Jeanna Wieselmann, a doctoral candidate in STEM Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction was selected for the 2017 Women’s Philanthropic Leadership Award (WPLC) as a “Rising Star” graduate student.

Wieselmann’s research is focused on gender equity in STEM education at the elementary school level. She is interested in gender equity in STEM, particularly in maintaining girls’ interest in STEM in the elementary years and beyond.

Wieselmann will be traveling to Japan this fall to work with colleagues there as they begin to introduce integrated STEM instruction in the classroom.

“I’ll help with STEM curriculum development and implementation, and I’ll study student perceptions of self and STEM, likely examining differences across contexts,” she says, including both different settings within Japan and as compared to the U.S.”

“I’m fortunate be at institution where women are well represented in the STEM fields, in my department in particular,” Wieselmann says of Department of Curriculum & Instruction where both of her advisors, Gillian Roehrig and Julie Brown, are female STEM faculty. “I would like to be a professor at a research institution, so seeing women in that role has definitely inspired me.”

Find out more about the Department of Curriculum & Instruction and the doctoral program in STEM Education.