USA Health Center for Healthy Communities awarded nearly $1 million for STEMM program 

The University of South Alabama’s Center for Healthy Communities received an award of nearly $1 million from the Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to provide high school students with opportunities to learn and apply STEMM in the examination of environmental hazards and their effects on the health and resilience of communities in the Gulf of Mexico region. 

STEMM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medicine.  

The STEMM Scholars for Environmental Justice (SSEJ) Program will include both classroom-based learning activities and mentored projects for students who are part of the Mobile County Public School System, the Alabama School of Math and Science, and Accel Academy. Community-based organizations and industry partners will also offer support to the program. 

“We know that our environment greatly affects our health outcomes, so implementing the STEMM Scholars program allows us to play a role in building our future of healthcare and allied health workforce,” said Ashley Williams Hogue, M.D., director of the Center for Healthy Communities. “It also challenges us to think about ways to create an environment that minimizes health disparities and promotes positive health outcomes.” 

Williams Hogue, a trauma surgeon and assistant professor of surgery at the Whiddon College of Medicine, along with Steven Scyphers, Ph.D., an associate professor of marine and environmental sciences at USA’s Stokes School of Marine and Environmental Sciences and director of the Center for Socio-Environmental Resiliency, will lead the effort. 

“The mission of the USA Health Center for Healthy Communities is helping people to build stronger and healthier communities,” Williams Hogue said. “One way we accomplish our mission is by prioritizing education.” 

The STEMM Scholars program allows the center to build on one of its longest standing educational programs, STARS & STRIPES, which provides an on-campus experience for rising high school juniors and seniors, exposing them to the allied health professions and college-level courses.  

The program will offer an in-person and online curriculum, exposure to experts, and mentored student-led hands-on projects. The high-school aged STEMM Scholars will work with undergraduate Gulf Scholars and community mentors throughout the duration of the program. 

The program’s projects use a mentored and participatory action approach to conduct needs assessments and community-engaged projects related to environmental justice. Students will be invited to present their work at school, in the community, and on the university’s campus. STEMM scholars will collectively perform a final service project of their choosing. 

USA’s project was one of six that received award funding to empower youth across the Gulf of Mexico region. All activities are designed to help deepen their understanding of issues impacting their local communities, improve their scientific and environmental literacy, and contribute to the betterment of the region.  

In addition, local teachers will receive paid professional development opportunities to incorporate environmental justice activities into their teaching practices. 

 “We are excited by the reach of these projects that engage and support students as they develop their scientific and environmental literacy and understanding of environmental justice issues facing their communities,” said Karena Mothershed, director of the Gulf Research Program’s Board on Gulf Education and Engagement. “The additional paid professional development opportunities for teachers ensure that these critical skills continue to be taught to future students beyond the conclusion of these projects.”   

The National Academies’ Gulf Research Program is an independent, science-based program founded in 2013 as part of legal settlements with the companies involved in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. It seeks to enhance offshore energy system safety and protect human health and the environment by catalyzing advances in science, practice, and capacity to generate long-term benefits for the Gulf of Mexico region and the nation. The program has $500 million for use over 30 years to fund grants, fellowships, and other activities in the areas of research and development, education and training, and monitoring and synthesis. 

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, engineering, and medicine.