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

Humphrey Fellow and American Society for Microbiology Ambassador to Ukraine, Dr. Dmytro Stepanskyi, recently spent a week in Tallahassee meeting with FSU faculty and staff across campus.

FCR-STEM staff will conduct seven professional learning courses for Gulf Coast teachers from June 2 to June 27. All the courses will focus on AI and robotics and will be provided for free as part of the Innovation for Strategic Partnerships for Innovation, Research and Education (InSPIRE) at FSU, a program funded by Triumph Gulf Coast. 

The FSU InSPIRE workforce development team received formal recognition for excellence in innovative education with the Ralph Stair Prize. A crucial part of InSPIRE’s mission, Carrie Meyers and Jim Reynolds co-lead the winning workforce development team together.

The Florida Center for Research in STEM (FCR-STEM) was created by the Florida Legislature and competitively awarded to Florida State University in 2006. Housed inside the Learning Systems Institute (LSI), FCR-STEM is shaping the future of STEM education in Florida from the panhandle to the peninsula.

The HECD program ran from 2019-2025 and produced tangible results boosting both teachers and students in Lebanon.