Biology major travels to New Orleans for Science Teachers Conference.

Michael Dodson and Ethan Wilkins presenting a poster at the ASTE International meeting.

Ethan Wilkins, sophomore biology major and MUW Honor’s College student, and Michael Dodson, Instructor of Biology in the Dept. of Sciences and Mathematics, co-presented a poster at the Association of Science Teacher Education (ASTE) Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA, held 10-13 Jan 2024.

The poster was titled “Hispanic Heritage Month: An Opportunity for Informal STEM (and Humanities) Education and Ethnoscience” and reported on a project done by Ethan in partnership with Mr. Dodson and Dr. Reyna Vergara, Assistant Professor of Spanish in the Dept. of Literature, Languages, and Philosophy at MUW, as part of a Hispanic Heritage Month event held on campus in Sept 2023.

Group of students and faculty at the ASTE annual meeting, 2024.

In his presentation to the ASTE international conference, Ethan was able to interact with educators across many universities and honed his ability to communicate science. The benefit of learning across disciplines, as practiced at MUW, was well demonstrated in Ethan’s work to teach people about culture and medicine and shows that interdisciplinary collaboration at the W benefits our students whatever their chosen fields.