{"id":3651,"date":"2019-10-26T16:44:20","date_gmt":"2019-10-26T20:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/?p=3651"},"modified":"2019-10-28T16:49:15","modified_gmt":"2019-10-28T20:49:15","slug":"professor-hopes-to-inspire-young-scientists-at-international-stem-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/2019\/10\/26\/professor-hopes-to-inspire-young-scientists-at-international-stem-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor hopes to inspire young scientists at international STEM event"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NizarUniversity of Detroit Mercy Assistant Professor of Biology Nizar Ibrahim wants young people to know there\u2019s still plenty left to explore and discover in the world of science. That will be one of the themes when the Detroit Mercy professor and world-renowned paleontologist speaks at the USA Science & Engineering Festival X-STEM<\/a> Puerto Rico event on Oct. 25.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re learning about science in school, it often sounds like there\u2019s not that much left to discover in the world,\u201d Ibrahim said. \u201cBut of course, nothing could be further from the truth. There are still many, many things left to discover in the world and many areas left to explore.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sahara Desert is a prime example, it\u2019s a place that\u2019s absolutely huge and there are so many places there that are completely unexplored,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s true for many other environments, whether it\u2019s the deep sea or the rainforest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make sure young people listening to the talk understand we are really just at the beginning of a new age of exploration. There are still many mysteries out there and many unexplored places.\u201d<\/p>\n

X-STEM Puerto Rico is an \u201cExtreme\u201d STEM symposium for high school students featuring interactive presentations by speakers who aim to empower and inspire kids about careers in STEM.<\/p>\n

Ibrahim, who is a National Geographic Explorer<\/a>, has gained worldwide fame for his discoveries in the Sahara Desert, which include the giant flying reptile Alanqa and the mysterious Spinosaurus<\/a>, a sail-backed predatory dinosaur longer in body length than Tyrannosaurus rex.<\/p>\n

He led an expedition to the Sahara over the summer<\/a> and hopes to publish some of the team\u2019s discoveries before the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Ibrahim\u2019s success is one reason he was asked to speak at an X-STEM event for the second time, but it\u2019s just one part of his presentation to students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t just talk about my research, but also my journey to becoming a scientist,\u201d Ibrahim said. \u201cI think it\u2019s important for young people to see that scientists are just normal people, they weren\u2019t born scientists. I think it\u2019s important for them to know just because you\u2019re not doing great in your school at the moment, it doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t become a scientist one day.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes scientists aren\u2019t geniuses at school and maybe they didn\u2019t enjoy high school science, but they still became famous scientists. Those kinds of things are important, sharing your personal story and how you got to where you are now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ibrahim said having the events in places like Puerto Rico, where students don\u2019t have a lot of access to scientists and engineers, is important and a major reason he\u2019s excited to present at the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s really important that young people have role models in science and engineering,\u201d Ibrahim said. \u201cIn some parts of the world, young people don\u2019t have a lot of opportunities to connect with real-life scientists and engineers and hear their stories. This is a wonderful opportunity to get young people in Puerto Rico excited about science and engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n

The X-STEM event takes place at the University of Puerto Rico\u2019s Mayaguez Campus.<\/p>\n

Learn more about X-STEM online<\/a>.<\/h4>\n

Learn more about the the University of Detroit Mercy\u2019s College of Engineering & Science online<\/a>.<\/h4>\n

\u2014 Original story by Dave Pemberton.\u00a0Follow Detroit Mercy on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>. Have a story idea? Let us know by\u00a0submitting your idea<\/a>. Photos courtesy of\u00a0Andreas Jacob.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

University of Detroit Mercy Assistant Professor of Biology Nizar Ibrahim wants young people to know there\u2019s still plenty left to explore and discover in the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6],"tags":[1996,100,186,99,454,1999,98,1481,1998,187,104,1997],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbwnTV-WT","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3651"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3651"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3655,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3651\/revisions\/3655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}