Category: News

Dr. Patrycja Krakowiak, a life science specialist at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, was recognized for her contribution to the Arkansas Regional Junior Science and Humanities Symposium earlier this year.

Krakowiak received a Teacher Award for her efforts to encourage the study of science, technology, mathematics and engineering from the regional organization. She was notified by Christine Addo, the project coordinator for the national Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in an email. Krakowiak was nominated for the award by Dr. Jessica Young, an associate professor of physics at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville who serves as director for the Arkansas Regional Symposium. She received a $500 prize for the recognition.

Receiving the award was a surprise, Krakowiak said. She was unaware she was being considered for the award before receiving Addo’s email. She was one of 47 regional winners in the nation, she said.

“I didn’t quite believe it. I didn’t even apply for it, but I was nominated by the regional director,” Kraowiak said.

She said ASMSA had about a dozen students who registered to participate in this year’s regional symposium, which was forced to move to a virtual competition in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That was a few more students than who normally participate in the regional competition, but she made the effort to push her students to participate in the symposium this year because of the number of outstanding projects.

The recognition also was a little more special. She would normally split the number of students with projects with Dr. Whitney Holden, who is also a life science specialist at ASMSA, but Holden was off campus for maternity leave in the spring. That meant Krakowiak covered for both.

“Instead of five students for science fair, I had 22 this year. I couldn’t put the personal touches on everything as I normally do. We usually print science fair boards in February, but we moved it up to January this year. I was able to spread the students out,” she said.

Those same projects were used by the students for the regional symposium. Krakowiak said she sees part of her teaching duties as encouraging students to work toward achieving higher goals than they may have reached for before.

“Every student and every project is precious and priceless, but they have to be at the highest level of inquiry. You push those students to reach for the highest level possible for them,” she said.

Krawkoiak said receiving the regional recognition was an encouragement for her to continue striving in and outside of the classroom.

“It’s important because sometimes I wonder did I do enough this year. Did I do enough to promote student learning? This is sort of saying you did. It’s confirmation that I’m doing in students’ lives is important and relevant. It’s affirmation that hard work makes a difference and that other people outside of our institution, students and community are recognizing it,” she said.

By Amy Widner
UAMS Communications Specialist

It doesn’t take long for many young girls to be exposed to messages about what girls “can” and “cannot” do.

Thankfully, Heather Pinckard-Dover never got the memo. She is the first female neurosurgeon to complete a residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Arkansas’ only academic health sciences center.

“From the time I was little, my parents were always telling me, ‘You know, a girl can do anything a boy can do,’ so I never really paid attention to gender roles or saw being a woman as a limit to anything I ever wanted to do,” Pinckard-Dover said. “I’ve always just gone through life with that message at heart. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized not every girl gets that talk.”

Pinckard-Dover decided to become a doctor at age 5. She spent most of her childhood in Pine Bluff, where school started to feel easy and she wanted more of a challenge. She applied for the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts (ASMSA) in Hot Springs and attended for her junior and senior year, graduating in 2004. It was at ASMSA, which offers accelerated courses for gifted students in a residential high school setting, that the lightbulb truly went off about what she might want to do with her life.

“I was a senior taking biomedical physics, and we were learning about electricity. My teacher pulled up a video of a man who had gotten a deep brain stimulator for Parkinson’s disease, and I just sat there and literally watched his tremors go away,” Pinckard-Dover said. “He switched on his device and was suddenly able to drink from a cup and hold a pen and write.

“I’d never seen anything in medicine make such a dramatic difference in someone’s life. I said, ‘That’s what I want to do.’”

She went to college at Baylor University in Texas, majored in neuroscience and found a local cardiologist who agreed to mentor her. When it was time to apply for medical school at UAMS, she got in. Not long afterward, Erika Petersen, M.D., started working in the Department of Neurosurgery. An expert in procedures like deep brain stimulation and a female neurosurgeon in a still male-dominated field, Petersen was happy to help.

Heather Pinckard-Dover, M.D., completed her residency in neurosurgery at UAMS in summer 2020, making her the first female to do so in the university’s history

Heather Pinckard-Dover, M.D., and UAMS Neurosurgery Professor Erika Petersen, M.D., prepare for a surgery together.

“During my second year of medical school, she really took me under her wing and showed me what functional neurosurgery was all about,” Pinckard-Dover said. “She showed me the ropes, both in terms of surgery and guiding me around some of the obstacles you can run into as a woman in neurosurgery.”

