| Outcome/Accomplishment:
Through
collaboration with Bell Laboratories’ Young Science Achievers Program (YSAP®),
the NSF-sponsored Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Mid-InfraRed Technologies
for Health and the Environment (MIRTHE), high-school students, their parents,
and K-12 teachers can now participate in a range of science and engineering
activities at the Center’s lead institution, Princeton University.
Impact/Benefit:
Through this program, students, parents, and teachers have unparalleled
access to cutting-edge science and engineering research. Students
have the opportunity to engage in workshops such as “Science and the Media”
and to tour MIRTHE research labs. Parents can learn about college
and social networking. And, teachers enhance their professional development
at workshops.
Explanation/Background:
The
YSAP program began at Bell Laboratories and has since been initiated at
AT&T and Lucent. The program addresses three overarching goals:
1) To augment science education in school classrooms through experiential
learning projects that engage and excite students about the sciences; 2)
To introduce female and minority students to opportunities for the pursuit
of science education and careers; and 3) To build and enhance partnerships
between schools and scientific research labs for their mutual benefit.
With the recent downturn
of corporate basic research and the concomitant downsizing of related outreach
programs, YSAP was looking for new partners that could provide research
mentors, role models, and partners celebrating science and engineering.
The sponsoring organizations view the kind of fundamental engineering research
that ERCs such as MIRTHE engage in as being attractive for the YSAP program.
MIRTHE stepped up to the plate. All of the activities are conducted
by MIRTHE graduate students, post-docs, and faculty. The collaboration
provides positive educational experiences to students and, to MIRTHE members,
the chance to teach young students who have an interest in science and
engineering. |
