By Julene Reese ’85

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Cassey Ivie joined a 4-H photography club when she was just 5 years old. Taking “way too many photos of the library drinking fountain,” she was captivated by the thrill of hands-on learning. After her amateur photography experience, she says joined every 4-H club she could — from sewing and cooking to electronics and robotics.

“I lived for 4-H. I constantly talked about it, and I wore 4-H T-shirts almost every day,” she laughs.

Ivie’s journey in the Utah State University Extension 4-H program led her to a love of STEM and electronics, then to research and neuroscience. She graduated from Utah State University this past May with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and minors in computer science, American Sign Language, and Japanese. Three months later, she began a Ph.D. program in behavior, cognition, and neuroscience at American University in Washington, D.C.

At first, Ivie’s move to D.C. by herself was daunting, but her past visits with 4-H gave her a sense of familiarity with the city and the confidence that she could live there. She has now found a welcoming and supportive community and believes 4-H and her experiences at USU prepared her well for this new step.

Ivie’s mother, Deb, played a crucial role in her daughter’s love of 4-H. She volunteered as a 4-H leader for many years and was then employed by the organization. She encouraged all seven of her children to participate.

In middle school, Ivie found her niche on a robotics team. Because of her enthusiasm and STEM skills, her leaders invited her to help them teach 4-H clubs and classes. At just 11, she was troubleshooting electronic circuits at conferences and soon became a regular volunteer.

“I would go to these conferences filled with adults, and the teachers would tell them I was there to help check their circuits,” she said. “And they’d look at me like, ‘Oh, sure, this 11-year-old is going to check my circuit.’ I would go over, tell them what was wrong, and fix it for them. They were usually pretty amazed, and it really increased my confidence. I loved helping with anything electronic, and it was a fun way to give back to the program that had given me so much.”

In high school, Ivie joined both the robotics team and the 4-H Teen Council, where she sharpened her STEM and leadership skills. Her mentors encouraged a “learn by doing” model, allowing youth to lead events and learn through mistakes.

Ivie says robotics helped her learn to be a team player, giving her STEM skills and the confidence to use a hacksaw, use a drill, and make a prototype. In her junior year, she was selected as a 4-H State ambassador, leading statewide events and representing Utah 4-H nationally. She also won the national 4-H Youth in Action award for the STEM portion of the competition with her creation of “The Incredible Machine” — a curriculum and activities kit that teaches youth chemical, mechanical, software, civil, and electrical engineering skills.

Ivie’s passion for STEM and youth education followed her to USU, where she served as the national 4-H youth spokesperson during her first year, advocating for STEM and presenting at the National STEM Summit. She was involved with collegiate 4-H, taught an online sign language club, led public speaking workshops, and mentored 4-H members. She attended STEM conferences in Washington, D.C., with the 4-H youth she mentored. She took them around the city, where she was the “designated Metro guide” because of her previous experiences there.

“It was fun having my little squad of youth with me, and I got to introduce them to the places I’d been,” Ivie says. “My youngest sister was also a STEM ambassador, so I got to take her to D.C. and watch her have many of the same experiences I had. It was very cool, and I had no idea then that I would actually live here in just a couple of years.”

As an undergraduate research fellow at USU, Ivie conducted research every semester. She spent three years as a research assistant for Craig Dart, assistant director of Utah 4-H and state ambassador advisor, where she implemented curriculum and character development programs for 4-H. She was also a teaching fellow and presented at conferences, further solidifying her research interest.

Ivie also conducted research with the engineering department and worked on a curriculum for minority and female engineering students. She also worked with the STEM ambassadors for her undergraduate research honors capstone project with Dr. Dave Francis, director of Utah 4-H, as her capstone mentor.

In addition, Ivie conducted undergraduate research in Dr. Kerry Jordan’s multi-sensory cognition lab in the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, where she worked on a project for the National Science Foundation. The project involved understanding the role of multi-sensory input in preschoolers’ numerical cognition and tracking how they understand numbers and math.

“We were specifically looking at combining sound with sight,” she says. “So, we checked how the children learned by conducting trials where they matched numbers with stimuli. They would see or hear something and then connect it to numbers to see if they were more accurate with input from both sides. The results suggest it is best when there is both sight and sound.”

Ivie studied cognitive psychology with Dr. Jordan and, the following semester, became her undergraduate teaching fellow, where she gained additional research and teaching experience.

“Dr. Jordan showed me what a Ph.D. meant, and I got to see what it was like for her grad students,” Ivie says. “My undergrad research experience gave me a beautiful combination of hard and soft skills. I learned how to be part of a lab. I got hands-on experience writing code for experiments. I learned policy and background and how to be an effective researcher.”

Jordan says she has been incredibly impressed with Ivie’s hard work and self-motivation.

“Cassey helped me with my project on preschoolers’ multisensory input,” she says. “When that grant began, I was looking for a top-notch undergraduate research assistant to help recruit and administer the study and prepare the computer programs required to run the study. I immediately thought of Cassey. She possessed the exact skillset needed for this project and was a huge asset.”

Ivie’s future academic and career plans include completing her Ph.D. and continuing her research on behavior and cognition.

Ivie says the foundation she received with 4-H and at USU helped prepare her to grow as a researcher.

“I’m very grateful for where I’ve come from and the many opportunities I’ve had for hands-on learning throughout my life,” she says. “Those lessons will serve me well as I move forward with my studies and career.”