When it was time to apply for residency, Pinckard-Dover chose neurosurgery at UAMS. She got to work side-by-side with Petersen, who is now the first female neurosurgeon in Arkansas with the rank of professor, and other members of the neurosurgery team.

Even with great mentorship, the seven-year journey through a neurosurgery residency is no walk in the park. Pinckard-Dover still remembers the first few nerve-wracking weeks and months of being on her own to figure things out for the first time. She remembers the occasional patient or attending physician who didn’t realize she was the neurosurgeon or doubted her abilities. This was especially true in spine surgery, where there were long-standing beliefs that women weren’t strong enough to perform some of the procedures. Power tools leveled the playing field, and Pinckard-Dover has built up her strength to the point where she no longer needs them anyway. She also remembers sometimes being treated like she was being bossy or pushy and wondering if she really did anything differently that her male peers.

It has been a long road, but for the last two years she has been co-chief resident with Jerry Walters, M.D. Both finished their residencies in July. Pinckard-Dover said it definitely helped with her journey that the UAMS Department of Neurosurgery under Chair J.D. Day is more diverse than most in the specialty.

Pinckard-Dover said Day sets the right tone for the whole department.

“I don’t see applicants as men/women or by their race – none of that matters as long as the person is dedicated, passionate about neurosurgery and is willing to fight for their patients and their career goals,” Day said. “Heather, Jerry and some of our other residents didn’t always have the support they needed or the examples to look to along their paths to becoming neurosurgeons, but they did it anyway. I like having people on my team with that kind of grit. It tells me they have what it takes to get through residency and be a neurosurgeon.”

Pinckard-Dover is moving on next for a functional neurosurgery fellowship to study deep brain stimulation at the University of Florida, Gainesville, under Kelly Foote, M.D. She will study its use for psychiatric disorders like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Tourette’s syndrome and is hoping to complete research on its use for obesity. She hopes to return to Arkansas.

Even though Pinckard-Dover is proud of her accomplishments, the mantle of “first female neurosurgery resident” from UAMS doesn’t always feel quite right. Robin Lynn Mitchell was killed in 2004 before she could finish her neurosurgery residency at UAMS.

“She was truly the first female to navigate the system, to tear down some of those walls,” Pinckard-Dover said. “I always want to give her true credit as the first, because her contributions to UAMS have not been forgotten.”

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts’ 2025 Strategic Plan affirms the school’s core mission and will serve as a guiding document as the institution prepares to enter its fourth decade of excellence.

The institution updated is mission as part of the strategic planning process. The mission now states that ASMSA is a public residential high school serving academically and artistically motivated students of all backgrounds from throughout the state. Its community of learning will be a statewide center of academic equity and opportunity that ignites the full potential of Arkansas’ students and educators.

Titled “Sparking Innovation, Igniting Growth,” the strategic plan will guide ASMSA as it creates greater educational access, promotes statewide equity and expands academic vigor that benefits all Arkansans through its residential, out-of-school enrichment, digital learning and educator development programs.

“As ASMSA enters its fourth decade of educational excellence, we are excited to renew our commitment to achieving fully the vision for the school, first set in the early 1990s and refined further at the outset of the new century as it became a campus of the University of Arkansas System,” said ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice. “We will continue our commitment to addressing local needs, maintaining national prominence and aspiring to a global vision for what education can be.

“At the core of ASMSA’s 2025 Strategic Plan is the belief that both our academic and residential experiences will continue to evolve, innovate and flourish under the care of our faculty, staff and students.”

ASMSA aims to expand both its statewide reach and enrollment to ensure that any student who would benefit from the school’s dynamic opportunities will have access to its world-class programs. Achieving that growth can only be accomplished through expanded partnerships, vocal advocates and committed stakeholders who continue to ensure the institution’s funding and facilities are equal in measure to its aspirations, Alderdice said.

The institution will further affirm its state and national leadership in science, mathematics, arts, humanities and entrepreneurship education using novel curricula, meaningful student development experiences, expanded partnership networks and stronger relationships with its most dedicated advocates.

