationships and books, and that is how I look at my students, many of whom are also struggling financially. My heart has always been with girls in STEM.”

Waters said she had been a first-generation college student who worked through college.

“I became a science teacher and I saw that by the 8th grade, girls were no longer engaged in science,” she said. “The boys began to shine, but brilliant girls with great passion and potential start to pull back in science and math.”

Fast forward to today, Waters said she has a passion and love for supporting girls. “I want to be there to tell them they’re good in science and math and careers in those fields are accessible to them,” she said.

She said her work as a Basu Fellow would give her the opportunity to take a deeper dive into research. “There is a need to support women in STEM, and the purpose of the fellowship is to reach all those who are underrepresented, but for me, women in general are facing challenges in breaking into STEM fields that are currently dominated by men,” she said. “I had people pull me forward. When I taught 8th grade, I created a girls’ STEM group. This is where my passion originated.”

She sees herself in many of her own students who come from a similar background. “A professor who’s a Basu Fellow is working to understand and learn more about underrepresented groups in their own university and around the nation,” she said.

“Everyone has a story,” she continued. “Because my students have a Basu Fellow as their professor, they know I care about their story and I’ll do anything to help them be successful. Sometimes, students who are struggling just need to find a relationship with a professor who will say, ‘You can do this. I hear what you’re saying and I believe in you.’”

PROF’S SUPPORT, OPEN DOOR ENSURE STUDENTS’ RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

A student’s experience in their academic journey can go far beyond simply what exists in the curriculum of their degree program, especially if they have a professor as actively involved in multiple research areas as Dr. Jiang Lu.

“I believe I’m here to help students prepare for their future, and let them know what is going on in research areas so they can make their decisions,” he said. “Based on this, they can go into industry or go into graduate or even Ph.D. programs.”

He said many students came to the university thinking all they need to get their degree is to take some classes. “They don’t think doing research could be one of their goals,” he said. “But many times, when they do research, they are inspired to continue their education. They want to keep going forward.”

Lu, an associate professor of computer engineering in UHCL’s College of Science and Engineering, is an Anthony and Barbara Research Grant Fellow, has nine grants from XSEDE (Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery), a National Science Foundation grant, and about 50 more grant applications in the pipeline. His research areas include high performance computing, wellness and healthcare, and intelligent sensor systems.

“The NSF grant is researching the data science of energy transition,” Lu said. “We are working with several other universities in Texas. Houston is a hub of energy and together, we are researching the data science of energy transition so we can produce energy more efficiently and manage its production by using data science technology. We train undergraduate students to get into this industry, so when they graduate, they are already prepared to work in the field of energy transition.”

Lu said he used his research to help train both undergraduate and graduate students in a summer training camp. Then, students would team up to complete the research. “We receive data from companies who share with us and give us their data, and we ask the students to create analyses for the needed purpose,” he said. “Perhaps they need to build a model to predict the production of gas. It could be one of many things.”

Ultimately, Lu said it’s about making sure all students know that his door is open to them. “Whether they are graduate or undergraduate students, my policy is that if they have an idea, these ideas can become research projects. They can always come to my door. They can go to my research lab and I will find a place for them,” he said. “There is a way to do those projects. Those ideas can become published papers that can be used to take students to graduate school or into jobs. With the grant money, I can purchase hardware components needed to complete those projects.”

Whether it’s a big or small project, developed or not, Lu said the important thing was for students to share their ideas. “I’m willing to give students the opportunity to find a way to solve the research problem,” he said. “I can open a space and support them so they can achieve it.”

Many students at UHCL need extra motivation and time because they have part-time jobs, families and are packed with credit hours. “Students think they don’t have the time to do this, even if they have the interest,” he said. “They don’t know where the help is. I want them to know there is a door open for them here. Without support, it’s very hard to do good research. I’m willing to listen to all ideas and let’s see what we can do.”

FINDING SUCCESS AS PUBLISHED AUTHOR GIVES MCCAULEY’S STUDENTS BIG BENEFITS: FROM DRAFTS TO PUBLISHING, IT’S ALL PART OF THE PROCESS

Truly passionate teachers love not only the activity of teaching, they also love the end it serves. That’s one reason Assistant Professor of Literature and Writing Jennifer Maritza McCauley calls teaching one of her great loves. Now acclaimed as the author of “When Trying to Return Home,” a series of stories recently reviewed by the New York Times and further distinguished by being selected to the coveted “Editor’s Choice” list, McCauley says she has even more to offer the students in her writing classes at University of Houston-Clear Lake.

“I’ve always had a book in me,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to write books. I had another experience with a smaller book of poetry, but I’ve always wanted to be a writer, ever since I could write.”

McCauley said she talks to her students about how she develops interesting characters and most of all, that writing is a lengthy process filled with struggle.

“I’m drawn to imperfect people because they give more tension and conflict to my story, and that’s what I tell students about,” she said. “I write about people who are searching and frustrated. If you show them how to give characters a flaw and some obstacles, they can create a storyline out of that.”

What often follows, she said, is a lesson in endurance through what can be a challenging writing process. “I try to make it entertaining and share my own struggles, but in class, we talk about how it’s not a straight line,” she said. “I tell my students, you aren’t going to write something and just get it published. You have to doubt yourself, you have to get frustrated, and you have to go through times when you don’t even know if you want to write anymore. It’s all part of the process.”

The process she teaches her students is the one she applies to herself as well. “When you instruct students, you teach them what works in a piece, but you also make sure it works in your own piece,” she said. “I show them that I follow my own advice. When they are given writing prompts, I am doing them as well. I’ve always done it that way, and I have written pieces with students that have gotten published.”

McCauley said that she knows when her work is ready to be published when it’s gone through several drafts and edits. “The idea is to wait until that has been done to send it out, because students need to be prepared to get rejection letters,” she said. “I’ve gotten so many of them, so letting other read your work is really important. This is what it’s like to be a published writer. If it’s something they want to pursue, there are lots of ups and downs involved.”

Because there were so many rejections before success arrived with “When Trying to Return Home,” McCauley said she tells her students the journey to publishing is different for everyone. “After a semester with me, I hope students will have completed drafts of things they can work with and publish someday,” she said. “In class, they have to read each other’s work. Teaching them that writing is about listening to a lot of voices, getting feedback and adhering to deadlines that keep them accountable is what will be useful to them if they choose to be writers in the future.”