July 2025

The Florida Center for Research in STEM (FCR-STEM) is leading the workforce and educational development FSU’s InSPIRE (Institute for Strategic Partnerships, Innovation, Research, and Education) project. In June, the FCR-STEM staff conducted eight week-long professional learning courses throughout Coastal Northwest Florida. All the courses focused on AI and robotics and were provided free of charge as part of InSPIRE at FSU, a program funded by Triumph Gulf Coast.

This past January, Learning Systems Institute (LSI) Director Rabieh Razzouk awarded a new LSI SEED grant to Dr. Celia Reddick, Julie Twomey, M.Ed. and Dr. Brenda Wawire. The proposal facilitates the first systematic study of the educational experiences of refugee students, their families and teachers in Tallahassee. During the first six months of the project, 36 interviews were conducted with refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Syria.

FSU InSPIRE Executive Director Drew Allen interview discussing LSI, FCR-STEM, the goals of the InSPIRE project and the future of work in Coastal NWFL.

Beginning in 2022, the Learning Systems Institute (LSI) at Florida State University provided guidance and support to the Florida Department of Education's first-ever PreK-2 assessment program. LSI's involvement in this phase of the project will be completed in August, but not before 4,000 test items have been created and 200 practitioners in Florida have been trained.

LSI staff featured in June FSU Faculty and Staff Briefs