Wyoming EPSCoR welcomes new director

Dr. Brent Ewers with
Summer Research Apprenticeship
Program students Virgil Morrison (left)
and Sarah Fanning (right).

When asked what will be the biggest life change in accepting the position as EPSCoR Director, Dr. Brent Ewers responded: not teaching LIFE 1010. Ewers has been teaching the General Biology course since he came to the University of Wyoming 12 years ago.

“Normally I would’ve done my first lecture a few hours ago so it seems a little strange,” he says about not teaching during the fall semester. LIFE 1010 aside, Brent is thrilled to take on his new position at EPSCoR.

A father of two sons and husband to Samantha Ewers, who is the Research Database Manager for the Wyoming Center for Environmental Hydrology and Geophysics (WyCEHG), Brent is joining EPSCoR from the Botany Department. His main focus is Plant Physiological Ecology, a field that has played an integral part in EPSCoR over the past several years by way of WyCEHG and Summer Research Apprentice Program (SRAP). After being engaged in these programs as a scientist, he’s excited to work with them from the director’s chair.

“One thing I’ve really enjoyed as a scientist in WyCEHG is that I’ve had interactions with the EPSCoR staff,” says Ewers. “I’m very excited to learn a lot more from experts in education outreach and diversity.”

He is stepping into the role formerly held by Dr. Anne Sylvester, who took the EPSCoR Director position in 2011. It was under her leadership that the current Track-1 Grant came to be at Wyoming EPSCoR. Sylvester’s research focus is in maize development and genomics and, fittingly, she is moving on to a position as Program Director of the Plant Genome Research Program at the National Science Foundation.

Although she’s excited for her new opportunity, she’s proud of the progress EPSCoR has made and excited for the path it will follow in the future.

Dr. Anne Sylvester

“Working with EPSCoR has been an incredible experience,” she says. “NSF EPSCoR really focuses on collaborative, interdisciplinary research, hence the project that was developed is one that brings three different disciplines together to make something new…Watching that interdisciplinarity develop was kind of like a snowball rolling downhill. Once it starts, you see people changing, you see the science changing."

And she’s happy to pass the baton to Ewers. “The goal is to have EPSCoR impact the state of Wyoming. I think it’s been pretty successful so far. With Brent taking over, it’s just going to skyrocket.”

Brent is also excited about what the future holds for EPSCoR, particularly as he and his staff look toward the next grant a few years down the road. “There’s a really strong history of EPSCoR supporting programs that then have impacts for decades afterwards. I’m really looking forward to being a part of that and seeing what new programs can come out of it.”

By Manasseh Franklin

Professor Elyn Saks Speaks To Students and Faculty

Elyn Saks, a law professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law spoke to students and faculty at the University of Wyoming via live video feed on Wednesday, January 29^th.

Professor Saks addressed the group of nearly 100 participants about her experiences living with schizophrenia and her 2007 memoir, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness. After the discussion, Professor Saks answered questions from audience members.

"The presentation and book by Elyn Saks gave all of us new insights into mental illness. Her message was one of hope and activism: hope for people with mental illness that they can live up to their potential with active support from society," says Dr. Anne Sylvester, Wyoming EPSCoR Project Director. "Dr. Saks gave concrete suggestions for how the academic community can recognize and support students, colleagues and peers with mental illness. This is what disability awareness is all about and why Wyoming EPSCoR supports programs that promote disability awareness. Such new awareness would not be possible without hearing the courageous personal story shared by Dr. Saks.

As part of Wyoming EPSCoR’s Disability Awareness Program, EPSCoR aims to increase knowledge, awareness and accommodation of those with disabilities in STEM fields. To improve this awareness, EPSCoR brings scientists and other academics with disabilities to campus to give a public lecture and discuss ways to make programs more accommodating of a wide range of disabilities.  

To learn more about Professor Saks and her experiences living with schizophrenia, be sure to watch her TED talk. For more information about the Wyoming EPSCoR Disability Awareness Program, please visit our website. 

