St. Jude Research
STEMM Education and Outreach Program

Virtual STEMM Academy

Program manager: Kyle Bichsel, PhD

In the Virtual STEMM Academy, we offer a platform to bring our vast data resources to the classroom, teaching students about research design and data analysis through engaging and insightful data stories. In line with the St. Jude Strategic Plan, the Virtual STEMM Academy forms part of our broader efforts to bridge the gap between education and scientific research. Specifically, the program resonates with Strategic Initiative 3 under Goal 10 to incorporate the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion into talent sourcing, hiring, career development, promotion and retention, and community outreach. Meanwhile, it supports Strategic Initiative 4 with the same goal to enrich the talent pipeline by developing educational efforts targeted at potential future St. Jude employees. Additionally, the program will be used to recruit and prepare a national cohort for the growing St. Jude High School Research Immersion Program and other in-person training events.

Program Goals

  • Provide data science resources for students
  • Provide learning activities for high school students entering the HSRI program
  • Raise visibility of research careers and research enterprise at St. Jude
  • Facilitate relationships between teachers and researchers
  • Provide community and mentoring to those seeking science training

What is a data story?

A data story is a piece of your research story. Every investigator frames their work as a story that fits into a larger endeavor. We want to help tell that story through the quantitative data that you are collecting. This will help students learn about the research process and how to become more data literate. We aim to provide access to real-world data sets where we teach analytical strategies and tools. The story you provide could be the results from a single experiment, a recent publication or a series of publications. 

While building the data driven learning modules we would like to utilize a narrative style that also incorporates stories of training and development. You can also share stories of mentorship and career decisions that have made you the person you are today.

Multimodal learning

Multimodal learning integrates animations, narrative texts, interactive reviews, and quizzes alongside guided thinking routines to enhance comprehension and engagement.

The Virtual STEMM Academy is focusing on research and education related to Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Medulloblastoma, Sickle cell disease, and Spitzoid melanoma.

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