We are disappointed to announce that the 2020 CREATE Mini-Conference has been canceled due to the ongoing concerns over Coronavirus spread. We are also grateful to Dr. Ferrini-Mundy for having been willing to share her time with us as the keynote speaker this year. Please check back often - we are looking at the possibility of rescheduling the event for late fall. 

Please join us at the CREATE 2020 Mini-Conference! We are so excited to have Dr. Joan Ferrini-Mundy with us as our keynote speaker this year. 

The program will be held in the Ballroom at the MSU Union.

To Register, go to https://conference.create4stem.msu.edu/.

Tentative Schedule: 

9:00-10:00 - Registration/Poster-set-up with coffee & pastries (outside Ballroom)

10:00-11:30 am - Poster session (Ballroom)

11:30 am-12:30 pm - Lunch buffet (Ballroom/Sunporch)

12:30-1:15 pm - Keynote (Ballroom)**

• 1:15-1:30 pm - Comments from Dr. Phillip Duxbury, Dean, College of Natural Science
• 1:30-1:45 pm - Comments from Dr. Robert Floden, Dean, College of Education
• 1:45-2:15 pm - Q & A's

2:15-2:30 pm – Coffee Break

2:30-4:00 pm - Panel discussion

4:00 pm - Adjourn

**Why Discipline-Based Educational Research(DBER) is more important than ever:  Implications for transforming education systems for tomorrow

Discipline-Based Educational Research (DBER) is a set of fields of study that exemplifies convergence research.  The different fields comprising DBER include disciplines in science and engineering, mathematics, computer science, along with education and learning areas ranging from cognitive science to educational psychology, to methodology.  As a result the problems that are pursued in DBER research benefit from the inputs and perspectives of those fields and therefore often address relevant, complex problems.  As in research in undergraduate mathematics education (closely related to DBER but a somewhat different genesis and set of traditions), methodologies from multiple social science and physical science fields are adapted and employed in DBER studies, thus bringing additional robustness and reach to DBER findings.   I will reflect on the implications both of this area of work for the structures and future of higher education institutions and the preparation of the workforce of tomorrow.

Joan Ferrini-Mundy became the 21st president of the University of Maine and its regional campus, the University of Maine at Machias in July of 2018.  In her first year, President Ferrini-Mundy initiated the Strategic Vision and Values planning process and led a University of Maine System-wide process culminating in a five-year strategic plan for research and development. She serves on the boards of Maine Center Ventures and Maine and Company and is the Academic Advisory Team Chair for FOCUS Maine. 

The President serves on the Strategic Working Team for the Governor’s Economic Development Plan, and as a member of a Mathematics Standards Review Steering Committee for the Maine Department of Education.

Prior to coming to Maine, she was the chief operating officer of the National Science Foundation. Her distinguished career spans the fields of mathematics education, STEM education and policy, teacher education, and research administration. Among her awards and recognitions are the U.S. Senior Executive Service Presidential Rank Award and election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Association for Women in Mathematics.

President Ferrini-Mundy is a member of the Board on Higher Education and the Workforce of the National Academies. She holds a Ph.D. in mathematics education from the University of New Hampshire.