Candice Halbert ’01
The sixth annual Charles Morris STEM Social for underrepresented students will be from 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday, November 7, in the Jaime Escalante Conference Room, Vrooman 103, East Campus. The event is free and open to students majoring in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), and those interested in STEM majors.
The event aims to educate students about majors in the STEM fields. The event will include networking with faculty from STEM departments and meeting with successful students from underrepresented backgrounds. The evening will also include round table discussions allowing students the chance to explore a discipline.
The keynote speaker will be alum Candice Halbert ’01, who works as a scientific associate for the liquids reflectometer at the Spallation Neutron Source located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Halbert’s research experience includes polymer morphology and diffusion studies, membranes and their intermolecular interactions, and organometallic catalyst synthesis. Prior to dedicating her career to neutron scattering, she worked in the pharmaceutical industry as well as the nuclear waste management industry.
In Halbert’s work setting as a STEM professional, she is often the only woman in the room, and even more often the only person of color. To change this, she established Youth Outreach in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (Yo-STEM), a nonprofit designed to work with underserved communities to address the lack of diversity in STEM fields.
Winners of the Charles Morris STEM Scholarships will also be announced at the STEM Social. Funded by the Educational Equity Endowment Fund, the scholarship is aimed at increasing the participation rates of students from underrepresented groups pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM). Two scholarships will be announced at the social.
Apply here for the scholarships. The application deadline is Thursday, October 31.
For additional information on the social, contact Associate Professor of Infectious Disease Ecology Ben Sadd at bmsadd@ilstu.edu or (309) 438 2651.
