Michelle Paulsen, Kristin Labby Give Talks at 2013 American Chemical Society Meeting
At this year’s meeting of the American Chemical Society, Michelle Paulsen, program director for Northwestern’s GK12 program, and Kristin Labby, GK12 alumna, gave invited talks.
In Paulsen’s talk, “Reaching for the stars: Forming and maintaining partnerships between universities, schools, and the community”, she highlighted the lessons learned in building connections to local schools, outlined possible expansions of those partnerships, and gave examples of the work done by PhD students in GK12 classrooms as part of Northwestern’s “Reach for the Star” program.
Labby’s talk,“Introducing medicinal chemistry research to middle school students: a multi-faceted approach from a GK-12 experience”, focused on specific examples of her partnership with Pamela Sims, a middle school science teacher in Chicago, and how other institution might adopt such a program.
Michelle Paulsen Named “Scientist of the Month” by Association for Women in Science in Chicago
Congratulations to Michelle Paulsen for being named Scientist of the Month for February 2013 by the Association for Women in Science in Chicago!
Michelle is the Director of Reach for the Stars, an NSF funded GK12 program that is a joint collaboration between CIERA and OSEP, the Office of STEM Education Partnerships. The article focuses on Michelle’s work with GK-12, her enthusiasm for education, and her work to help increase the effectiveness of science communication through Ready, Set, Go, the TGS STEM Communication Fellowship program.
Read about Michelle Paulsen and her work with education, science, and her contribution to the science community on the Association for Women in Science – Chicago website.
RftS Hosts “Computational Thinking (CT) and Computational Modeling” Workshop
Michelle Paulsen (Northwestern’s Reach for the Stars Program Director) organized a three hour workshop to update Chicago-area teachers on
the new ‘Computational Thinking (CT) and Computational Modeling’ components of the Next Generation Science Standards on November 17th.
Laura Trouille, CIERA fellow and Adler Astronomer, was one of the panelists for the discussion hour of the event. Physics graduate student and Reach for the Stars fellow Scott Mayle, along with a number of other former and current Reach for the Stars fellows, presented their CT-SEM curricular materials during the final hour.
For more information on the event, click here.
For more information on Northwestern’s Computational Thinking in STEM curricular materials and teacher professional development opportunities, click here.
OSEP Creates Video of Northwestern Partnership with ETHS
The Office of STEM Education Partnerships (OSEP) made a video which tells the story of the collaborative partnership between Northwestern University and Evanston Township High School (ETHS).
CIERA and Reach for the Stars are partners with OSEP, bringing the exciting STEM teaching and research being done here at Northwestern to K-12 teachers and students in Evanston and beyond.
You can watch the video by clicking here.
OSEP and ETHS Receive 2012 Catalyst Award
The Office of STEM Education Partnerships (OSEP) and the Evanston Township High School (ETHS) are the proud recipients of the 2012 Catalyst award, presented by the Evanston Chamber of Commerce at the 3rd annual Evanston MashUp. The award is given for stengthening the ties between Northwestern University and Evanston.
RftS Mentioned in Evanston/Skokie CC School District 65 Newsletter
Evanston/Skokie CC School District 65 mentions Reach for the Stars on page 6 of their May 2012 newsletter, featuring Emily Wolin and Marie Breitenstein!
RftS Fellows Active at Chicago-area Schools
Daniel Sinkovits recently introduced a lesson to the students of Evanston Township High School on Janus particle molecular dynamics.
Kristin Labby gives kids from The Nettelhorst School a tour of Silverman Hall.
Scott Mayle gives kids from Niles West High School a tour of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Reach for the Stars works with Oak Park River Forest High School to Enhance STEM Education.
Joseph Warfel presented lesson plans based on stochastic allocation and routing models for food bank operations at a summit for administrators and 6th-12th grade STEM teachers.
Meagan Morscher demonstrated the benefits of advanced algorithms in solving the gravitational N-body problem at a Computational Thinking workshop for 7th-12th grade STEM teachers.
Big Ten Network Films Segment on GK-12 PI Vicky Kalogera
The Big Ten Network filmed a segment on GK-12 PI Vicky Kalogera and the cutting edge black hole research done at the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA).
The producers then followed “Reach for the Stars” Fellows Meagan Morscher and Ben Farr to Evanston Township High School to film Ben with his students and teacher Gion Matthias Schelbert.
Watch the video here.
Northwestern President, Evanston Mayor Watch Fellows Present at ETHS
Northwestern University president Morton Schapiro and Evanston mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl got a glimpse of the benefits of a unique new collaboration between the University and local schools this week.
They watched Northwestern graduate students teach Evanston Township High School (ETHS) students about cutting-edge scientific research as part of Northwestern’s Reach for the Stars program in local schools.