By Robin Rasmussen

Photos by Robin Rasmussen

Faces of science: The balancing act of life, science and family

This is the first of a series of blogs about women in science at the University of Wyoming, as we initiate our new NSF-funded program.Throughout the year we will be blogging about women in engineering, earth sciences, biological sciences and beyond.

Dr. Sylvester with her two daughters several years ago.

 Dr. Anne Sylvester has a lot on her mind. Between teaching, researching, and the duties of an EPSCoR director, as well as her life outside her career, she rarely has a dull moment. Fitting everything in and maintaining her energy and enthusiasm comes from years of practice- practice at balancing, practice at making decisions, practice at getting everything done.

“I really think the balancing act came from choosing to have a career and choosing to have a family,” Dr. Sylvester says. “Maintaining the family nucleus was really important and you just can’t do that if you have a nine to five life. We’ve always had a twenty-four hour life.”

A twenty-four hour life means that the balancing act is never finished. There is always something else to do, someone else to talk with, another place to go.

 “You have to be willing to have no boundaries,” Dr. Sylvester says. “I have no time boundaries, I have no distance boundaries. If I need to be somewhere, I get there. If I need to work at a certain hour, I do it.”

Balancing a family and a career would have been nearly impossible if it had not been for the support system surrounding Dr. Sylvester, especially when her daughters were young. Her husband, Dr. Steve Herbert, supported her every step of the way. They divided time, making sure that they had dinner together every night, as a family, and that they both went to their daughters’ events. They adapted their schedules to maximize family time, and worked to ensure that they could both have science careers and life outside work.

“I think that the support of others is very important,” Dr. Sylvester says. “I owe an enormous amount to my parents, who helped us throughout our lives. I learned that concept of boundless enthusiasm from my mother --  she showed me that anything is possible and she always supported both Steve and me every step of the way, even though my parents lived far from us. If we had an emergency my parents would appear at the door to help or provide advice that taught us that hard work and creativity solves most problems.”

Choosing to have a career and a family came with hard decisions, especially as a young mother, Dr. Sylvester recalls. She remembers dropping her daughters off at daycare and asking herself, “What I am doing?”.  At times, she questioned her decision to be a scientist and a mother, but never enough to deviate from the path she had carved out. Instead, she made choices that allowed her to be both a scientist and a mother, without sacrificing things she would later regret.

“You have to make little decisions that have a big impact,” Dr. Sylvester says. “I made a decision when my children were young. I said, ‘You know, I have my whole life ahead of me to travel, so I’m going to turn down seminar invitations, I’m not going to travel as much so it does not impact my children,’. Those are the little decisions you make along the way, and I have no regrets whatsoever.”

Dr. Sylvester’s daughters are grown and in college now, but her life remains as busy as ever. The philosophy she lived by when raising her children is the philosophy she continues to follow. She approaches each and every activity with the same mindset: stay focused, work to completion and atten to one thing at a time when possible.

“I think the concept of multitasking is overrated,” Dr. Sylvester says. “I think that it is more important to think about single action activities that are highly focused rather than dividing attention into so many pieces. The biggest danger of juggling a lot of things is rushing.”

For someone looking to follow a path like the one Dr. Sylvester has made, it might look a little intimidating. How do you even start?

“Don’t have anyone tell you this is the way to do it,” Dr. Sylvester says. “I think there is no one path that works, that’s my first piece of advice. There are many, many ways to achieve a dream or a goal. I think you really have to work with your environment, your people, your structures. Everybody has to look at what works for them and find the support structures. If the structures aren’t there, you have to make them.”

Dr. Sylvester with her 'field family' and eldest daughter.

Today, Dr. Sylvester advocates for more family friendly work environments in universities. She remains keenly aware of the choices parents face when it comes to families and careers. Little by little, work spaces are becoming more family oriented, and Dr. Sylvester is reassured. In the future, the challenges she faced won’t be as severe. This is positive, especially for young women looking to follow in Dr. Sylvester’s footsteps.

