Skip to main content
Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology

STEM Ambassadors at Illinois State University logo

 

Who are the STEM Ambassadors?

The STEM Ambassadors are hired as first-year STEM majors. They conduct mentored research and support their peers in finding early success as STEM students.

The first cohort began their work in Fall 2023. To this point, the STEM Ambassadors have launched the ISU Answers student-to-student help platform, introduced a student-led faculty professional development series, and supported the School of Biological Sciences by capturing student perspectives on potential course revisions. Each of these projects is described below.

The STEM Ambassadors continue to direct their own activities with the support of CeMaST staff. They hope to create a legacy for the program as they mentor a new STEM Ambassador cohort in 2026.

If you will be a first-year STEM student at ISU this fall, you should apply to be a STEM Ambassador! A new cohort of 6 Ambassadors will join the program in Fall 2026. Just follow the link below to fill out an application!

Apply to be a STEM Ambassador

ISU Answers

As a part of their research on helping their peers find early success as STEM students, the STEM Ambassadors often heard that students weren’t aware of the resources that are available to them or that students new to campus had trouble navigating campus processes. As a result, the STEM Ambassadors created ISU Answers, a student-to-student help platform where students can ask questions about topics such as academics, finances, and student life at ISU. This platform is now part of the Help.IllinoisState.edu website. Students can submit a question, and a STEM Ambassador will research and answer their question through an email reply.

Student-Led Faculty Professional Development

Another common theme in the STEM Ambassadors’ early interviews was feeling out of place in large, introductory classes. Between a review of current literature and a survey conducted with both ISU students and faculty, the STEM Ambassadors compiled suggestions for faculty and students to enrich their connections with one another.

After successfully sharing their student–faculty connection research at the 2025 University Teaching & Learning Symposium, the STEM Ambassadors expanded their student-led faculty development offerings through the Student-Led Faculty Professional Development workshop series in Spring 2026. The series began with workshops focused on supporting students through life transitions and facilitating connections between students and faculty. The final session offered Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a framework for setting students up for success. UDL emphasizes student agency and access to meaningful, challenging learning opportunities by reducing barriers and designing multiple means of engagement, representation, action, and expression.

Each of these sessions was built using information gathered from current ISU students through interviews, surveys, focus groups, and personal reflections. Following the sessions, the STEM Ambassadors published a set of best practices documents to combine student voices with faculty ideas.

Supporting Student Success in BSC 196/197

As a continuation of the work related to large, introductory classes, the STEM Ambassadors conducted surveys, student focus groups, and faculty interviews to advise the School of Biological Sciences as they integrate student success components into their BSC 196/197 courses. Based on the experiences of current BSC students and faculty who teach similar courses in other departments, the STEM Ambassadors were able to make a series of recommendations to the School of Biological Sciences. The course revisions were piloted in Fall 2025, and the STEM Ambassadors continue to evaluate the success of iterative course redesign each fall.

STEM Ambassadors in the News