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K-12 STEM Outreach
K-12 STEM Outreach
WPI Pre-CollegiAte Summer programs
WPI Pre-CollegiAte Summer programs
Each summer, WPI hosts hundreds of high school students to partake in numerous STEM related summer camps offered by the research groups on campus. The Cote Research Lab has long participated in the program, teaching a materials science themed camp. These weeks are filled with hands-on science experiments and exciting mini-lectures to teach high school students the fundamentals of materials science. Often, the concepts of materials science can be explained through food; Oreo cookies are a composite! Taffy is a polymer! Twizzlers have higher ductility than pretzel sticks! Using these edible demos helps to illustrate to complex principles of materials science and introduce young students to an essential field they likely would not be exposed to otherwise.
High School Summer Internships
High School Summer Internships
High school students from all grades and regions join the Cote Research Lab each summer for an immersive hands-on experience working alongside group members. Interns actively participate in group meetings and projects, often with their own subproject, which enables them to gain responsibility of a research topic. The summer culminates with a poster session where they share their research findings.
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center High School Apprenticeship Program
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center High School Apprenticeship Program
The Cote Reserach Lab hosts summer interns from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) Apprenticeship program to perform research along side our undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers. At the end of the summer, they present research posters based on their projects with WPI students, faculty, and staff.
Undergraduate activities
Undergraduate activities
First Year Lab Experience
First Year Lab Experience
Mechanical Engineering students at WPI have the unique opportunity to join a research lab in the department during their very first semester for a paid research position. The Cote Research Lab hosts students from this program, allowing them to shadow our researchers, participate in group meetings, join our journal club, perform basic research, and share an end-of-term presentation with the group.
undergraduate research
undergraduate research
The Cote Research Lab welcomes several undergraduate researchers into our labs each academic year and summer. While some perform research for course credit, most are given paid positions as research assistants for our grant-funded programs. Our students come from various majors across campus, including chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, and more!
Major qualifying Project (MQP)
Major qualifying Project (MQP)
At WPI, the MQP is a team-based, professional-level design or research experience required for all graduating students. The students collaborate with industry or lab groups on campus to develop meaningful work, solve a problem, and demonstrate fundamental leaning outcomes crucial for future engineers. The Cote Research Lab has worked together with MQP students in mutually beneficial relationships, helping the students achieve their requirement while their projects have long term, positive impacts on the lab!
retention of WOMEN in STEM
retention of WOMEN in STEM
Women in Stem: A Major Focus
Women in Stem: A Major Focus
A major focus of Prof. Cote is increasing retention of women in STEM - from high school through college and then into a career. She has given numerous presentations and webinars on various angles of this topic (some given below) with the intention of reaching women in the field and addressing obstacles often faced. There is often much disparity between intention, behavior, and reception of behavior - at all levels. Let's change that!
Photo: Dr. Cote with her little ones. Admittedly staged, this scenario is often all too real for so many working parents.
Topic: Navagating the STEM Culture
Topic: Navagating the STEM Culture
Women in STEM in all stages - high school, college, career - often experience things differently than their male colleagues. This presentation offered insight to validate these experiences, and provide tips to overcome many of the potential negative effects.
Topic: Creating a welcoming technical workspace
Topic: Creating a welcoming technical workspace
Why create a welcoming workplace? Besides increasing job satisfaction, several studies show it helps increase the bottom line! Dr. Cote, member of the ASM IDEA Committee, shares experiences and advice about creating an inclusive, welcoming environment for everyone in the STEM arena.
Anecdotes are coupled with simple explanations of issues that tend to affect productivity and inclusion in the work place. In particular, the webinar will focus on effective communication strategies, improving teamwork, and how to be an advocate for yourself and others. Tips and resources are shared to provide actionable changes to benefit the entire organization.
Women's Impact Network
Women's Impact Network
Prof. Cote and Dr. Tsaknopolos serve as co-founders (with our colleages in our DDMS research group!) of the Women's Impact Network-funded Women Interdisciplinary Scholarship Engagement Network. We fund women at WPI to attend interdisciplinary conferences as well as provide networkiing events to enhance research collaborations across fields. Both Prof. Cote and Dr. Tsaknopoulos are also recent recipients of the WIN Young Investigator Fellowship.
Retention Subcommittee
Retention Subcommittee
Prof. Cote serves as chair of the ASM International IDEA Committee's Rentention Subcommittee. A large effort of the group is to dissiminate information to help increase retention of women in STEM fields at all levels. A convenient website is being developed to serve as a valuable and simple resource for everyone - women, colleagues, educators, human resources, managers - to gain information and tools on the topic.
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