K-12 STEM-H & Valencia Student Outreach

Spring 2021 STEM-H Speaker Series

Thursday, January 28 STEM-H Speaker: Dr. Tammi R. Duncan, Assistant Professor of Biology, UNM-Valencia

Wednesday, February 17 STEM-H Speaker: Chris Ziomek, CEO, Build With Robots, Albuquerque, NM

Wednesday, March 24 STEM-H Speaker: Dr. Kenneth Armijo, R & D Engineer, Sandia National Labs, Albuquerque, NM

View November 5, 2020 STEM Speaker : Matt Fetrow, Director of the Tech Engagement Office at the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) in New Mexico.

When the campus opens for normal business and activities, we welcome K-12 students, teachers, and administrators and invite you to visit our campus and participate in our STEM-H events and activities. As virtual events and activities are scheduled for this Spring 2021 semester, the information will be placed on this site. When the campus reopens and you would like to schedule a tour of the campus, email Rita Garcia, Branch Recruitment Specialist, at rgarcia18@unm.edu

The K-12 component of the R²S² grant is designed to generate interest in STEM-H through hands-on learning activities led by faculty and college students. As a means to connect K-12 students to college students, UNM-Valencia students serve as hosts, tour guides and participants at all STEM-H events to build their service and leadership capacity.

As you scroll down, STEM events for UNM-Valencia students are listed after K-12 events. Events for UNM-Valencia students provide exposure to research, internship and career information. All majors are welcome to participate in R²S² events.

Fall K-12 Events

BioBlitz, held annually in September, focuses on biology. Students participate in a scavenger hunt around campus searching for leaves, flowers, and various parts of plants or trees utilizing a map key. Students also create ceramic molds of a found scavenger hunt object as a memento, and enjoy pizza.
Mole Day, held annually on October 23, celebrates chemistry and Avogadro's Number (6.02 x 10^23), a basic measuring unit in chemistry. Students participate in various hands-on activities led by Dr. Jerry Godbout, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, and his chemistry students. K-12 students can create mementos to take home and enjoy pizza for lunch.

Spring K-12 Events

Earth Day, held annually in April, is a campus-wide event with many departments hosting various activities. This year's event was to be held on Wednesday, April 22 and included students visiting a portable planetarium, creating art objects, baking cookies with a solar oven, and enjoying pizza, hamburgers, hotdogs, and chips for lunch. Additionally, STEM League Student Club members plant a variety of plants, herbs and flowers in UNM-Valencia's Greenhouse to sell on Earth Day.
STEM Day, initially planned for May 4, informs students about STEM. This year's event was to be held on Monday, May 4, for high school juniors and seniors. It was to be an oportunity for students to explore STEM-H through faculty-led hands-on activities, touring research labs and interacting with research faculty and students, viewing faculty-led demonstrations on science and technology, and interacting with faculty and students to learn more about career paths in STEM. Currently, we are re-scheduling STEM Day for a virtual event this fall (2020). As a date and time and activities are firmed up, we will be notifying K-12 schools. STEM Day is co-sponsored with Los Lunas Facebook (Village of Los Lunas [VLL] Data Center.