The strategic plan lays out five goals that will guide ASMSA’s actions over the next five years. They include:

• Teaching and Learning: Cultivate a culture of dynamic teaching and learning that empowers young people to identify their passions for research, inquiry, and creative expression, develop the self-discipline necessary for success as well as grow in their identity as emerging practitioners and professionals.
• Student Development: Maximize the full potential of the on-campus experience by affirming the centrality of residential life in creating a living-learning community that connects students beyond the classroom, assists in developing them as a whole person and prepares these future leaders for successful and fulfilling lives through building sustainable skills and mindsets.
• Enrollment Growth: Expand enrollment to serve more students statewide through targeted growth models that reflect our commitment to stewardship of the public investment in ASMSA.
• Partnerships and Advocacy: Strengthen internal and external partnerships with local, state and national stakeholders that create committed and vocal advocates for the essential leadership role that ASMSA plays within Arkansas education as well as economic and community development.
• Facilities Expansion: Grow facilities and implement long-range strategies to meet the needs of expanded enrollment, academic experiences, student life, recreation and community engagement.

The strategic plan lists several strategies for each goal the school will employ that will define ASMSA’s work over the next decade. The strategies include a broad range of cooperation among ASMSA’s administration, faculty, staff, alumni, friends of the school, state government, the local community and others to achieve the goals.

Discussions for the new strategic plan began in earnest early in the spring 2020 semester. Dr. Sara Brown, ASMSA’s director of institutional advancement, led the development effort. Surveys and focus group meetings of internal and external stakeholders provided guidance early in the development process. Meetings with the campus leadership team, the ASMSA Governing Council, ASMSA Board of Visitors, ASMSA Foundation Fund Board of Ambassadors, the Association for Alumni and Friends of ASMSA Steering Committee, parents, students and additional volunteers were crucial to the plan’s creation. Execution and oversight of the strategic plan will continue through the institution’s standing committees of the ASMSA Governing Council along with involvement from other groups.

“The members of ASMSA’s community of learning understand the special investment the people of Arkansas make in the state’s future by supporting and sustaining our school,” Alderdice said. “We take exceptional pride and care in our role as stewards of ASMSA’s past, present and future. Together we will ensure that ASMSA continues to lead the state and nation in what is possible when students and educators are provided the opportunity to imagine, experiment and learn to their fullest potential.”

The plan will be brought to the ASMSA General Assembly of faculty and staff for endorsement as well as to the Board of Visitors, ASMSA Foundation Fund Board of Ambassadors and the alumni association in the coming weeks. It will be presented for approval by the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees at its September meeting.

The 2020-2025 Strategic Plan may be viewed on ASMSA’s website at www.asmsa.org/strategicplan.

For five years, the Arkansas Summer Research Institute has provided undergraduate students from colleges and universities across Arkansas the opportunity to prepare to conduct advanced, independent research leading to advanced STEM degrees.

The goals for year six are the same, but are being met in a different fashion. During the previous five years, participants would attend in person at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts. One group would spend a week on campus with a different cohort coming in for the second week.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, holding face-to-face sessions on campus wasn’t feasible. For year six, the program switched to a two-week virtual learning experience that allowed participants to meet through Zoom sessions with the instructors and guest presenters.

Dr. Whitney Holden and Dr. Patrycja Krkowiak, both life sciences specialists at ASMSA, direct the progam. Holden said previous sessions were revamped to include highly interactive components such as Zoom breakout rooms and polls, PearDeck questions during slide presentations, Labster simulations, MCAT and GRE prep through Magoosh and more.

In addition to expanding the program to a full two weeks, moving the Institute to a virtual form allowed more students to participate in the Institute. Almost 70 students logged onto some portion of the program during the Institute’s first week with about 50 attending the majority of sessions, Holden said.

“This is our largest Institute ever in terms of number of students served and number of presenters and panelists involved in sessions across two weeks,” Holden said. “Holding the Institute remotely means that we have had to substitute Labster simulations for hands-on kills training, but the remote delivery has also allowed us to work with students who would not have been able to come to an in-person event because of work, summer classes and other commitments.”

Regardless of the method of instruction, the main purpose of the Institute is the same, Krakowiak said. The ultimate goal of the program is to enable students to join laboratories as undergraduates so that they can experience all of the benefits such access entails, she said.

Those benefits include a “greater chance of getting into postgraduate programs, more competitive jobs and the plethora of other characteristics that students are able to develop from improved confidence to better critical thinking skills and work ethic,” Krakowiak said.

The Institute also allows participants to build connections with each other and the professors and professionals involved in the program, Krakowiak said. That is an important aspect of the Institute, said Jennifer Fowler, who serves as director of education, outreach and diversity at the Arkansas National Science Foundation Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR), which funds ASRI.

