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Dr. Tamara Floyd-Smith has dedicated her life and career to helping students learn more about science, technology, engineering, and math. She enjoys sharing knowledge with students and encouraging them to pursue STEM education. She also strives to increase STEM career opportunities for minorities and women. She achieves this by promoting STEM education programs, excellent teaching and outreach activities.
Dr. Floyd-Smith is an instructor for Mentoring into Engineering. The program targets high school students who have an interest in pursuing engineering. Students associated with the Research Experience for High School Students program benefit from Dr. Floyd-Smith's mentoring as well. She also conducts outreach activities related to research projects. She has a team that visits schools or brings students to the university campus.
One of her outreach activities dealing with nanotechnology resulted in a peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Materials Education. Another set of activities about viscosity led to an article in Chemical Engineering Education. At the Math and Science Partnership Conference for middle school teachers, she had students perform an experiment on glucose sensing in diabetes management. Students reported having an increased interest in STEM subjects following the activity.
Dr. Floyd-Smith has made many notable contributions in promoting K-12 education. She plans to continue her efforts to reach students and tell them about STEM opportunities. She received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Tuskegee University, a master's in chemical engineering practice and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"You should work hard and play hard. You should work hard and smart," she advises.