MIDE Spotlight: Daniel H. McIntosh

I am the MIDE Director of STEM Education Innovation, as well as an astrophysics professor and the chairperson of the UMKC Department of Physics and Astronomy. My mission as an educator and academic leader is to help students from all backgrounds achieve their full potential, and facilitate the efforts of others with like-minded missions.We asked Daniel a few questions about his experience with MIDE.

Question: What has been your proudest moment working with MIDE?

Daniel: Receiving a $758K grant from Office of Naval Research for one of 12 national STEM education and workforce development projects awarded in 2021. The “Equity-Forward Workforce Development Pipeline for Naval STEM Superiority” is described here: https://www.umkc.edu/news/posts/2021/september/strengthening-stem-workforce-preparation-through-undergraduate-research.html

Question: What drew you to work with MIDE?

Daniel: MIDE has become the centerpiece of UMKC's rich portfolio of 10 science and engineering degree programs and active research situated in a diverse Midwestern city with a large and rapidly growing STEM economy. As such, MIDE provides fertile ground for piloting, testing, and scaling solutions to addressing campus-wide and national STEM education challenges to meeting the demand for a larger, better prepared, and more diverse STEM workforce.

Question: Name one unique thing about you most people don’t know.

I was the lead singer for the early 80's Los Angeles punk band, America's Hardcore.Daniel