From North Carolina to ISU – Meet Preston

Preston Marrable

It’s summer, and we welcome another class of Undergraduate Research Interns. This year we have three interns. Today, meet Preston Marrable from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Preston will be working with RegenPGC CoPD Dr. Shuizhang Fei.

Preston’s goals for the summer are to “gain more knowledge and strengthen my work ethic and attention to detail. As much as I want to improve on a professional level, I also want to build friendly relationships with my fellow peers.”

We are pleased to welcome Preston to Iowa State University,  where we know he will learn a lot with Dr. Fei!

Meet Preston Marrable

Brief Bio. I grew up in Los Angeles while moving around Southern California as a kid. I currently live in North Carolina, and I attend North Carolina Ag & Tech State University as a rising junior. My favorite subjects are English and History. My personal hobbies are cooking, exercise, and listening to music. Something unexpected about me is that I went to Japan last year, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Why I applied… I applied to the program because I want to gain research experience in STEM and mathematics. I also want to gain professional insight and experience by building a coalition of connections among my Iowa State colleagues before, during, and after the program has finished.

My expectations for the REU program include… I want to gain more knowledge and strengthen my work ethic and attention to detail. As much as I want to improve on a professional level, I also want to build friendly relationships with my fellow peers.

RegenPGC interns and mentors get deserved recognition

It’s easy to get jaded in the age of endless social media, but we never tire of seeing our team recognized for its research, extension, education, and outreach efforts!

Today, our Education Team gets a shoutout from the Iowa State University Marketing and Communications Division and from Axios in the article, “Summer research program for teachers brings ISU science to K-12 classrooms.”

The article features Iowa State’s participation in the national REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates )and RET (Research Experience for Teachers programs. At RegenPGC, our team members provide mentorship for three RETs and 5 REUs. Mentees benefit, mentors benefit. It’s the ultimate educational win-win.

Check out the full article at https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/summer-research-program-teachers-brings-isu-science-k-12-classrooms. Learn more about our REUs and RETs at https://www.regenpgc.org/theme-3-education/2023-ret-reu-programs-copy/

Meet future STEM teacher, Jacie Staedtler

Jessica Staedtler Headshot

At RegenPGC, we are not only about perennial groundcover, we are about growing the future. That is why we sponsor two research experience programs every summer, the Research Experience for Undergraduates and the Research Experience for Teachers.

Meet Jessica “Jacie” Staedtler, a member of our 2025 Research Experience for Undergraduates Internship. You can learn more about Jacie and her colleagues at https://iastate.box.com/s/4ugs0uvgyrac4q5qcovet3nr0k8lue03.

Hello, my name is Jacie Staedtler. I am going to be a senior at South Dakota State University (Brookings, SD) in the fall, pursuing my mathematics education degree. I am from Spencer, Iowa, and stayed in Alta, Iowa, over the summers. I enjoy reading, being on the farm, cooking, and baking. A fun fact about me is that I have written a recipe book for my family.

I applied to the REU program because… I wanted to grow my understanding of research experience. This program will help me with research techniques and how to be a better teacher. It will also help me connect science and math classrooms, so the collaborations and connections could help my teaching career. I would love a chance to collaborate with other STEM teachers and potentially design cross-curricular materials that can help expand our students’ knowledge. I feel that there’s a lot that can be learned through this type of collaboration, and I would love to be a part of that and begin to build something new to use in classrooms to challenge how students think and learn.

My expectations from the REU program are… I will increase my knowledge and my professional connections.

Why do you want to become a teacher? I have decided to become a STEM teacher because I enjoy the higher-order thinking problems while teaching and connecting them to real-world examples. Also, break the misconception that students are “bad” at math and science. I enjoy connecting the topics with chemistry and velocity problems to help make both enjoyable and collaborative.