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Title: SUPERCHARGE Grant Student Worker
Employee Classification: Student Help Regular
Division Name: Academic Affairs
Department: Technology

Job Summary

SUPERCHARGE is a four-year project at ISU funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), with team members from the ISU Department of Technology, School of Teaching and Learning, National Center for Urban Education, and Chicago Public Schools (CPS). The program will support a new after-school STEM program at four high schools in Chicago. The emphasis of the after-school program is on renewable and sustainable energy, automation, and robotics.

The SUPERCHARGE program began during the 2022-2023 school year with the creation of interactive learning materials focused on sustainability, climate, weather, and programming. The program is now in its third year. During this third year of the project (2024-2025), the focus of the project is two-fold: first, team members will support the implementation in CPS schools of the learning materials that were created during the previous academic year. This support will include guidance and troubleshooting assistance for high school students and teachers at the four CPS schools. Second, team members will create new interactive learning materials focused on sustainability, renewable energy, and microcontroller programming. Teachers from CPS will provide feedback on the draft learning materials, and the materials will be revised. These learning materials will be implemented in the high school after-school STEM program during the following school year (2025-2026).

The SUPERCHARGE project will hire up to three ISU undergraduate students. Students will receive support, guidance, and feedback from ISU faculty at a weekly in-person team project meeting that will be held every Friday . In addition, students will be expected to attend a weekly in-person work session, to be scheduled at a mutually convenient time.
Responsibilities include:

1. Support implementation of learning materials developed during the previous academic year for an after-school STEM program at four CPS high schools.
2. Respond to questions from CPS high school students and teachers, and provide assistance and troubleshooting support. The majority of the support activities will be performed remotely using Zoom, Google Meets, message boards, etc. However, occasional in-person visits to the CPS high schools (approximately 1-3 times per semester) may be necessary.
3. Create new learning materials targeted to high school students (grades 9-12) focused on sustainability, renewable energy, and microcontroller (e.g. micro:bit) programming

Additional responsibilities include:

1. Conduct background research on the four Chicago high schools in the program and their surrounding communities
2. Learn (or strengthen knowledge of) issues surrounding sustainability, renewable energy, and microcontroller (e.g. micro:bit) programming
3. Learn (or strengthen knowledge of) issues surrounding equity, diversity, and the factors that constrain STEM opportunities for students from underrepresented groups
4. Respond to questions and concerns from other project team members including fellow students, ISU faculty, and CPS teachers and students
5. Attend all in-person project team meetings on Fridays during the academic year (time to be determined each semester), and weekly in-person work sessions, to be scheduled at a mutually convenient time.
6. Assist with recruitment of high school students to the program
7. Other duties as assigned by SUPERCHARGE program leadership, as appropriate

Additional Information

Student employees are eligible to participate in the University’s 403(b) Plan.  More information can be found here.

Pay Rate

$15.00/hour

Required Qualifications

• Friendly and helpful attitude; good interpersonal skills and ability to work well with others in a team environment
• Ability to receive constructive feedback from other team members (e.g. student colleagues, project faculty, or CPS teachers) and use it to improve the learning
materials
• Good problem-solving skills; ability to visualize a problem or situation and think abstractly to solve it
• Creativity; ability to think about problems and come up with creative solutions
• Ability to work responsibly without direct supervision
• Working knowledge of common Microsoft and Google software platforms (e.g. Microsoft Office suite of applications, OneDrive, Teams, Google Classroom)

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong research skills
• Strong organizational skills
• Experience in any of the following:
1) Issues relating to sustainability
2) Renewable Energy systems
3) Robotics and Automation
4) Microcontroller (e.g. Arduino or micro:bit) programming or other programming language

Work Hours

• Attendance is mandatory at the project team meetings on Fridays during the semester, and at weekly in-person work sessions, to be scheduled at a mutually convenient time.
• Outside of the weekly in-person project meetings, working hours are flexible.
• Total time commitment is expected to be 8-10 hours per week.

Functional Expectations

Must be able to complete the following with or without reasonable accommodations:
1. Effectively communicate on a daily basis.

Proposed Starting Date

January 2025

Required Applicant Documents

Resume & Work Availability

Please Note: These documents are required to be submitted online in order to complete the application process. Please have these documents ready prior to clicking on "Apply"

Contact Information for Applicants

Tracy Berner
taberne@ilstu.edu

Important Information for Applicants

This position is subject to a criminal background investigation and if applicable, an employment history review, based on University Policy 3.1.30 and any offer of employment is contingent upon you passing a satisfactory criminal background investigation and/or an employment history review. You may not begin work until the criminal background investigation results have been received and cleared by Human Resources.

In addition, all appointments are contingent upon proof of eligibility for employment at Illinois State University to perform the required duties described above on your scheduled start date. The Immigration and Control Act of 1986, Public Law 99-603, requires all new employees to file an I-9 in person and no later than three days from the beginning of employment. This may be accomplished within the department or through Human Resources. A list of the types of documentation you will be expected to provide is available at https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents. Failure to comply with this law will result in cancellation of your appointment.

Illinois State University, as your employer, is required by federal law to ensure proper tax withholding from wages and to ensure that the required reporting of employee wages, withholding, and employment taxes is accurate. For this reason, every employee must have a valid Social Security Number registered with the University at the time of employment and/or as soon after as possible, but no later than 45 days from the start date. Failure to comply with this law may result in cancellation of your appointment.

Illinois State University student employees are restricted to no more than 28 hours per week of on-campus employment for all positions held.

International students are restricted by their visa status to no more than 20 hours per week of on-campus employment when the university is in session but may work more when the university is not in session. International students should contact the Office of International Studies and Programs for guidance if they have questions concerning employment restrictions.

Illinois State University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

If you are an individual with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or other state or federal law you may request an accommodation by contacting the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access at (309) 438-3383. The Office of Equal Opportunity and Access will hold any confidential information you provide in confidence.

If you are having difficulty accessing the system, please call Human Resources at (309) 438-8311.