Center for Research on Lifelong STEM Learning

Dr. Julie Risien is the Associate Director at Oregon State University’s Center for Research on Lifelong STEM Learning. Julie oversees operations and leads the Center’s research and programmatic portfolio on improving the science/society connection. She leads the scholarship initiative for Advancing Research Impacts in Society, or the ARIS Center; conducts research on inter-institutional partnerships to enhance “Broader Impacts”; and manages the Inclusive Excellence@OSU initiative aimed at transforming undergraduate education. She serves on the steering committees for the National Alliance for Broader Impacts (NABI) and Undergraduate Field Experiences Research Network (UFERN), and collaborates with the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Learning (CAISE). Julie serves on the graduate faculty for the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences and Environmental Sciences. Her research focuses on the transformative power of learning networks, organizational structures, professional growth, and partnerships to improve connection at the interface of science and society. 

Center Projects: 

• BID: Grounding Institutional Partnerships in Structures for Broader Impacts Design (2017-19)
• A Landscape of University Systems and People: Supporting Scientists in Public Engagement (2017-18)
• Center for Advancement of Informal Science Learning (CAISE) (2018-21)
• Learning Network: Case Study of the National Alliance for Broader Impacts (2018)
• ESTEME@OSU: Enhancing STEM Education at OSU (2014-18)
• Broader Impacts: Towards a Strategic Approach for OSU (2012) and Building a Campus-wide Network (2015)
• Undergraduate Success Initiative 
• STEM Learning Research Seminars and Forums (on-going)

Media and Publications

• OSU Ecampus Research in Action podcast, Episode #35
• Julie Risien & Martin Storksdieck; Unveiling Impact Identities: A Path for Connecting Science and Society, Integrative and Comparative Biology, Volume 58, Issue 1, 1 July 2018, Pages 58–66, https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icy011
• Skvoretz, J., Risien, J. Goldberg, B. (2018) Network Measurement and Data Collection Methods in Higher Education: Practices and Guidelines. In (Eds) Henderson, C., Rasmussen, C., Knaub, A., Apkarian, N., Daly, A. J., & Fisher, K. Q. (2018). Researching and Enacting Change in Postsecondary Education: Leveraging Instructors' Social Networks (Vol. 28). Routledge.
• Risien, J. & Nilson, R. (2018). Landscape overview of university systems and people supporting scientists in their public engagement efforts: summary of existing recommendations and evidence from the field. Report to the Kavli, Rita Allen, Packard, and Moore Foundations http://informalscience.org/support-systems-scientists-communication-and-engagement-exploration-people-and-institutions.
• Risien, J. (May 2015). Persectives: Discovering our "Reserach-Impact" Identities. Terra Magazine: Inspired Stories from the Edge of Science. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University  http://terra.oregonstate.edu/2015/05/perspectives-discovering-our-research-impact-identities/