“One of the main goals of the ASRI from the NSF EPSCoR perspective is to create a peer network of STEM students across the state or region and provide the support the students need to complete their undergrad degrees and pursue graduate school,” Fowler said.

“Studies have shown that intensive summer informal learning and networking can increase retention in STEM and provide encouragement for students to seek advanced STEM degrees.”

One way the Institute works toward those goals is to focus on underrepresented students who often have had less preparation in this area, Krakowiak said. Holden said that while all Arkansas undergraduate students are welcome to attend the Institute that an extra effort is placed into recruiting students from underrepresented groups.

“We have a large number of students who are from underserved backgrounds and/or first generation college students,” Holden said. “A program like this helps them make connections, identify opportunities and—perhaps most importantly—build confidence. We already have examples from this cohort of students where individuals have received interviews to join labs, identified specific fellowships to apply for and learned skills that they admit previously intimidated them, like using R studio, designing objects for 3D printing with OnShape and more.”

Sadagicous Owens is a senior at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. This is the second time she has participated in the Institute. One of her personal goals for participating again was to overcome her fear of public speaking. While that may be accomplished in group discussions, each participant also gives a research presentation on a previous project on the final day. She also participated in hopes to be able to make a future decision about postgraduate work.

“I decided to participate in the ASRI because I was torn between medical school and graduate studies,” Owens said. “I knew that once I joined, by the time the program ended my heart would have led me to the directed career path I was set to have.”

The opportunity to participate in an extended program compared to her first time two years ago was also appealing, she said.

“I also wanted to get a broader experience of the program with more time to adapt to the useful information, resources, skills and techniques I need to apply to the real world for my future career. Last time I participated in the ASRI, it was in-person and only four intense days. This summer, the two-week experience is like an extension of the four days but more self-paced. To be honest, either setup is OK for me because the ASRI is still an intense challenge that keeps students on their ‘A-game,’” Owens said.

A standard feature of the ASRI, whether it be in-person or virtually, are panel discussions that include professionals and graduate students that offer participants insight to various aspects of postgraduate life. Those discussions have ranged from entrepreneurship in scientific research, gaining admittance into postgraduate programs, panel discussions with graduate and medical students, research reviews highlighting specific research by professors around the state and several other topics.

That is the one of the top reasons to participate in the Institute for Kevin Ramirez Chavez, a senior at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.

“My favorite part of the ASRI was being able to discuss relevant topics with professionals,” he said. “Being able to interact with young people like me, providing different insight, participating actively in the presentations and contributing to each other’s learning experience was incredible. This was an inspirational experience that left me a sense of desire for more.”

Ramirez Chavez said the professionals and guest speakers were friendly. They provided their contact information and were enthusiastic to hear back from the participants, he said.

“I was surprised about this matter since I always thought that researchers were busy enough that they might not even respond, but this program has shown me otherwise. There are many people out there who are willing to help you to succeed,” he said.

Fowler of the Arkansas NSF EPSCoR praised the work that Holden and Krakowiak have performed in the program as well as the organization’s partnership with ASMSA.

“ASMSA has been a wonderful partner for the ASRI, and I don’t think we would be able to do the program with the same success at any other venue,” Fowler said. “As an ASMSA alumna, I am proud to show students from around the state what ASMSA can offer.

“Dr. Krakowiak and Dr. Holden have been incredible co-directors of the program and work tirelessly each year to make sure the students have the best possible experience.”

Fowler said the program recently was awarded funding for an additional five years.

Ramirez Chavez recommended the other undergraduates take advantage of the program in the future.

“For me it has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Not always do you have the opportunity to interact with people as professionals like the people from this program. Observing how your other classmates get involved and approach the different activities was a fresh breath of air for me. I was impressed by the people that I met in this program, and my journey as a researcher has just begun,” he said.

Students interested in applying to next year’s Arkansas Summer Research Institute can contact Dr. Whitney Holden at holdenw@asmsa.org or Dr. Patrycja Krakowiak at krakowiakp@asmsa.org.

Dr. Neil Oatsvall, a history instructor at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, has been named the 2020 Arkansas History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is the nation’s leading organization dedicated to K-12 American history education. Inaugurated in 2004, the award highlights the crucial importance of history education by honoring exceptional American history teachers from elementary school through high school. The award honors one K-12 teacher from each state, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense schools and U.S. Territories. In fall 2020, the National History Teacher of the Year will be selected from the pool of state winners.

