Since 2001, a group of dedicated professionals have hosted GEMS at the University of South Alabama to provide middle-school students with exciting, hands-on experiences in a wide variety of STEM professions. GEMS is a half-day program that will include three hands-on workshops designed to help students experience the fun and excitement that can be found in STEM careers.

Contact Sinéad ní Chadhain by October 3 to volunteer to lead a workshop.

GEMS 2022 Tentative Schedule 

8:00am-8:30am           Registration
8:30am-9:20am           Opening Session
9:40am-10:30am         Workshop Session 1
10:50am-11:40am       Workshop Session 2
12:00pm-12:50pm       Workshop Session 3
1:00pm-1:30pm            Lunch

Workshop Structure

Workshops sessions are 50 minutes and typically look like this:

• Greeting and opening introduction about your field or job: 5 minutes
• Question and answer session to get the students started: 5 minutes
• Hands-on exercise or experiment: 35 minutes
• Closing questions and answers: 5 minutes

Ideally the students will leave the workshop with a creation, trinket, or tool to remember their experience.  We encourage you to provide handouts and take-home information so the students can continue to consider your field, organization, or company as a future career option. Remember, this is an opportunity to promote your profession, your organization, and your career!

What do I do?

• Select a fun, hands-on workshop that engages the students in a STEM-related activity.
• Select fun, engaging assistants to help you run your workshop. Or let us know how many volunteers you will need to help you run it.

Frequently Asked Questions

I want to conduct a workshop but have no idea what to present. Can you help me get ideas? Of course! We can help you find lesson plans and workshop ideas. Just call Angela Nocera at 251-656-4989.

Is it guaranteed my workshop will be included in GEMS? It is likely but not a certainty. Once registration closes we will contact you to confirm if and how many students registered for your workshop.

How many students attend GEMS? We will cap registration at 200 students.

How many students can I expect in my workshop? We will let you tell us the maximum number of students you can comfortably accommodate in each session. Once registration closes we will contact you to confirm if and how many students registered for your workshop.