USC JEP STEM Education Programs

Congratulations to Dr. Dieuwertje Kast on receiving USC Dornsife’s Outstanding Dornsife Staff Achievement Award in recognition of her impactful work in STEM education and community engagement through USC Joint Educational Project (JEP).

Dr. Kast was recognized for her dedication to expanding access to STEM education in the communities surrounding USC, as well as her work publishing diverse children’s STEM books in partnership with Room to Read.

She was nominated by JEP colleague Kathrin Rising, alongside faculty collaborators from across USC, including NSF partners Cameron Thrash and Naomi Levine from the Marine Environmental Biology department, Adam MacLean from the Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology, and Karla Heidelberg from USC Sea Grant for their collaborative marine biology and Catalina education initiatives.

Adding to the special occasion, Dr. Kast’s parents were in attendance to support and celebrate this well-deserved recognition.

This award highlights the power of interdisciplinary collaboration, community partnership, and inclusive STEM education to inspire the next generation of scientists.

Celebrating our incredible USC Dornsife STEM Education Fellows 💫

This fellowship brings together current PhD students to grow as science communicators, transforming their research into engaging, accessible curriculum for elementary students. It’s all about bridging cutting-edge science with the next generation of learners, in the spirit of broader impacts and meaningful community connection. 👩🏽‍🔬 👨🏾‍🔬

We’re so proud of the amazing achievements of our fellows, past and present:
✨ Kelsie Campbell (2024–2025) – Scholar-in-Training Award, American Association for Cancer Research (2026)
✨ Charles Lehnen (2023) – USC University Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award
✨ Anamika Nanda (2025–2026) – 3rd Place Research & Poster Presentation, USC Industry Day

Your passion, dedication, and impact in both research and education inspire us every day. Thank you for bringing science to life for our students and communities ❤️. We love our current and alumni fellows and wanted to show them the love with this post.

BroaderImpacts FutureScientists

The end of our Spring 2026 STEM programming was packed with celebrations and events. We wrapped up the semester with our Paper Plate Awards, recognizing all of our incredible staff. This year’s designs were inspired by the 20-year anniversary graphic featuring a robot cheering on our accomplishments and milestones.
Nominations came from our leadership team and included fun awards like “24/7 Hotline” for one of our standout communicators. Jess also honored our director, DJ Kast, with the Heart and Soul of STEM Award.
Our team also represented our programs at the City of STEM event and at Weemes Math and Science Night with one of our partner schools.
Check out the photos below!

Over the past semester, our 5th grade coordinator Mia Moore has been teaching some new and exciting lessons through our NSF research grant with Dr. Naomi Levine. Students have been collecting and graphing real data, exploring temperature cycles, investigating heat islands around their school, and even creating food chain simulations 🌱📊

Watching them make connections and take ownership of their learning has been the best part. This is what hands-on, meaningful STEM looks like🧑🏾‍🔬

Grateful for the University of Southern California’s 2026 Industry Day, which brought together scientists from leading biotechnology companies.

A big thank you to the sponsors who made the poster competition possible, and for awarding our STEM graduate fellow Anamika Nanda .na ‘s research on gene-environment interactions and hippocampal volume 3rd place in the Life Sciences division!

We gave our 4th graders chocolate chip cookies 🍪 and toothpicks and asked them to mine out the “coal” without destroying the land. Turns out, it’s pretty hard to extract resources when the Earth 🌍 is made of cookie dough — and even harder when it’s real. Through STEM Education program, students got to see firsthand why fossil fuel extraction is such a messy problem for our planet. Post by

Over the past couple of weeks the USC WonderKids have learned about the microscopic environment of the Earth’s Oceans. First students learned about microplastic ocean pollution from marine debris specialists Sydney Rilum. Next, Anjali Bhatnagar, a marine and environmental biology PhD student, shared her knowledge on aquatic microbiology.

🎉 Exciting news from the USC JEP STEM Programs!

The first Informal STEM Element column—part of Connected Science Learning and developed through National Science Teaching Association
NSTA’s Informal STEM Committee—has just been published!

This inaugural piece showcases the power of informal STEM education and the many ways programs like USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences USC Joint Educational Project (USC JEP STEM) connect learning across classrooms, communities, and real-world experiences.

📖 Read the article here (free eprint link while available): https://lnkd.in/gRzd2mzH

Citation: Kast, D. (2026). Culturally Responsive Teaching: Insights and Examples from USC JEP STEM Education Programs. Connected Science Learning, 1–6. https://lnkd.in/gVvr4-Pa

It’s inspiring to see informal STEM education featured on a national platform, and we’re excited for more stories and insights to come from the committee’s future contributors!

Our 2nd grade scientists turned into polymer engineers !🧪🪱

Students explored how materials can irreversibly change and even create brand-new substances. By mixing “worm goo” with an activator, they watched a chemical reaction transform a liquid into a stretchy polymer right before their eyes!

Hands-on STEM learning at its best! 🔬✨
PolymerScience 2ndGradeSTEM

JEP STEM Applications are now open! Link in bio. Check out why our current TA’s like working for JEP STEM.

Please reach out with any questions. Application is due March 29th at 11:59pm.