Oatsvall attributed the honor to his students’ classroom efforts and the inspiration from his fellow educators. As an alumnus of the University of North Carolina, Oatsvall referenced Basketball Hall of Fame and longtime Tar Heels coach Dean Smith’s approach to accepting recognition for achievements.

“When Dean Smith won his first national championship in 1982, he declared that winning the big game did not make him any better of a coach than he had been before it,” Oatsvall said. “In the spirit of Coach Smith, I am honored to accept this award in the name of my students and ASMSA. No teacher could have ever asked for a better set of students or place to be with them in the classroom. Any recognition I receive is truly a testament to the brilliance and hard work of my students and the standards of excellence set every day by my talented colleagues.”

Oatsvall completed his undergraduate work at the University of North Carolina in Asian Studies (Japanese language) and history. He received his master’s degree from North Carolina State University and his doctorate from the University of Kansas, both in history. Oatsvall currently serves as the chair of the Humanities and Fine Arts Department and serves as a history and social science instructor at ASMSA.

He has published in various outlets, including Agricultural History, Environment and History, and Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies. His book manuscript is under advanced contract with the University of Alabama Press. Oatsvall transfers his passion for history research into his teaching at ASMSA, especially in his United States history classes and humanities capstone research class, which he co-teaches.

In addition to a $1,000 honorarium, ASMSA will receive a core archive of American history books and Gilder Lehrman educational materials and recognition at a ceremony in Arkansas.

Now celebrating its 25th year, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History was founded in 1994 by Richard Gilder and Lewis E. Lehrman, lifelong supporters of American history education. The Institute is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to K–12 history education while also serving the general public. Its mission is to promote the knowledge and understanding of American history through educational programs and resources.

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, an archive of American history. Drawing on the 70,000 documents in the Gilder Lehrman Collection and an extensive network of eminent historians, the Institute provides teachers, students and the general public with direct access to unique primary source materials.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is supported through the generosity of individuals, corporations and foundations. The Institute’s programs have been recognized by awards from the White House, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Organization of American Historians and the Council of Independent Colleges.

Sara Ali, a rising senior from Little Rock, wanted to find a way she could honor her younger sister Aiza and the struggle she endured battling leukemia.

Aiza was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) near the end of 2017 when she was 7.  ALL starats in bone marrow where white blood cells are developed. If undiagnosed and untreated, it can spread quickly to the blood and other parts of a person’s body.

Corey Alderdice, director of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, was selected for the inaugural Arkansas Money & Politics Future 50.

The Future 50 is a list of the state’s business and political leaders poised to shape the future of Arkansas’ economic, political and cultural engines, according to the magazine.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts will provide an online option this fall for its students and their families who are not ready to fully participate in the residential experience because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

ASMSA moved to remote instruction for all students in mid-March as the coronavirus pandemic began to evolve in Arkansas. Students completed the spring 2020 semester via remote instruction, primarily through asynchronous learning with weekly meetings between students and instructors taking place via video.

Fall 2020 online courses will be a blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning with multiple sessions per week conducted live via Zoom. Course options will be available across disciplines but will be limited in number. Over the past month, faculty have been translating more than a dozen ASMSA classes into an online format for both this new opportunity as well as should the school need to pivot to remote learning again in the fall.

Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students Emily Smith of Cabot and Minnie Lee of Charleston were named state winners in the Stockholm Junior Water Prize and qualified for the national competition.

Smith and Lee qualified as a team for the Arkansas competition — which is sponsored by the Arkansas Water Environment Association — through the West Central Regional Science Fair at ASMSA in February. Their project focused on the identification of algae, ostracods and zooplankton in three springs in the Hot Springs National Park.

The national competition is sponsored by Water Environment Federation and Xylem. It gathers imaginative young minds from all over the world who are interested in water and sustainability issues. It draws competitors from more than 30 countries.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts has been recognized as one of the nation’s top-performing public high schools in the latest Jay Mathews Challenge Index rankings.

Mathews, an education columnist for The Washington Post, created the Challenge Index in 1998 as a way to recognize schools across the nation who adequately challenge average students. It is the oldest high-school ranking system in the country. It has been published as “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” list in The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine in past years. This year’s list was announced on his website — jaymathewschallengeindex.com.