MN/IA/Dakotas Regional Node Meeting – December 11, 2020
The GEP’s Minnesota, Iowa, and Dakotas Regional Node held a virtual Regional Node Meeting on December 11th, 2020. The meeting
Regional Nodes
To increase faculty and student engagement in the GEP, the NIH’s Innovative Programs to Enhance Research Training (IPERT) grant provides support for regional clusters of participating GEP institutions (Regional Nodes). Regional Nodes are encouraged to develop events that allow undergraduates to present their work to other scientists, and/or faculty to learn, collaborate, mentor, and develop curricula.
Quick Links
- Regional Node Event Planning (Proposal Form & Resources)
- Regional Node Overview Trello Board
- Map of Regional Nodes
- Building Community Resources
- Informal Gatherings (under development)
Contacts
- Regional Nodes Director: Kellie O’Rourke
- Regional Nodes Co-Director: Cheryl Bardales
- Regional Node Leaders & Co-Leaders
FAQs
In April 2019, the GEP was awarded funding by the NIH’s Innovative Programs to Enhance Research Training (IPERT) to sustain and develop centralized support and regional training. A main focus of the IPERT grant is to increase faculty and student engagement in the GEP by leveraging the available regional clusters of participating GEP institutions (Regional Nodes).
Each of the 13 Regional Nodes can offer Regional Node Meetings (symposia) and/or Regional Node (New Member) Training. The Regional Node Meetings serve the dual functions of allowing undergraduates to present their work to other scientists, and faculty to learn, collaborate, mentor, and develop curricula. The Regional Node Training workshops expand the timing and location options for GEP training, thereby increasing participation while testing a new regional training format. A particular goal of these Regional Node activities is the recruitment and support of new members from Community Colleges.
| Regional Node | Node Leader | Leader’s Institution | Node Co-Leader | Co-Leader’s Institution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CalNeAr (CA, NV, AZ) | TBD | TBD | ||
| Carolinas | Marisol Santisteban | University of North Carolina at Pembroke (NC) | Michele Eller | Southern Wesleyan University (SC) |
| DMV (DC, MD, VA) | Christine Fleet | Emory & Henry University (VA) | TBD | |
| Midwest | Sarah Justice | Marian University (IN) | TBD | |
| MT/MN/IA/Dakotas | Kellie O’Rourke | Carroll College (MT) | TBD | |
| New England | Jenna Roecklein-Canfield | Simmons University (MA) | TBD | |
| New York & New Jersey (NY/NJ) | Guy Barbato | Stockton University (NJ) | Raffaella Diotti | CUNY Bronx Community College (NY) |
| Pacific Northwest (PNW) | Norma Velazquez-Ulloa | Lewis & Clark College (OR) | Jack Vincent | University of Washington-Tacoma (WA) |
| Pennsylvania (PA) | TBD | TBD | ||
| Puerto Rico (PR) | TBD | Sheylda Díaz-Méndez | University of Puerto Rico-Ponce (PR) | |
| Rocky Mountain | Shan Hays | Western Colorado University (CO) | Zeynep Ozsoy | Colorado Mesa University (CO) |
| Southeast | Cheri Bardales | Louisiana State University of Alexandria | TBD | |
| Texas & Oklahoma (TX/OK) | Lindsey Long | Oklahoma Christian University (OK) | Chitra Chandrasekaran | Texas Wesleyan University (TX) |
Find your institution on the Nodes Map and then use the key to determine your Regional Node and/or click on the icon of your institution and the Regional Node will be listed.
Regional Node Events include Regional Node Meetings (RNMs) and Regional Node Training (RNT). Regional Node Events leverage available regional clusters of participating GEP institutions (i.e., Regional Nodes).
Regional Node Meetings (RNMs) leverage available regional clusters of participating GEP institutions (i.e., Regional Nodes) to increase faculty and student engagement by allowing undergraduates to present their work to other scientists, and faculty to learn, collaborate, mentor, and develop curricula.
- A Regional Node Meeting is defined as any GEP activity that involves at least two institutions in the Regional Node that includes at least one of the following:
- Student presentations (poster or oral)
- Professional development activity
- Speaker gives a seminar on a research- or pedagogy-related topic
- Training in curriculum or science projects of current GEP faculty
- When Recruiting: ‘taster’ demos for prospective members (currently unavailable)
- Unlike Regional Node New Member Trainings, RNMs are typically single day events with a smaller budget. What happens at RNMs can vary, but they focus on community building and engagement within their region. In a nutshell, it’s up to the Regional Node to decide what they most need to address (e.g., faculty only meeting to work on professional development, opportunities for students, or a recruitment event to grow the Node membership).
Regional Node Training (RNT) and New Member Training (NMT) are the same thing. NMT is typically used with “national” level events.
RNT/NMT is designed to onboard new members by helping faculty integrate GEP curriculum materials into existing courses and engage their students in scientific research through CUREs. Training new members typically takes 15-20 hours and can occur in-person (2.5 days) or virtually (1.5 hour/10 days).
RNT/NMT is designed to onboard new members by helping faculty integrate GEP curriculum materials into existing courses and engage their students in scientific research through CUREs. Training new members typically takes 15-20 hours and can occur in-person (2.5 days) or virtually (1.5 hour/10 days).
See the “Regional Node Event Planning” web page (generic password) for more details.
Pacific Northwest Regional Node Meeting – November 1, 2020
The GEP’s Pacific Northwest (PNW) Node, which currently has members from Oregon and Washington in the U.S. and from British
Southeast New Member Training February 2020
The Southeast Regional Node held its first New Member Training Welcome Workshop at The University of Alabama February 7-9, 2020.
Midwest North Regional Node Meeting
The Midwest North Node, which covers Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, held the GEP’s first NIH-funded Regional Node Meeting
- Page Last Updated: August 20, 2025