S-STEM Scholar Ruth Stowers's Blog

 I had a great time at the NCUIRE research symposium. I presented a poster for one of my classes and was able to talk to a couple of people about the research I conducted with a fellow group of students. I feel in my element when presentations are more like a conversation. I enjoy the natural flow of questions and answers. It is harder to present with no interaction. It is also hard for me to cold call or email a stranger. I feel like my contact might not be wanted or appreciated. Something I want to be better at is sealing the deal at the end. Meaning, after the connection has been made, setting up the next point of contact. An email address or some sort of future follow up that can happen to take the contact from a one time occurrence to a relationship. For example, at the symposium, one of the judges began to discuss how his own research was very similar to what we  were presenting. While interesting, I didn't press the conversation further. In hindsight, the opportunity wa...

When we started talking about cultural intelligence, I immediately thought of this man. He is incredibly good at languages and learns new languages to visit with and surprise people from different countries and cultures. He not only learns the language, but also customs and traditions. What is amazing to me are the responses he gets from the people he talks with. In the video below, we see that the warriors of the Massai tribe are deeply touched by his effort to learn their language. Within minutes they not only welcome him to their tribe, but adopt him as part of their tribe (5:10). Other responses are not unsimilar, he often finds himself the recipient of food, clothes, and other gifts. People want to learn about him and how he came to learn about them, their language and their culture.  They feel important to him. They feel a kinship with him and they want to reciprocate in some way. Yes. This is what cultural intelligence looks like. As we continued learning about cultural inte...

What is cultural intelligence? Let's make this very simple. Love. Respect. Consideration. For everyone. Everyone we meet comes into our lives with their own backgrounds, experiences, customs, preferences, identities, the things that make them them. They have learned these things from the path they have walked.  When we take the time to forget about ourselves and love, respect, and consider other people, we are developing cultural intelligence. We learn more about them and their background. We become involved in their lives, in their troubles, in their struggles, in their joys, in their triumphs. We help them, we defend them, we celebrate them, we enjoy them. We enjoy us too. We share what we have. Our traditions, our customs, our beauty. Cultural intelligence is about both receiving and giving. A free flow of sharing; learning; developing. It changes us. We become more. We can't help it. It changes them. They become more. They can't help it. Everyone benefits. New foods, ne...