To these young women, Dr. Sylvester says, “Anything is possible.”

By Kali S. McCrackin
Photos courtesy of Dr. Anne Sylvester

Research, teaching and outreach: A day in the shoes of an EPSCoR director

The following is part one of a two part story featuring EPSCoR director Anne Sylvester. These two stories are the first of several blogs about Wyoming EPSCoR and the University of Wyoming. This first story is the start of stories featuring EPSCoR personnel and their roles in merging science, education, research and outreach. Next week’s story will start off a series of blogs about women in science at the University of Wyoming, as we initiate our new NSF-funded program. 

Dr. Sylvester researches maize genetics

Most people probably don’t see the connection between corn genetics, classroom instruction and outreach projects, but Dr. Anne Sylvester does. For her, research, outreach and education have always gone hand in hand, and corn genetics is her area of expertise.

“For some of us, research is critical to our teaching,” Dr. Sylvester says. “For me, research and teaching are highly intertwined.”

As a professor at the University of Wyoming, she has the opportunity to both research and teach. As the director of Wyoming EPSCoR, she has the ability to ensure that the science fields at UW are reaching out to the public, from elementary school all the way up.

“I have a deep seated commitment to promoting science and moving it into the public sector, to explaining what science is all about at all levels, and to drawing students into the science fields,” Dr. Sylvester says.

The key to doing this lies not only in the commitment to reaching out, but also in the excitement scientists as individuals have for their research and field. Dr. Sylvester found this excitement following graduate school, in the fields of molecular biology and genetics. She has always been interested in plants, but it was genetics that allowed her to begin answering the research questions that inspired her to become a scientist.

 “I became particularly interested in and moved towards maize or corn genetics after graduate school, when I was looking into a post-doctoral program,” she says. “I wanted to work with a genetics system because I felt that it would allow me to really investigate the molecular biology behind the questions I was interested in.”

Today, Dr. Sylvester’s passions for genetics carry over to all aspects of her work at UW. Her passions for her research turn into her passions as an instructor.

Dr. Sylvester has corn fields in Colorado and Hawaii

“I love teaching,” Dr. Sylvester says. “The most rewarding aspect of teaching is thinking of ways to teach something that will convey your own interests, your own excitements and your own passions for science, and bring out those same emotions in your students.”

Dr. Sylvester sees inspiring her students in science as an essential part of her role as an instructor. “Teaching is a mission. It’s a mission to bring information about science to students who are going to help change the world,” she says. “Students need to get excited by science so that they can learn it.”

Dr. Sylvester’s personal philosophy regarding her classrooms and her labs caught the attention of Bill Gern, Vice President of the Research and Economic Development Office at UW. In 2006, he asked her to become the associate director of EPSCoR, which eventually led her to become the director.

“On my own NSF funding, I have always worked with Native American students through a tribal college in Montana,” Dr. Sylvester says. The outreach and diversity Dr. Sylvester cultivated in her labs fits with UW-wide efforts to build strong programs in Wyoming.  Today, EPSCoR joins others at UW who work with tribal colleges, community colleges and high schools throughout Wyoming in order to encourage students at these schools to pursue careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields.

“I’ve watched EPSCoR transform individuals who have recognized that science is no longer individuals forging their own path,” Dr. Sylvester says. “Now science is highly collaborative, interdisciplinary and integrated with education, and that’s the goal of EPSCoR in my opinion.”

Being a professor, researcher and director simultaneously has its challenges, but the work never ceases to interest, excite and engage her.

“Being involved in what I see as absolutely cutting-edge science is my favorite part of being the director of EPSCoR,” Dr. Sylvester says. “I love my job. I think that an academic career is the best there is because of the fact that an academic environment promotes constant learning and education.”


By Kali S. McCrackin
Photos courtesy of the University of Wyoming